It’s a little past one o’clock in the morning and I’m still reading books and playing around on my computer. Jodi and Jessica are in bed, sleeping beautifully, while I’ve been waiting for over a half-an-hour for a sleeping pill to drop me into my pillow case.
I’m extremely tired and all I can think about is - “When will be be time to wake up, because I have things to do?”.
So is there anything special you do to get to sleep?
Add to the discussion.
I usually just work until I feel like I can’t stay awake anymore. Then I drop right off. In the winter a hot bath right before jumping in bed in the middle of the night.
I can think of something that’s less harmful and more effective than a sleeping pill, but my informed guess is that you wouldn’t be interested.
Thinking about all the things you have to do tomorrow is the worst thing you can do! It will only increase the anxiety level and make it even harder to fall asleep. (Though I am guilty of it too) Here are a few things to try:
1. A warm glass of milk…personally I find it a tad discusting, but it always seems to do the trick.
2. A cold room with a little white noise…I like a fan in the window, that way you accomplish both.
3. As a kid I used to have these worry dolls that someone brought me from mexico. They are tiny and fit in this little container. The idea was you tell each doll a worry and then put them in the box under your pillow. They take them all for you and worry about them for you so you can sleep worry free with a clear mind until you can deal with them in the morning.
4. It also works with prayer. My Mom used to tell us to pray for EVERYONE we could think of until we fell alseep. I shared a room with my sister when we were young and I’d find her quite often sleeping with her hands still clasped on her chest.
5. As she got older she began sleeping “corpse style” on her back with her hands laid across her chest in an “X”…she claims it’s the most comfortable position for sleep. While I prefered finding her sleeping like an angel instead of a mummy…I do have to admit it’s quite a comfortable position. Though it might creep your wife out. :)
Wow - a lot of different ideas. I used to use music to go to sleep but when I got a wife, that became a little harder to do. Working until I fall asleep has been done quite a few times as is fine as long as I don’t have to work the next day.
Sleeping pills are probably the most drugs my body wants to handle right now and even those they don’t like all that much.
Sharing my worries with a doll so far seems to be the best idea yet. If I was a smooth guy, I would say that doll is my wife but I’m not so I’m going to admit that I’ll be stealing one of my daughters dolls and telling all my worries to the pour plastic soul.
I actually suffer from this on a regular basis, especially when i’m working on a computer - related project. I find that if I don’t get off the computer at least 4 hours ( if not more ) before I plan on going to bed I’m doomed to code / graphics / planning ideas etc. running through my head for hours while trying to sleep.
Anyways .. I try and get off the computer by 8pm for sure and Do activities that are completely seperated from work .. hike , drink , read ( non work related ) , draw etc…
I used to take 2 tylenol P.M. if I could sleep at night and I knew that I had to get up early in the morning, but then I would always wake up feeling still groggy and drugged up. Last month when I was at the spa I was telling this to the woman that gave me my massage and she suggested using Valerian……have you heard of it?? I hadn’t, but I actually had to use it last night for the first time and it worked quite well!
http://www.1001herbs.com/valerian/
I meant to say “when I could NOT sleep at night”
rusty Says:
i can usually only sleep when i have music that i *know* playing in the background. i need to know the lyrics specifically, so i can focus on something easy when i’m tired. if i dont have music like that playing, my mind tends to wander and i lose at least an hour of sleep.