Things to do when you can't sleep!

[Blondie153]

I suffer from insomnia and try to occupy myself during the wee small hours. What do you do when you can't sleep? All suggestions of food/drinks/activities welcome

 

[Lamont D]

I use to have terrible sleep disruption., I could fall asleep but within 2 to 3 hours that was it. Awake and like yourself, needing to do something or other, cup of tea was always first, television would go on, but I would usually read, I would let the dog out.
I put the sleeplessness down to fluctuations in my blood glucose levels during the night. And my weird dreams would have me up and my brain would be racing away with thoughts of them.

I still get the occasional weird dreams and it does get me up, but because I'm in control of my blood glucose levels, not as much as it was.

 

[Robinredbreast]

I am a terrible sleeper, but I stay in bed. You could do a crossword, clean out a cupboard or your handbag, start writing poems, sort out paperwork, look through catalogues ( but resists the temptation to buy) start writing song lyrics or a become an author.

Sorry to hear if your sleep problems, I know Wee Willie is a sufferer too Good luck and I hope you find something.
RRB .

 

[rowan]

I read, and sometimes make a cocoa (made with hot water and cream, no milk. no carbs), usually does the trick for me

 

[DeejayR]

It used to be quite common for people to get up in the middle of the night and even go out visiting! Provided the moon was bright enough I suppose.
If I wake up and can't nod off again I may run through alphabets of names, flowers, vegetables, towns, anything. Or start with 1 and double up to the nearest number after 1 million. Or count in binary. Or retrace my steps on a nice walk. Or imagine sitting in a field of wildflowers on a sunny day. Etc.
What I don't want to do is get up or read. As long as I stay in my head I am eventually overtaken by sleep again. The main thing is not to worry.

 

[Patricia21]

I used to sleep well,but now sleep between 11pm and 5 am and two toilet visits in between.
I have to much energy in a morning which is a pest,cleaned kitchen wall tiles and cupbords this morning,watched news,
Its good to be up early but not 5am,Im retired.
I used to be driving on the M1 at 7am to work wishing i was still in bed.

 

[Merrylizard1314]

I find it difficult to even go to bed.
I used to read until 1or 2am, but now I spend time chasing links on the iPad as well as continuing to read almost as much as usual.
And I have to maintain my daily activities, exercise, social events, visitors, various duties etc, etc..
It is becoming more difficult, and sometimes I just have to excuse myself and go off and sleep for several hours. People I care about are becoming very annoyed with me.
It is as though I deliberately put obstacles in my own way when it is time to sleep, and then , I suddenly realise, like now, that it is 6.10am, time to take my BGL and go out for my run.
Having written this, I realise that it is all wrong, and something I need to mention to my GP.

Thanks for taking the time to read this - almost a rant.

 

[tim2000s]

Not so much a what do I do when unable to sleep, more a how do I get myself to sleep statement. I've found that an hour of hard exercise on top of my day at work alleviates stress enough and exhausts me enough to have completely removed any issues with going to sleep. It seems to have stopped the waking up in the middle of the night or the not going to sleep due to thinking about work.

Prior to that I used to use deep breathing meditation techniques to at least relax, try and let my brain loose and allow my sense of time to change instead of physically doing something. Used to work reasonably well.

 

[rowan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

Makes sense to me

 

[Blondie153]

Thank you so much to all of you for taking time out to answer. I will give as many as I can a go. Although I like the idea of chatting to people at night, leaving the house is less desirable. Since the puppy came at Christmas I am restricted to making too much noise downstairs. Kids and husband sleep through my wanderings, the dog not so much. But here's hoping something helps. Merry lizard sounds like you need help too. I have spoken to wee willie during the night. Adrian would have had a field day with that one if he was still around! Thanks again for your kindness

B

 

[rowan]

Thank you so much to all of you for taking time out to answer. I will give as many as I can a go. Although I like the idea of chatting to people at night, leaving the house is less desirable. Since the puppy came at Christmas I am restricted to making too much noise downstairs. Kids and husband sleep through my wanderings, the dog not so much. But here's hoping something helps. Merry lizard sounds like you need help too. I have spoken to wee willie during the night. Adrian would have had a field day with that one if he was still around! Thanks again for your kindness

B

Now if I had a puppy I'd give up the reading and just play
As it is my (nearly) 13 year old dog just cuddles up next to me and carries on snoring

 

[JTL]

Play 8 Ball Pool on Mini Clip.
Or mess around with my computer music hobby.
Sometimes my mojos not working and can't get a tune going but theres my collection of sounds to put reverb on turn a stereo sample to mono etc and store away in a folder untril my mpjo comes back.
Sometimes cook stuff for purtting in the freezer.
Theres some lamb in the slow cooker right now.

 

[JTL]

I aslo read religion philosophy politics current affairs kind of stuff.

 

[rowan]

I aslo read religion philosophy politics current affairs kind of stuff.

I'd never get to sleep if I read that, I'd get far too wound up

 

[Wurst]

Luckily my insomnia ended with antidepressants, a vastly increased exercise regime and ditching the ultra low carb diet. For those sleepless nights of past I used to play guitar (without the amplifier plugged in). Very soothing but didn't help me sleep though but better than lying awake all night trying to force sleep that never came :-(

 

[JTL]

Problem for me is I sleep two hours then awake three asleep two and so on especially the last couple of weeks.
All down to pain and medication.

 

[kateincornwall]

Another insomniac here , go to bed around 10ish, read and then fall into a deep sleep . Usually around 2 , its Eyes open, Wide awake I usually get up , do all sort of mad things like cleaning windows or skirting boards . Dogs are usually in deep slumber so I go back to bed around 4ish for a couple of hours

 

[Blondie153]

Another insomniac here , go to bed around 10ish, read and then fall into a deep sleep . Usually around 2 , its Eyes open, Wide awake I usually get up , do all sort of mad things like cleaning windows or skirting boards . Dogs are usually in deep slumber so I go back to bed around 4ish for a couple of hours

This sounds like me! Only I have three young children and a full time job so sleep is always welcome