When you have trouble sleeping, what do you do to help yourself go to sleep? I take a melatonin and/or drink warm milk.
I drink sugary warm milk. :3 Also I have my new medication Quetiapine which is very heavy on the relaxants and sends me straight to sleep. Without them I would have a really hard time getting to sleep at all! Before my medication I tried to listen to music, but then my brain activity was so high that I had to try wearing an eye mask to soothe migrane/eye pains and hallucinationsSometimes I would just get up and go a day or two without sleep until I'm so tired that I slept from exhaustion. :/ Don't do what I did unless you can't help it. Sometimes I would have killed for a good nights sleep.
I'm terrible at sleeping. Sometimes, as tired as I might be, I end up just... led in bed. For hours. And Hours. I can never get up in the mornings either. Bah... Sleep. Hmm, As strange as it may seem/be, I find that hugging my Plush Dashie's helping me a little. I'm a hug-y kinda person, so I guess hugging a pony ought'a help me. xD I've been dreaming of ponies more since I started, too, so I guess it's a double win for me.
First thing I do is to stop drinking anything caffeinated at 3:00. Also, I avoid any strenuous physical activity after 11:00 (I go to bed at midnight). Lastly, I'll take a shot of whiskey to settle my nerves (wouldn't advise this if you are not 21). I also can't sleep without the TV being on with low volume. I set the timer for 3 hours and that usually does me in for the night. Getting up at 6:00 and working 8 hours helps a lot too because I am actually tired at the end of the day. Also, I get up no later than 9:00 on weekends and try to avoid napping during the day.
Oh, Echo. We love you. Personally, I find that doing anything mentally stimulating an hour before bed can ruin my whole nights' sleep. Computers, TV, thinking/complicated/classical music, reading, anything. If you want to sleep like a baby, just sit and meditate for 15 to 30 minutes before bed, then turn on some nice white noise and sleep away. C: It also helps to have a comfy bed, but sometimes that's just not an option. And by meditate, I just mean sit there, close your eyes and don't think too hard about anything. If this is difficult for you, I find repetitive, simple music helps me clear my mind. If this sounds too complicated or hard, clearly you don't want to sleep badly enough, lol.
I find it interesting that this thread got bumped because NOTHING worked for me last night. Sundays are kind of tricky. I usually get up no later than 9:00 but I was sick so I slept until 11:00 and skipped church. After that I didn't really do anything so I had a rough night. I was kind of in limbo between asleep and awake for about an hour and a half but I have a feeling today is REALLY going to suck!
This is similar yet so very different to what I do. Typically when I am trying to sleep, I blank out my mind then start picturing things in my head. Umm, the meditation is typically about things I have been doing. For instance, I've been playing a lot of Palladium: Rifts lately so my character is one of the things I imagine in my head. Then after a while the imagining just kinda fades into dreaming and sleep.
