insomnia

[Arie]

ahhhh....I CAN"T SLEEP!!!

[Arie]

I wish I could die and go someplace peaceful.  I'm really not thinking straight right now.   You can tell I still haven't slept yet.  The thing about suicide is that once you kill your physical body you might end up someplace worse than where I'm at right now.  And the worse part is if I do commit suicide I still might not be able to sleep. HAHA the irony.  ladaladaldalda  I feel like i'm in the twilight zone. ladadadada sleeeeeeeep i want sleeeeeeep  i wish i had a gun.  or better yet i wish i could take like fifty million sleeping pills. ladadadada

[Julia]

Hello Arie,

I used to have insomnia.  I don't know what the cause of yours is, so I will give a blanket coverage of methods to cure it.  

If you haven't slept properly during the night, you will feel really flaked out by the afternoon - DON'T give in to the temptation to sleep during the day.  Go to bed at a set time every night to train your body and mind  to expect sleep at that hour.  Exercise during the day, either jogging, work out, or hard physical work (best).  Don't eat spicey foods.  Stay off caffeine including tea and chocolate.  Before sleep, don't do anything that gets you excited.  Work out a "winding-down" routine to prepare yourself for bed such as reading a (calm) book or listening to relaxing music - especially effective if done while stroking the family pet (real good stress reducer).  Have a hot bath with some good bath salts.  Make sure your bedroom is tidy and the sheets clean - mess is stress inducing, believe it or not.   Do  this winding-down routine every evening along with the teeth-cleaning, house locking-up proceedure and it becomes a powerful psychological trigger that lets your brain know it's bed-time.

Once you lie down, go through a relaxing method (Robert's relaxation technique is excellent) of tensing and relaxing individual muscles from toes right up to neck and face.  If you have a sympathetic live-in partner who can also give you a massage - great!  Most important of all!!! - clear your mind.  Don't think!  Problems of the day, including worrying about insomnia, kill sleep.  Don't look at the clock!  Practice totally clearning your mind of thoughts.  You can start by imagining yourself in a nice scene, such as lying in a gently rocking boat, in quiet field with a gentle breeze, lying on the sand by the ocean listening to the waves.  Every time you find your thoughts running away with you, gently bring yourself back to your calm scene.  Periodically check that all your muscles are still relaxed.

Finally, during the day, do some deep thinking about any problems you may have that are worrying you.  And try not to resort to sleeping pills or alcohol - you don't want them to become your psychological triggers for sleep - not to mention the physical addiction.  

Hope some of this helps.

Sweet dreams,
Julia

[Julia]

I forgot to mention, there are some good natural herbal tea mixtures on the market for insomnia available in health food stores.  Camomile tea with a little honey is also very calming.  The simple old fashioned practice of a mug of hot milk before bed to induce sleep really does work - but don't drink hot chocolate (caffeine).

There are also available cd's or casettes especially for insomniacs.  I've heard some great ones - calm sea-shore sounds with pan pipes etc etc - to play softly as you drift off to sleep.

Don't worry, if you try out all this stuff and totally nuke the thing, you'll soon be sleeping like a baby.  I cured my insomnia, and so can you.   (oh, and please put that gun away... you'll wake the neighbours!)

Julia

[Frank]

Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic with insomnia?
He used to lay awake at night wondering if there really was a dog.

Yours,
Frank

[Arie]

I haven't slept at all tonight....I feel like I've been drugged.  Does anyone know any insomnia cures?  Thanks