Apr
15
2010
sleeping disorder??? i cant sleep without the TV on and i still cant fall asleep until around 3:00 am????
Posted by: Alan in Sleep Disorder, tags: around, Asleep, Can't, Disorder, Fall, Sleep, Sleeping, still, Until, Without
what do i do? is this normal??
Entries (RSS)
April 15th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
This is normal, as far as insomnia goes. First, you’re just used to the TV. You could learn to sleep without it, but you’d sleep poorly for a few nights.
The 3AM thing is normal for someone with insomnia. Try melatonin pills to sleep, and get up/ go to bed at the same time every night, even weekends, to help set your body clock. It is hard to do, that’s why so many of us have insomnia!! Also, talk out anything that bothers you and keeps you up.
April 15th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
have you tried sleeping pills??
April 15th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Mmmmhhhh It’s better if you take this to a doc, he’ll know what medications fit with your lifestyle. Remember the dangers of self medication and sleeping pills are a sensitive issue!
April 15th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
No, this is not normal. You have trained yourself (or possibly have been trained depending on how you were raised) to sleep w/ the TV on and to fall asleep until you are exhausted. Go to bed at 10 or 11 pm. Turn off the lights and the TV, close your eyes and start counting sheep. It may take a couple of weeks for you to retrain yourself to go to bed at a reasonable hour w/o the TV on. Good Luck.
April 15th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
i used to be an insomniac, and what helped me alot was to be involved in some sort of physical activity.
it definetely gets you tired and its easier to sleep when you’ve worked hard for a few hours.
try it. personally, i do gymnastics.
April 15th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
It depends if you have any other symptoms, like of depression or anxiety that could be contributing to lack of sleep…?
The easiest way, I speak from experience, is to cheat by going to your doctor and explaining to them the situation, and getting about a weeks worth of mild sleeping pills. Ambien or Lunesta are popular and I’ve taken both. About a week of taking sleeping pills at the correct time, a few hours before when you should be going to bed, and then sleeping and waking up at a normal hour, will help correct your sleep cycle.
By the end of a few days or a week you will have had your clock reset so to speak, and will function “normally”.
The harder way to do it without pills, is to just wake up really early one morning and force yourself up all day and go to bed really early, and force yourself at an early time again the next day and sort of manually reset your schedule.
Also, make sure you are eating regular healthy meals, and try to exercise and just practice healthy things in general to help yourself out.
April 15th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Insomnia can be caused by a number of things. Anxiety, medication side affects, environment, physical illness, etc. I’m not a Doc, but I know exactly what he’d ask you. Have you had any life changes, what do you do for work, are you in an abusive relationships, do you contemplate suicide, have low self esteem, when was your last check up, what meds are you on, etc….
I also know what sleep experts say. You do absolutely NOTHING in your room and bed except for sleep. If you have to read, relax on the comp or whatever before you go to sleep, do it, and then go to bed with no tv, no food, no book,no nothing. That conditons your mind to associate your bedroom only with sleeping. My husband does the same thing, (except he crashes early) because he says he feels “lonely” in a dark quiet room. i would find out the cause of your insomnia. I take trazadone, which is a non-addicting sleep med that doesn’t give you a drug-hangover in the am. Works great for me. Non of that Ambien type stuff ever worked for me. You may not even need a med, or you might need an anxiety med, if you can’t sleep because your mind is racing. Check it out. It should be fairly simple to take care of.
April 15th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Put your mind in a position where it wants to shut itself off, and sleep. See insomnia treatments, in much more detail than can be included here, in section 3, at ezy build, below. Use one of the relaxation methods, in bed, after lights out, on pages 2, 11, 2.c, or 2.i, but they can take some time to learn, (progressive muscular relaxation excepted) so learn and become proficient in their use during the day; an alternative is to use the EFT, in section 53, and pages 2.q, and 2.o, saying to yourself: “Even though I currently have a sleep disorder, I deeply and completely accept myself.” (or choose your own wording) while you use the acupressure tapping. Some more; quick, and easy to learn, are at http://www.umm.edu/sleep/relax_tech.htm I have not yet evaluated them, but they seem to be worthwhile trying, and I like to provide options.
Find out which works best for you, in the daylight hours, so you will be prepared, come bedtime. For many people, a good idea is to develop a set “wind down” routine for the last hour before bedtime, so your subconscious mind learns that it is time to put thinking aside, and prepare for mindfulness, (awareness, without cogitation/purposeful thought) or the EFT, in preparation for sleep, but the idea with mindfulness is to not even think about sleeping: just drift off, naturally, during exercising those techniques. I suggest that you try using the EMDR variant, below, prior to the mindfulness, or the progressive muscular relaxation, but after the EFT, if that method is chosen. Experiment, to find which combination works best.
(The following is a variant of EMDR therapy, which has been used successfully for those people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, insomnia, and anxiety: it is easily learned, quick to use, yet can be very effective. It is easy to be dismissive of such a seemingly unusual technique, but give it a good tryout, for at least a few weeks, to see if it is effective in your case.). Prior to using either of the methods in the above paragraph, first sit comfortably, and take a deep breath. Then, without moving your head, move your eyes from the left, to the right, and back again, taking around a second to do so (say: “a thousand and one”: this takes approximately a second). Repeat this procedure (without the words, although you can count, subvocally, if you like) 20 times. Then close your eyes and relax. Become aware of any tension or discomfort you feel.
Then open your eyes, and take another deep breath, and repeat step one, closing your eyes, and relaxing afterwards, in the same manner. Then, repeat the procedure one last time. Some people may find that this is all they need do. With experience, you may find that you can practise this with your eyes closed. Experience has taught me that the 2 – 3 minutes spent using the EMDR markedly reduces distractions to the relaxation process, and is repaid many times over. I have a cup of chamomile herbal tea, an hour before bedtime, and use the above techniques. Others may prefer Sleepytime, by Celestial Seasonings, or valerian root, from supermarket tea, or health food aisles. http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris ====================== ===================== ====================== ===================== Start off using the above, with the TV volume turned down slightly; next day, a little lower, still, and so on. Then try a radio at low volume.
April 15th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
From your other post, where you gave many more details, what I have to say is this:
You sound like you have a lot on your plate. Try the following.
There are a few things to try.
1. Establish a routine.
This can take some time. Take a month to try it out. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, even the weekends. You’re probably between 12 and 17, and most people that age need about 9 hours of sleep. Give yourself that much time at night plus 30 minutes to fall asleep. You can adjust the time once you can fall asleep. Another part of routine is what you do before bed. Try taking a hot bath, drinking some warm milk and honey or hot herbal tea (without sugar) and then brushing your teeth and washing your face and then go to bed. Do the same thing every night. Make sure you try this for at least a month to develop the routine.
2. Deal with you issues.
You need to talk to someone. Try your school counselor. Ask them for advice.
About your friends. go talk to them. Tell them you’re sorry (even if you aren’t) and then try to drop it. Otherwise, go talk to some new people who don’t really know you. I know it is hard, but you will have friends in no time.
About your grades. It sounds to me like you have a lot on your plate. Go and talk to your teachers and tell them what is going on. Tell them you need extra help. A good teacher wants their students to do well. They would help you.
About your general anxiety. It sounds to me like you might have an anxiety disorder. If your guardian takes you to the doctor, they can refer you to a mental help professional, who can give offer support and advice. If you are found to have an anxiety disorder, they can give you medication to help and offer counseling to give you strategies to help you manage your anxiety. You can also receive special ed. services through your school by providing documentation of an anxiety disorder under the ‘Emotionaly Disturbed’ section. Those types of services might include taking tests in a room on your own, learning strategies classes (sometimes called resource), extra time for exams, assignments broken into chunks so you don’t become overwhelmed, and extra support from your teachers. The symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder range from feelings of being tense, constantly tired, afraid, and unable to make decisions, to feeling restless and irritable. You may also have physical symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomachache, lack of appetite, shortness of breath, chest pain, shaking, sweating, or muscle pain from being tense. Symptoms can cause you to miss school or avoid social activities. See http://www.hmc.psu.edu/childrens/healthi... for more info.
3. Change your lifestyle.
How much do you exercise a day? At what time? Try to do intense physical activity for at least thirty minute everyday at least TWO hours before you go to bed. This can be going for a run, swimming, riding your bike, playing a sport or whatever. If you can’t do that, try going for a walk everyday after dinner for about an hour. Also what are you eating? Try cutting back on the sugary foods, and the hour at which you eat them. How much caffeine are you consuming? Do your body a favour and give it up. I know it isn”t easy, but no coffee or colas, as least not before bed time.
4. Ask your parents to take you to the doctor.
Make sure you tell them everything you’ve tried. The doctor will probably run some tests to rule out other problems (allergies, etc.) that can cause sleeping problems in teens. Then he or she may have you go to a sleep clinic to evaluate how you sleep. He or she will most likely give some suggestions for you to try, and treat you for any conditions (allergies, sleep apnea, ect.) that may be prohibiting good sleeping. If after all that, the doctor can not help you sleep, they may prescribe a sleep aide, but that would definitely be a last resort, especially at your age.
Good luck, and email me if you need anymore suggestions.