[Anonymous]

Well title is a bit misleading, I can sleep but not until very very late! It's exam period atm so I try to sleep early so that I can wake up early, but it's not working!

I try to go to sleep at 11 but I'm just laying on my bed not being able to sleep and only get to sleep at like 3/4! then I end up waking up later then I wanted (11/12) and am tired through out the day...


I've tried:
Drinking warm milk before I sleep
Meditating (Was on Yahoo answers)
Masturbating
Counting sheep
Counting my breathing


^ NONE OF THESE WORK!!!

I don't know what I should do :s
Should I go see my GP?

[Anonymous]

Oh and it's been happening for about a week now! It's really becoming an issue aswell as I had an exam yesterday and will have one next week as well!

[moya]

could be stress?

[Anonymous]

(Original post by moya)
could be stress?

That's what I thought, but it's not letting me sleep

[Starfruit]

Maybe you're concentrating too much on trying to get to sleep? I always sleep the worst when I concentrate on trying to get to sleep. If I just think to myself 'oh, it doesn't really matter when I fall asleep' (even if it does), I usually sleep much quicker!

[Revolver72]

Have you tried putting white noise on? I find it helps me get to sleep instantly! If you've got a fan, ioniser, or even something which makes a low humming noise. It's perfect for falling asleep.

[martin jol]

i struggle with this too, i think it's just an issue with allowing yourself into bad habits, i.e. allowing yourself to sleep in till midday.

force yourself to get up at a normal time, deal with tiredness for the day then you should be able to get to sleep at a more normal time. then, hopefully, the good sleep pattern will replace the bad one.

[zozdotstar]

I have the same thing! The best thing to do is maybe go for a swim or do some excerise during the day to make sure your body is tired and then when you trying to get to sleep donot, no matter what, go over any revision in your head, this has helped me a bit of the last week

[lapples]

Have a look at this i found it quite useful when I couldn't sleep.
Probably a complete placebo effect, but I liked it
http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Pharma...er-100ml_7531/

[james.h]

Same. Up to three hours every night. Sometimes I give up, which makes it dead easy to get to sleep the following night.

If you keep thinking "I need to sleep", sleep tends to be a long time in coming.

The senses are generally particularly alert to changes, I find. If you concentrate on something soothing and unchanging (like someone else said, white noise is a good example) then you're doing hardly any real thinking, which helps to lull you to sleep.

'Course, that doesn't account for any environmental noise, such as neighbours slamming doors, etc.

[moya]

also, if you are not tired, don't go to bed.

only go to bed if you think you can fall asleep in 20 mins or less

it will probably not solve your problem, but it will reduce the stress of not getting to sleep

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys I'll try the white noise thing and try not to think about revision/ falling to sleep

[lemoncha]

Maybe try reading a book or reading something from your phone (if you've got a smart phone). It works for me since my eyes get tired after 15 min or so and I dose off when I read in bed!
And if it doesn't work, at least you've done something useful rather than just lying in bed for hours...

[aliphatic]

Don't let yourself sleep in until 11am, then? I know it's hard but just sacrifice one day where you fall asleep at 4am but still get up at like 7am anyway, so that you are then tired at decent time the night after. If you're going to sleep late, and getting up late, your body is probably just adjusting to that messed up schedule.

[Kaytti]

As a long time sufferer of insomnia, stop thinking about sleep! It's the main reason you cannot actually sleep- because you are worrying. Watch TV, read, do something before you go to bed. Wind down for about an hour and think about nice things before you go to bed.

Have a 'sod it' attitude to sleep. You'll sleep when you sleep

[LookIt'sPete]

The problem is that you are getting up too late. This means when you go to bed, your body isn't tired yet as you haven't been up long enough, so you can't get to sleep.

You can force your body to adapt to a new sleep pattern, but it takes some time and dedication. Go to bed at 11 and force yourself to get up at 7 (or whenever you would like your pattern to be). Do this even if you can't get to sleep for a long time. After a few days off this, your body will be tired by 11 because of the lack of sleep and you'll have yourself a new pattern

[A100whoo]

I have the very same prob OP.

I suggest just taking naps often so you're not tired during the exams.

Its horrible I know

[moya]

(Original post by LookIt'sPete)
The problem is that you are getting up too late. This means when you go to bed, your body isn't tired yet as you haven't been up long enough, so you can't get to sleep.

You can force your body to adapt to a new sleep pattern, but it takes some time and dedication. Go to bed at 11 and force yourself to get up at 7 (or whenever you would like your pattern to be). Do this even if you can't get to sleep for a long time. After a few days off this, your body will be tired by 11 because of the lack of sleep and you'll have yourself a new pattern

The problem for some people is that the cycle repeats, in that when you get your new sleeping pattern, the time you get to sleep might shift by an hour each day (even if you wake up earlier) and you will find yourself back to sleeping at 4am and waking at 12. It's called DPSD, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed...phase_disorder, and although there's not much information on that wiki, it's probably due to the modern lifestyle, which includes electric lights (so, using the computer late at night) which will keep us awake.

You can force yourself in to waking early so you go to bed at a normal time, but a lot of the time this doesn't really solve the problem since you are still feeling tired during the day. And you are still getting less sleep.

So a solution is to cut out electricity in the hours before bed (so no lights, no computer ect). And that's really hard, since there's nothing else to do

[LookIt'sPete]

(Original post by moya)
The problem for some people is that the cycle repeats, in that when you get your new sleeping pattern, the time you get to sleep might shift by an hour each day (even if you wake up earlier) and you will find yourself back to sleeping at 4am and waking at 12. It's called DPSD, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed...phase_disorder, and although there's not much information on that wiki, it's probably due to the modern lifestyle, which includes electric lights (so, using the computer late at night) which will keep us awake.

You can force yourself in to waking early so you go to bed at a normal time, but a lot of the time this doesn't really solve the problem since you are still feeling tired during the day. And you are still getting less sleep.

So a solution is to cut out electricity in the hours before bed (so no lights, no computer ect). And that's really hard, since there's nothing else to do

Ahh right, I understand. Never realised that before! I was just saying what worked for me - I guess everyone's different, but a lot of the time, I find I can just force my body to do the things I want (to a certain extent of course).

[hothedgehog]

You need to set a wake up time and stick to it. Then, this is what happens:

You go to bed whenever you feel tired on the first night (probably late)
You wake up at your wake up time (eg. 8am)
You feel like **** for the rest of the day due to lack of sleep
When a normal bed time comes (eg. 11pm) you go to sleep
Next day, wake up at 8am
Go to sleep when you're tired.
Repeat last two steps and eventually you have a sleeping pattern.