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Insomnia!

Hi Guys! I'm a 4th year undergraduate but have really been flagging this year. I've always been a moderate sleeper, not really capable of sleeping beyond 9am but over the last couple of months things have got really poor.

My nan was in hospital in January and ever since then my sleeping has got dreadful. Maybe 1 to 2 nights a week where I don't get a wink, the rest perhaps anywhere between 5 and 7.5 hours. I'm trying to find the cause, and in the meantime I intermittently take kalms and chamomile tea prior to bedtime in the hope it'll knock me out. My dad passed away 4 years ago so perhaps subconsciously the hospital environment is bringing back memories? Sleeping has become a chore and instantly panic sets in once you see it is past 4am and you haven't slept, even though I feel tired and relaxed I just can't conk out. Anyone else had this sort of phase; as its pretty dreadful, I feel exhausted, irritable and always worry one sleepless night will lead to another and so on.

Reply 1

Sir Fox

I have it occasionally, mostly before university exams. I always take rather long to fall asleep, anywhere between half an hour (very quick for me, and rare) and three hours. A couple of nights a year I don't sleep at all. I lie in bed for hours on end, and once the sun slowly rises and the birds start singing it sets my biological clock to daytime and the battle is lost. I assume it's stress. I don't really feel stressed out by exams, but the correlation makes me assume that subconsciously I actually am. And often the fear of not being able to fall asleep and of the consequences (not being useful for anything the next day) makes it even harder.

As for what might help you (if it still affects you, after all this thread is almost three months old :biggrin:

), it really depends. Reducing the stress is obviously the best way. Maybe talk to friends about it, maybe even see a professional. Other than that, try to establish a more or less regular bedtime that gives you ample time to fall asleep and still get enough rest. Not too early though, you need to be ready. Try to reduce artificial light in the hour or so before going to bed. Dim the lights, turn down your screen brightness etc. The teas you mentioned might help too. Don't eat to late and too heavy late in the evening. Make sure the day exhausts you to some extent. Sports is great for that, in the summer time I enjoy running in the evening. Leaves me exhausted and tired, but once again - not too shortly before you go to bed, otherwise you're still pumped up. Also try to rise early, I suspect lying in late is one of the problems for me. If I sleep until noon it's no wonder I can't fall asleep at midnight :biggrin:

Some of the stuff I listed above may work for you, other things might not, but if you try to incorporate most of it I believe you will see an improvement. And try to not become obsessed with it. If you spend the day meticulously preparing for the night and being afraid of the insomnia to come, it will stress you out even more.