I don't sleep. page 3

[Knifegill]

Again, why do you think you need to sleep at night?

[KimInGA]

Again, why do you think you need to sleep at night?

Because I can't sleep at all during the day, unless I'm sick. You would think there's got to be SOME time of day when I can sleep, but I haven't found it yet ...

[Knifegill]

Is your life just really busy? I mean, are you employed and never get the chance to sleep?

[KimInGA]

Is your life just really busy? I mean, are you employed and never get the chance to sleep?

Employed and busy, sure. But I don't think it's that much busier than anyone else with a job and a house and errands to run. I really don't feel stressed or unhappy. I think it's just 100% physical, like my body is releasing lots of cortisol at the wrong time or something. My entire life I've always been a super calm, even-keel type of person. And I dedicate 8.5-9 hours to "sleep" every night, starting with the time when I get really tired (10:00-10:30).

[Knifegill]

Well I know magnesium helps a ton for me. And chamomile. Meditation is a necessity I cannot live without now. Even at work, as I walk the halls between blood draws, I make it a point to slow my heart rate and let things go, scribble down things I can't stop thinking about to get my mind clear and calm. To be honest, closing my eyes and focusing on getting between three and four heartbeats per breath really knocks me out fast. Imagining that my bed is on the waves of the ocean and feeling my body rise and fall also helps. Gosh, I'm loaded with tricks from my daywalker days. What else do I do? Oh, making that tingling sensation go from my head down my neck and through my organs feels great. And imagining I'm riding a dove across a fantasy sky with happy anime clouds like happy marshmallows seems to work. Heck, imagining anything long enough will get me to REM pretty fast. But the key to all these tricks working is largely being able to make your brain shut up. Train the mind to stop, and the spirit can fly.

[Rojo]

Every night before bed, I (1) sit/walk outside around sunset, (2) drink no caffeine all day, (3) avoid looking at the TV or computer, and if I do for a short time the computer has F.lux on it, (4) eat virtually no sugar, even minimizing the amount of fruit I consume, (5) take melatonin, (6) take Serenagen, (7) take two different herbal remedies, (8) take Natural Calm, (9) take a bath in epsom salts with lavender oil, (10) sleep in a room with blackout curtains, (11) run an air cleaner for white noise, (12) put in earplugs if I can hear anything, (13) run the fan and (14) take unisom. That's just every night, and doesn't count the myriad of things I've tried and discarded after feeling that they didn't help (or made things worse, like iodine). It's totally nuts, right?

Yeah, it is totally nuts. I think you're making yourself a little crazy. Whenever someone gives me a laundry list, I tune out.

Try sleeping fewer hours. Give yourself five hours a night. And if you start falling asleep as soon as you hit the pillow, go to five and half, etc... but don't worry about getting to eight. Some people need less sleep.

Just don't make yourself crazy about it.

[KimInGA]

Yeah, it is totally nuts. I think you're making yourself a little crazy. Whenever someone gives me a laundry list, I tune out.

Try sleeping fewer hours. Give yourself five hours a night. And if you start falling asleep as soon as you hit the pillow, go to five and half, etc... but don't worry about getting to eight. Some people need less sleep.

Just don't make yourself crazy about it.

Oh man, but I need a LOT more. I've gotten 5 hours each night this week and I feel like the walking dead right now. To someone who's never experienced it, I'm sure it's hard to imagine that you can be really, really tired ... like feel like you have the flu, totally exhausted, thinking of nothing but sleep ... but then unable to sleep.

And the laundry list sounds ridiculous, I know. Trouble is, without it, I don't sleep AT ALL. I can go days on end without a wink of sleep. Being extraordinarily tired but just tossing and turning for 9 hours straight is highly unpleasant, trust me.

Tonight I've already decided, I'm caving in and taking 100mg of Unisom. It's the only thing that can overcome the caffeine-like effects of whatever my body is producing (I suspect cortisol).

[Knifegill]

Have you tried actively reducing all contributors to cortisol production?

[KimInGA]

Have you tried actively reducing all contributors to cortisol production?

All the ones I know about!
- Dim lights only after dark
- Bath w/epsom salts, lavendar
- Remove stressors from daily life
- Eat high quality protein, little to no sugar, lots of good fats, gluten free, plenty of Omega 3
- No caffeine
The ones I can't normally check off are "get enough sleep" (kind of a catch 22, isn't it??) and "enough" exercise. I do get some exercise, but it's hard to get enough when I feel like ZOMBIE WOMAN most days.

[Knifegill]

Yeah, that's a pretty good list. Also try to feel fuzzy inside often. Like when you get handed a cute kitten and it melts you. Then master the activation of that sensation and deploy it often at will. Goes a long way in diffusing stress.