Tips for a good night's sleep?

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I will admit that I have been struggling with sleep lately. In common cases I do not begin to feel tired until around 3am, and sleeping this late usually brings about grogginess and a pale complexion upon rising.

In my desperation, on Saturday I conspired to stay up all night and use my resulting tiredness to get an early sleep the next evening. Well, the early sleep was a success however I have been disappointed to find that this has not affected my regular sleeping habits (it is past 2am as I type this... got tired of trying to fall asleep after about half an hour; will try again after I'm done).

On top of this 3am tiredness, I have noticed that my brain usually remains active for hours after lying my head down to sleep; try as I might I cannot stop thinking about things! With this in mind, I figure if I can tucker myself out, I can fall asleep as soon as I lay down.

Do any of you have any tricks or tips that I may be able to use to tire myself out at bedtime? I don't know if I can put up with this any longer...

Wake up early, like 5-6AM, then only use stimulants (caffeine, etc) throughout the earlier part of the day, til 1-2PM. Basically, earlier you wake up, earlier you go to bed. That's how it works for me. Not so much tire yourself out by bedtime, that seems damned near impossible for me, but doing that seems to work for the most part.

That's how my brain works. I'll try to go to sleep, and end up laying in bed but not falling asleep. Then one day, I found melatonin.

I need a fan or a white noise machine. Also, how comfortable is your bed / pillow?

Ah, melatonin! That helped nicely when Mum had it suggested to her by a mum she met at church, and I would gladly shell out for it again, however I wish to weight up my FREE options first, as I am cheap, lol!

It is an honour Mr. Plank!

Well, I rest my head upon two very soft and cuddly pillows; I find that I am often more comfortable with my head rested on it's side.

I hear many people sing high praise of white noise machines, however I would be interested to learn of your reasons for use of a fan. Perhaps I might find it useful as well.

Melatonin works well, but for the last 18 months or so, I've been using an OTC sleep aid called Alteril that includes melatonin and a couple of other natural sleep chemicals including L-tryptophan. Works pretty well in knocking me out ... but instead I often find that instead of laying in bed awake for 3 hours at the beginning of the night, I now fall right asleep but wake up at 3 AM and lie in bed awake for 3 hours at the end of the night. Overall, however, I find that I get much better sleep and often sleep through the night now that it's chemically-aided.

Can't help you out with free solutions other than the complete elimination of stress and anxiety in your life.

Beau, the above is sage advice. I would only add that the best way to get a good night's sleep is to go to bed tired, and the more tired the better. This means physical exertion. I normally don't have problems sleeping, but when I do it's usually because I neglected to take my daily walk.

When I was younger, I had the same problem you describe; I would go to sleep two hours later, and wake up two hours later, than the day before--at least when I wasn't working. What I've since done is to set my alarm for eight am and I get up every day at that time now automatically.

One other thing I could add is that I eat a little something with high carbs right before sleeping.

Now that I digest it further I concede that it is indeed sage (like the turn of phrase) advice! I may buy into that in the nights that follow.
Furthermore, I used to sleep very comfortably in my high school years, and considering this point of advice now I understand why, as I was required to begin my day very early on account of an 8am school start; I was clearly awake for such a long time, and had run myself ragged in the classroom, that I would turn in exhausted.

Thank you for elaborating upon this advice, and thank you 1000Knives for proposing it! I am thankful.

Ah, a small ticking clock for me.
Complete silence is horrible - I need that little rhythm to drift off into at night.

I would suggest not going anywhere near a computer or television set for two hours before bedtime. Never do anything like reading or using a laptop in bed, or you will associate it with brain activity thus making it hard to fall asleep. I had to remove the bookcase from my bedroom because the books all looked so tempting. If I read before bed, I try to read something bland. Also when I turn out the light, I find that diaphragmatic breathing prepares me for sleeping and helps calm the crazy thought machine.

Let's see, what else? Oh yes - I need the room to be completely dark. I don't mind light coming from another room but it mustn't be bright enough to make me want to get up and do stuff. That is how light can affect me. And of course Melatonin is good, too. In my case, I still have the broken sleep cycle that others have mentioned here; where I can find myself waking after 3-4 hours. Still trying to find a way to do that medication free.

Hope this helps!

I listen to the same music playlist over and over again as I sleep. I find it helps turn off my brain, as my brain likes to keep working long after my body is ready for sleep.

I agree that dead silence is a horrible obstacle to sleeping. In early development, we listened to the rush of our mothers blood through her veins... The solid rhythm of her heartbeat... As early humans, we feel to sleep with the flushing of wind into the trees and the fluttering of crickets...

This modern life be damned!

I have blackout curtains and usually listen to a radio station playing classical music on a very low volume.
If you are unable to sleep the worst thing to do is lie there and worry. If I cannot sleep I will put on the bedside lamp and watch some tv.
I usually then wake up in the morning with the lamp and tv on but at least I have slept.

Melatonin makes me moody for some reason and doesn't put me to sleep.

If you have an overactive brain meaning your mind is constantly bombarding you with new ideas, new things to think about, new tasks you're going to have to rationally think about why you should not at let's say 11 pm researching topics to death until it's 1pm. You do not have to clean, you do not have to figure out how to play classical music by ear, you do not have to think about a particular subject over and over.

I used to allow my brain to control me in that area leaving me awake for days. Onetime I kept hearing Beethoven over and over in my head and it was driving me nuts. I did not sleep for 3 days and felt I couldn't sleep until I figured out how to play the song by ear. After I did, finally got sleep. I was allowing my brain to control me.

Inventions, inventions inventions, what ifs what ifs what ifs, categorizing, figuring out answers to problems, obsessing over things that went wrong, problem solving.

All of those things used to keep me up for days. Not very pleasant.

If you are stuck in a bad routine, implement a new one. It isn't nice at first especially when you are used to your routine but your mind adjusts and will make room so don't be afraid.

This routine should be something that you do early in the morning. It can be running, it can be taking a walk, it can be anything really. Close your eyes when your new routine starts and see the image of the time you want to wake up in your head. Have you ever noticed that you wake up around the same time everyday without the alarm? Your mind will sometimes even force you to stay asleep even though you've had plenty of sleep because your brain has an inner alarm + your routine.

Also, if you have a fast heartbeat over anxiety and constant thinking, try heart medication that will slow your heart beat down. Take that one hour before going to bed when your heart is beating too fast.

concentrate on your breathing, that always helps me. also don't give up just because you can't fall asleep in half an hour. it nomrally takes me at least an hour somtimes and hour and a half to hit the hay