shutting down one's mind for bed time

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I cannot settle my brain down tonight. No matter how much I try I cannot keep the thoughts from running through my brain one after another. It's keeping me from falling asleep even though I feel tired and desire sleep.

Is there any stradegy that any of you have found that seems to work in helping you get to sleep?

It helps if you read philosophy...

Or watch a play...

Or do anything to drain your mind...

I have this problem, too. I just can't stop thinking about things. Mostly things that upset me.

Heheh, the story of my life, Scoots .

I find that reading works sometimes. So does watching something calming that I've seen a hundred times before. Earplugs can assist at times, as well.

None of these things work for me on a consistent basis, however. I recently took Jay Shaw's advice, and started taking 3 mg of melatonin before bed every night. It's working fairly well, but I don't suggest you resort to this method unless it becomes a serious reoccuring problem.

Hot beverages, television, make sure youve eaten enough. Well thats all i got. My new meds put me out quick with dialated pupils.
A

< Raging insomniac.

Some things that help a little bit:

- Use your bed only for sleeping or sex.
- Take a very hot bath before sliding into bed, the cooling down of your body can be extremely relaxing.
- No cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine or food for at least 4 hours before bed. (Make sure you have eaten, though, your body will wake up if it is hungry.)
- If you are stressing about things you need to do, make a list before you try to sleep. If you know that you have everything down on paper, so you won't forget it, your mind won't continue going over it over and over.
- Work out or give your body a deep stretching session (Yoga!) about half an hour before bed, following with a shower or bath will probably make you more comfortable as well.
- Keep to the same sleeping and waking schedule (even on the weekends.)
- Don't stress about it. (I used to have panic attacks as nighttime approached, just knowing that I wouldn't be able to sleep.) Insomniacs also handle sleep deprivation better than normal folks.
- Lastly, my personal saving grace, practice meditation. Train yourself to not think. Or, short of that, try some hypnosis/relaxation techniques. (Starting at your toes go through every part of your body, relaxing it over and over.)

Sweet dreams.

Temazepam - 30mg or a nice slab of Ambien 10mg if all else fails.

I like Sleepytime tea.

I focus on a detail of a scene. I stick to them same scene for years although the scene has changed about 3 times.

One I really liked for years was to imagine I was drawing back a longbow as far as I could and taking aim. For some reason I can't explain this calmed me down and relaxed me until I was able to fall asleep.

As I have described it is the only thing I would need to focus on (there was no movement in the scene so it's not like counting sheep or anything).

I don't understand why I needed to do this just that it works for me.

I don't like medication. Sleeping pills can be very addictive (at least that's what I'm told).

Anyways, I write my thoughts down. Sometimes poems or just in a journal usually works for me. If that doesn't work, I'll drink some NyQuil.

I used to have the same problem Then my doctor prescribed Trazodone, taken 1 hour before bedtime. Now I don't have the problem any more.

It also works well for my roommate, who isn't an aspie, but does have obsessive/compulsive disorder.

One trick I learned a long time ago that really works well for me: if I find myself tossing and turning and staring at the alarm clock then the best thing to do is get out of bed and go sit in a chair and read something. Watching TV almost never works for me.