longing to sleep.

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I dont have caffeine after 6pm.

And if I cant sleep, I rest. I need rest as well as sleep.

Interesting Crun I am switching off my iPad as we speak. Fingers crossed for tonight

It might be worth watching what you look at before bedtime.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30574260

It may not have any relevance but there is a trick for stopping your mind going into high gear and getting back to sleep. Just keep repeating a very simple word, such "the". Keep saying "the, the, the, the, the… and it is sufficient to distract your mind from other concerns. You can say it quietly or under your breath, rather than disturb anyone else.

Apparently our ancestors used to have two sleeps a night. If you google 'two sleeps' there is quite a bit of information. My problem is hot flushes followed by shivering. I have been awake since 3.00 am and have now given up and made a cup of tea.

drinking herbal tea and wide awake at this time. What a croc I'll be nackered by mid morning

i have to take three Doxazosin tablets a day. One of the side effects is difficulty sleeping. Another is sleepiness, both common side effects. So I take one in the morning and two at night, just to make sure I have it covered. The chemist told me to take all three in the morning, but that would be a problem if they caused sleepiness. Wouldn't be able to drive anywhere.

Sorry about your night pain galen. It always seems worse at night.

My husband was always in pain and did not sleep very well. When he wanted to sleep he took Amitriptyline for its antidepressant qualities, as it caused drowsiness, and he had a good night's sleep.

FlicketyB - reading a familiar book is a good tip. I don't need to do this very often, being a world-class sleeper, but when the occasion demanded, I found it very soothing to re-read Jane Austen.

* oh Galen* aren't the painkillers that work throughout the night?

I've had the same problem for some time, on and off. For me, the worst part is the change of mood the following day. Depressed, negative etc.
My doctor won't give any medication for it.
Hilda - as GrannyK. writes, much admiration - perhaps the remedy is to get up at 3am and do some cleaning.

I've always been a poor sleeper, now I wake several times with pain and am starting to feel sleep deprived as well.

Not so much strategy as optimism, I naively thought that I was going to keep going like I could have done 30 years ago.

crun that was a good strategy. I generally sleep like a log but if I have a nap in the day time and I haven't done much that day either, I just cannot get off to sleep. So I make sure I do something to tire me out e.g. go for a walk. And the only day of the week I have an afternoon nap is on a Saturday.

Hilda to have to get up at that hour! It would kill me. You have my complete admiration.

Thinking about doing night duty alternate nights and not going to bed the following day makes me wonder how I survived! Can only put it down to being younger.........

Remember when you could go all night without sleep? I tried that last year. I was discharged from A&E at 4am after four hours sat on a trolley, then sat in the waiting area until the first bus at about 6.30. By the time I got home it was about 7.30, so I decided to stay up and get on with the laundry, and washing the pots that had been abandoned the night before. I managed until about 9.30, and then hit a brick wall, and collapsed into bed.

that has been also mentioned for me, I take Sintrom an anti-coagullent and have an atificial valve in my heart which clicks alllllllllll the time, my cardiologist warned me it might affect my sleep .It just seems to have got worse this year, didn't sleep last night and now 3.00am.

Nobody's mentioned medication on here. Many types of medication affect sleep patterns.

I can't remember the last time I slept all night. I try not to disturb my DH so I plug in my iPod and listen to an audio book I tend to pick ones I have heard many times before. Because I know what is going to happen I tend to relax and sometimes drop back off to sleep. The only problem I have is sometimes the charge runs out and I am left wide awake with nothing to listen to I occasionally resort to breathing exercises which help me to relax if not to sleep.

When I wake at night I go into the spare bedroom and turn the radio on very quietly, I usually have it in the bed under the duvet with me. Usually it is tuned to R4/World Service and as these programmes are predominantly speech, keeping the volume very low means I have to really concentrate to listen and this drives out intrusive thoughts or worries.

Alternative I reread a book I know really well and love and which is not going to be too harrowing. Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and Anthony Trollop work for me. Just rereading the stories while not getting excited or drawn in to much I gradually find myself falling asleep over them.

Insomnia is such a debilitating thing. I have a relaxation CD in my DiscMan and I bung un the headphones and try listening to that. If that fails I change the CD to some beautiful music and just try to accept that I am awake, but that I am spending the time listening to something beautiful.

I sleep about 2 hours.... brain ping... up and about for a couple of hours, and then another couple of hours. This has been going on for about 15 years. It was hard when I was still working full time, retirement now has eased the pressure of lack of sleep.

Insomnia plays such a big part of our quality of life.

hildajenniJ Shhhush I'm 61. Keep it to yourself although first thing in the morning I look 101.