I find I don’t have a problem getting to sleep at night. I pretty much stay awake until I ready to pass out. Sometimes that’s 11pm, other times it’s 2:30am. The kids basically enforce the concept of waking up at about the same time every day, at about 7am.

I count backward from a huuuuge number.

If I can’t sleep, it’s usually because I’m worried about something.

If I’m worried about something, it’s usually money.

If I’m worried about money, counting backward from a smaller number isn’t helpful because I can’t help mentally adding, “…would sure come in handy right about now.”

So: 1000 “…would sure come in handy right about now.” 999 “…would sure come in handy right about now.” 998 “…would sure come in handy right about now.”

Larger numbers aren’t prone to this treatment, so far.

Just wanted to point out that “Keep a regular bedtime” and “Go to bed when sleepy” are contradictory. The latter makes sense to me, as many things can affect when we feel sleepy.

Simple, I generally don’t beat it! Ha.

But I find setting a ‘wake time’ works well, if you set your body to wake the same time every day regardless of how much sleep you got, your body will form a pattern and eventually you should be able to sleep at a reasonable time.

when I have trouble falling asleep I do multiple digit arithmetic problems in my head, such as 678 x 492. I’m out before I know it…

In “Sleep Thieves” by Stanley Coren he recommends warm milk, and a warm bath for helping you sleep. Interestingly, he says also that aspirin helps increase the depth and quality of sleep. Great book btw, the central message is that people aren’t getting enough sleep and it messes them up. I find when I give myself a fully 8+ hours I’m a lot more effective. Having children taught me a lot about my response to sleep deprivation: irritability, reduced intelligence, clumsiness and a negative outlook on life. No caffeine within 6 hours of bedtime is a good rule, and I find avoiding coffee entirely helps for me. Also, having a formal meditation practice is a great help, though meditation shouldn’t be done in bed or as a direct means of getting to sleep, it’s a way to calm down, clear your head and identify the things that perhaps interfering with sleep.

I count backwards from 100 but spell out the numbers: o-n-e-h-u-n-d-r-e-d, n-i-n-zzz…

A kindly neurologist once recommended lying quietly in bed and thinking pleasant thoughts and/or remembering happy times. It’s worked for me.

As much as possible, I like to make my bedroom reserved only for sleeping. This means having minimal computer and electronics equipment there.

Winding down is important for me. So for a good half-hour before bed-time, I try not to do or think about work. Thinking about work definitely keeps me awake.

I find deep breathing excercises for a couple of minutes before bed really helpful - about.com has some useful ones under anxiety disorders, I think.

Also, when I can’t sleep, I try to turn it into a positive - I know I can cope a day or two with reduced sleep and it won’t physically harm me, so I try to let go of worrying and enjoy a few hours where I can lie in a comfortable place and think about things I don’t have time to in the day, like planning my memoirs or composing a poem. If I really need to sleep, I’ll try to remember all the people in my primary school (grade school in the states I think) class - names, what they looked like, where they sat etc.

I find that a regular wake time is important, as is eliminating electronic stimulation for at least 30 minutes before bedtime. That means no computer, pda, or TV, so I use that time to read and/or write in my paper journal. I’ve also found that a cup of hot, herbal/decaf tea helps (especially Sleepytime or Honey Vanilla Chamomile—both Celestial Seasonings)—probably more as part of the “getting ready for bedtime ritual” than any sedative effect of the tea.

A psychology teacher in high school taught us an idea that has worked well for me in the past. Pick a word and spell it forward and backward, repeatedly. The example word he gave us was ‘string’. So you visualize the word and spell it backwards in your head - think s-t-r-i-n-g, g-n-i-r-t-s. Unless you have some natural backwards spelling ability, it focuses your mind on something else, and somehow seems to work.

I have a couple of used textbooks on my nightstand: Phonetics & Linguisitcs are subjects that are ordinarily fascinating, but the subjects are so mind-numbing you can’t help but fall asleep. I chose those because they don’t have anything to do with my everyday life, so reading about bi-labial fricatives & voiceless glottal stops aren’t going to get me riled up thinking about what’s in store in the morning.

(the added bonus is that you get to make some funny noises trying to figure out what sound a bi-labial fricative or a voiceless glottal stop)

I used to have a horrible time sleeping. I wouldn’t fall asleep until I heard birds waking up in the morning (circa 4:30 AM) and I wouldn’t rise until sometimes 3 PM or later in the afternoon. Since I got on a normal schedule because of a job change (working 9 to 5) I have been much better. The only problem is that I cannot sleep more than 7 hours or my chronic migraines come back. Unfortunately I lay in bed too long while trying to get to sleep. It takes me close to an hour regularly. My girlfriend would most likely not appreciate me getting out of bed every 15 minutes to try a hand wamring excercize, etc.

What works for me is:

1 - To read a book. I fall asleep after no more than 20 pages of a good book. Some people suggests to read a boring book. I think this is unrealistic since it is hard to be willing to start reading a book if you know that is a crap from the day of purchase. If that’s your situation, buy an interesting computing book; I assure it works.

2 - Close your eyes and try to think in a huge white wall. Focus. Don’t let other thinkings in. It’s not easy at the beginning but it works very well.

m(_ _)m

Cheers! Jordi

Sex helps. With or without a partner.

12 padomi lab?kam miegam…

Nav nek?ds nosl?pums, ka IT jomas cilv?ki gu? maz?k par p?r?jiem. Un var?tu ar? t?, b?t ka tie kas blogo, gu? v?l maz?k, nek? p?r?jie. Šeit b?s apkopoti vienk?rši bet v?rt?gi padomi k? lab?k izgul?ties, ar? tad, ja laika gul?šanai ir pavsam maz. Rakst?…

Curious, what if you have ADD? I can’t fall asleep UNLESS the tv is on, its the only thing that seems to quiet my brain enough to let it lull off for a good nights rest. Anyone else have suggestions for the ADD mind?

www.pzizz.com

seriously…

Good tips :)

Mentally choose a spot on your feet.

Breathe in deeply. Breathe out deeply. Breathe in deeply. Breathe out deeply. Breathe in deeply. Breathe out deeply. Then keep breathing out deeply. Then keep breathing out deeply.

With this last triple exhale (which will completely exhaust your lungs), fully relax the spot on your feet that you chose.

Then choose a spot on your lower legs, and repeat the breathing above and relaxing.

Then thighs the same way, then hips, then middle, then shoulders, then upper arms, lower arms/hands, neck, and face.

Reflection on my Daily Shaving Routine…

I came across an article that I deeply resonated with while looking at the RSS feed for Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders site. Some of Merlin’s best points included the brilliance of the Gillette Mach 3 razor, the importance of using……

Reading for about an hour or two usually gets me tired enough to fall asleep within 10-20 minutes of finishing reading. If I’m not tired enough, I just keep on reading, but I always set up a time when I need to stop and just try to sleep. This time depends on how I’m feeling, so it is quite varied at times (like 4 a.m. last night).

Deep breathing and muscle tensing/relaxing is my last resort when I absolutely need to get to sleep. Although a few of these tips might take its place in the future.

Completely eliminating caffeine has done wonders for me. Plus, I never have to worry about getting a headache if I don’t have a soft drink.

I used to drink nothing but Mt. Dew and Vault. Now, 4 weeks later, just watching someone drink something with caffeine makes me sick.

I work from home, but stop working no later than 7 pm. That’s the absolute latest I’ll drink caffeine, too. Lately, I’ve been falling asleep by daydreaming about what I’d do if I won the big lottery jackpot. Sometimes getting up and taking a couple of Smooth Dissolve Tums helps, believe it or not.

If I really can’t sleep, I’ll go down to the office and read LiveJournal or catch up on email lists that I enjoy. I’ll answer personal mail. Nothing work-related. After a while, I’m too tired to do anything but sleep. Then I go back to bed and kick my husband out to the couch because he’s snoring. (I recently terminated my relationship with a very difficult client and I suspect that when the grace period I gave them is finished, I’ll sleep like a baby no problem. Desperate times call for desperate measures.)

I found a good audio book will put me out in minutes. Hearing someone’s voice reading a good bedtime story takes my mind off everything else going on around me so I don’t think about what has to be done the next day. My husband uses harp CD’s (any relaxing type music) in the same way. Course I wear earphones all night but it doesn’t bother me!!!!!! Happy sleeping.

[…] The 15 minute rule is a good one. There’s nothing worse than watching the clock tick by for hours thinking about how crappy you’re going to feel in the morning. (via) […]

How on earth can you know how long it takes you to get to sleep? By definition, by the end of the process you’re unconscious. And I would NEVER sleep if I got up again after 15 minutes!

Having said that, I find that not knowing the time when you go to bed seems to help a lot. Also a comfortable bed that suits you. Or is that stating the obvious?

For me, the best remedy for sleeplessness is a day packed full of stuff to do. That way you get too tired to stay awake.