My insomnia is back, I had it 3 years ago because of depression cause by the death of my father.   From time to time, it comes back, I am currently taking Calms sleep, but they are leaving me a bit dopey in the morning, I have to be up at 6 for work some mornings, the other morning I hade to phone in sick as I had had about 1/2 hour sleep, and did nt fancy hoisting old people whilst half asleep.   I really dont want to go to the docters, I would rather find a natrual way to sleep.  I have tried th warm bath, and milky drink and most over the counter products. It is really starting to get me down.

Does anyone else suffer, and how do you cope with it.

Regards
Sheli

A friend taught me this! It worked too.

When you lie down and close your eyes you sart by getting into a comfy sleep position.
Next you take yourself off to your favourite place for a walk. (in your head that is!)
Finally when you come to a gate, you must climb over the top and into the long great field............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Good luck
Karen ;-)

I used to have insomnia but not any more ...you could try the tricks that most people go through ...

1. Get a routine ..the theory goes if you can *train* your body that certain habits mean that you are going to lie down and sleep then you will. This is the one that worked for me but it takes a while. I always put my reading light on, get a drink of milk, go to the bathroom, get into bed, read a book for a while and then put the light out and lie down. It doesn;t matter where I am I always do these things

2. When you lie down, close your eyes and *see* yourself in your minds eye, lying in bed ...usually if you can get a good image you will suddenly realise you are dozing off, then do it again and eventually you will go off :)

3. Make yourself stay up and awake....have plenty of fresh air and exercise during the day and then don't go to bed ..don't get ready for bed...plan your night out with things to do ...quite often you find yourself absolutely shattered :D

Good luck!

All the above things will help but spray some lavender oil on your pillows too.  :)

I've been the same shelwil,

So will be taking on board all the advice too, I haven't had a good nights sleep for the past 4 nights, just lying in bed day dreaming trying to bore myself to sleep. :D I'm ust about ready to drift off when it is time to get up.

I expect I am ready to just crash and burn tonight, I wonder if it is the time of year. I can't find another reason for it.

thankfully its not something i've ever been bothered with for more than a couple of nights but a friend of mine told me that what works for her is trying to stay awake and focusing on that.  She says that when she is 'trying' to sleep she gets annoyed with herself but if she fails at trying to stay awake then she is asleep and mission is accomplished.

If I cant sleep I start counting backwards from 1000. It requires more concentration than counting forwards and therefore tends to empty the mind of all the stressful thoughts that keep you awake. I have never got down to less than 700 yet, however wide awake I was when I started!
ITs possible there are some self hypnosis CDs available too.

and here I am after being awake since 1.20am!  this is so normal for me, I was asleep around 11.30pm but the minute I wake I am wide awake, I have tried to get back to sleep but given up and done the washing.   I wish I could sleep a full night just once.  Sometimes though I do wake around 4.30 - 5am and this for me is a lie in.  I know it's not good for me but if I have something on my mind, the earlier I wake. 

Instead of waking early i find it very hard to get to sleep and don't fall asleep till the early hours of the morning. I have always been a really good sleeper, just in the last couple of months!:rolleyes:

but the minute I wake I am wide awake

I am the same and it is so annoying isn't it :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I alway catch up at the weekend though and have afternoon naps when I need to catch up :D

I work shifts, so routines aren't possible for me. I find that fantasising about my crush-of-the-day/week/month helps me get to sleep, cos I usually nod off before I get to any good stuff
I also find the shopping channels strangely hynotic too, leave them on quiet and put the timer on the tv.....that sometimes sends me off
and the usual advice of not having caffeine after a certain time/not eating protein before bed (but sugary foods are ok) I once read that the Romans ate lettuce to help them sleep......now getting a really good image of going to bed with a lettuce sarnie and a glass of milk

oh, and shutting the cats out can mean a less disturbed night (sorry Cleo and Sophie)

good luck!!!

and have afternoon naps when I need to catch up at your desk, you mean you do that to :-D :-D

:D :D

I remember I fell alseep on the sofa with my work laptop next to me once and my work mobile rang and was so annoyed that they had woken me up :D :D

I've had terrible insomnia. I've found that exercise really helps. If I ran 5 miles or biked a couple hours I would sleep better. If I'm having trouble sleeping I avoid any caffeine and sugar at night. If the insomnia is brought on because I can't shut my head off then reading a book is the only thing that helps. It's the only activity that I can't do while thinking about other things. Once I break the perpetual motion of the cogs in my head I can fall asleep easier.

If you can get to sleep but keep waking up, an aspirin or paracetamol (just one!) and a glass of warm milk before bedtime will stop you waking up in the wee small hours, no-one knows why it works, but it does ;) information from SLEEP THIEVES by Stanley Coren (AN EYE-OPENING EXPLORATION INTO THE SCIENCE & MYSTERIES OF SLEEP)

I know several people who have used this and they all report a good nights sleep ;)

Hope this helps as not being able to sleep can make you feel really ill.

I will try this tonight as I cant remember the last time I got a full nights sleep
sleep for a few hours then awake,thinking I MUST get to sleep and its a vicious circle.

I shall report back tomorrow LOL

Dill only just read this been up again this today since 4.30am as it's when I woke up, so not too bad a time I guess in comparison for me!  I will be trying this advice, although not too often as I'm not that keen on taking any tablets.  But if it guarantees me to stay asleep a while longer I'd be happy

http://food.yahoo.com/blog/beautyeats/746/top-10-foods-for-a-good-night-s-sleep

Hope the link above helps in some way.

Wow, I am far from alone on this one. 

I managed to have good night last night somehow manage to switch my brain off.   I have tried bananas they do seem to work, the warm milk and honey sounds really nice too.

I really hate not being able to sleep. I am one of those people who needs 8 hours or I am useless. 

Thanks for all the tips.

I find I sleep really heavily if I take a piriton before bedtime (suffer with hayfever). also not recommended on a regular basis but if you are desperate for a good nights sleep then a warm bath followed by a dose of night-nurse----works wonders for me :)

I do the same as pinklilies only i start at 100 and go backwards but if i miss one i start again, i never get to the end.

Well I'm gonna give it half hour and then start on some of these remedies as I went to sleep at 11 'ish' now 1.10am and I'm wide awake! This is mental!

Craigles,

Re. getting into the habit of taking painkillers, all the people I know who have tried this report that after a while they forget to take them and find they don't need them any more, it seems to help re-establish a 'normal' sleep pattern - whatever that means for them :)   I've tried it myself and also found it to be the case, but then I'm not very good at remembering to take tablets regularly ;)  probably the reason I've never been a smoker :D :D

Right then I'm gonna give it a go! Nothing ventured etc., starting tonight as I am shattered to be fair but just can't sleep.  Warm milk and a paracetamol last thing.  Thanks and I'll let you know if it works!  Although I won't expect miracles straightaway.

Hey Craigles, are you still asleep ?? :D :D

Hi Dill, I did try it and it worked! I went to bed at midnight, had warm milk and paracetamol at 11pm, slept till my alarm went off at 7.30pm.  Now would I have done that anyway that night?   I'll never know but let me believe it worked.  Felt rough all day though and think that was from me having too much sleep.  As I'm used to being up early, I normally get all my jobs done first thing so it really threw me being asleep for so long without waking!  Can't satisfy some people can you?! lol x

So glad you've had a good sleep at last :) :) 
I hate that 'stewed' feeling too :(  but I find it only happens if I haven't slept well for a good few days on the trot ;)
It may have been because you have been sleep deprived and your body was 'catching up'  but at least you know what works when you get too tired for words now :) :) :)

I also believe the more I have on my mined the less I sleep. Today for instance I've got 14 teenagers coming for daughters birthday party and that's worry me! why I can't explain, I don't mind her having a little do!  Tomorrow we're off to Manchester Sun-Tue, shopping and Police concert! It's all in my mind and can never seem to clear my mind.  My husband can sleep through most things and nothing will disturb his sleep, wish I could be like that. x