Lack of sleep

That's a good strategy I never look at the clock
I used to but would completely freak me out an would be even more insomniac!

Oh, Shamma, my mum had PD. Back in the late 80's in the US she was an 8 year survivor. Now the meds are so much better and new treatments seem to constantly be in the news and help older patients as well as younger ones.

You have a lot on your plate. Take care and look after yourself! [flowers'

I haven't read right through, so hope I am not repeating things...I have no trouble getting to sleep, but wake up (and WIDE!) at 3 or 4 a.m. What has helped me a lot are guided meditation practices on youTube. Jason Stephenson (Australian accent!) does a lot of them: here's one sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4qCFFBrrgk I love telling my husband 'I'm off to the guest room to sleep with Jason'!

Another is Jody Whitely (Canadian I think!) : here's a sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o99VPTS0JsA

My sister is also an insomniac, and she recently discovered this weird and wonderful solution...podcasts of a guy (U.S.) who just rambles on telling convoluted stories...I never believed it would work but it did. here is a sample: www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/category/podcast/

I have also recently taken up meditation (so far I am on lesson 8 of ten free lessons with Headspace: www.headspace.com/ . It has calmed me down and I am sleeping better.

I would love to have feedback from others on this!

My sleep pattern is gradually and slowly improving after four years of stressful events. I recharge my i-phone on my bedside table and one night I clicked onto YOUtube and discovered Sleep Inducing Music files - times vary from two hours to eight/ten hours! So, depending on how much sleep i want to have, I choose the music and settle down. They work! I'm amazed - even if I wake up for the loo, I just go back and settle down again and off to the land of nod I go. Try them.

I haven't slept properly for at least 20 years ever since my divorce. Sometimes I take a couple of hours to fall asleep and even then I don't sleep through the night. I wake up sometimes three or four times. I usually have to get up to go to the toilet once in the night, which doesn't help. I've always hated the dark so I sleep with a night light on. I'm taking various medications so I'm not sure if they're aggravating the situation. Beta-blockers for migraine, for my hiatus hernia and various vitamins. I also now have IBS and have medication for that. I find it helps listening to recordings on YouTube. There are some with talking in and I find ones that I do like are by Michael Sealey. He has made at least 20 recordings and I find them helpful. Also dozens with no talking by Magnetic Minds, recordings to help with sleep and healing. Trigram Healing Sleep Hypnosis is another good one as is Liberation in Mind by Dr Paul Ogilvie. There are hundreds to choose from. Hope this helps.

specki I have just been listening to some of the music files on my laptop downstairs. Im wondering? once you start playing the files on your iphone, once you have gone asleep do the sounds wake you back up again...if I have gone to sleep and here a sound then it wakes me back up. I do have an iphone.

Absolutely NO caffeine -tea,coffee and choc. It works for me xx

I really do recommend the Magnesium Relax. I have no connection with the company, I am not on commission and several friends and a couple of 90 year old relatives have tried it all with noticeable benefits, I really cannot stress enough it is worth trying......

I am not a pill popper, am very sceptical and tried it in desperation as my nights were so very dreadful. It has to be worth a try?

Hope this doesn't repeat as haven't read every post. Try thinking of anything from A-Z i.e. female names, male names, towns, flowers. Also a yoga tip, relax the body starting with feet & working upwards, ankles, calves knees etc feeling as though each bit is sinking into the mattress as you go. The big thing is to concentrate deeply on each thing & not let the mind wander. With the A - Z I rarely get to the third list. I also have a radio with headphones - even fell asleep listening to a Clinton/Trump debate! Insomnia is a terrible thing - but not getting upset about it is probably helpful I think. Commiserations to all who suffer!

I have to avoid tea or coffee after 6pm, also cola, chocolate drink or even Horlicks, which is supposed to make you sleep. And I dare not eat a chocolate from lunchtime onwards. I find chamomile tea is great and I'll nod off 15-20mins after drinking it. I wouldn't be without it.

Shanma....Like you, I would go to bed at 11PM and be wide awake at 4 am every day, then doze off around 8am until mid morning; enough to upset my whole day's routine. Nothing helped until a friend gave me two tips: She told me that sleeping with a full stomach can disrupt sleep, so no eating/drinking after 8 PM, except water or non caffeinated tea. The other tip was to enjoy a nice cup of Chamomile tea right before bedtime. Now and then I still toss and turn for awhile, but the Chamomile tea routine is very relaxing. Most days I get a good nights sleep and don't wake up until 6:30 am.

If you work from home, does it matter what time you work? Do you have to be available during normal working hours or could you work at any time?
My normal "day" these days is from noon to 4am, i find I do loads more during the night when it's quiet.
A few years ago I went to my GP with your problem. He told me to learn to relax and if I could do that, it was the next best thing to actual sleep - and it was. I didn't feel tired even with very lttle sleep and I didn't stress about not being able to sleep.

Same here joanne, I tend not to stress about not sleeping. As you can see, still up. I tend to go in cycles and as I'm due for my period then I think my sleep is affected more. I have been having shaking episodes and last night was bad, so I got up and came downstairs and put the tele on while having a sleep on the settee. I sleep wherever I can, whenever I can because my conditions are made worse by being tired. I get the restless leg thing and my feet are ballooned up too regardless of taking water tablets today. I give up with it, give in to it and go with the flow of it.

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/simple-4-7-8-breathing-trick-can-induce-sleep-in-60-seconds/

Try eating a banana and Herbal Sleep Spray from The Body Shop.

Ha ha. Don't eat The Sleep Spray. I didn't word that very well.

Take a 'Syndol'. Take one a night for a few nights, good for the headache but an excellent relaxant.
Available over the counter.

After years of sitting up till 2/3 am then sleeping or a couple of hours and waking with no energy. I gave in to napping in the afternoon to make up for the loss of sleep during the night. Blood tests showed a lack of certain vitamins B12 was especially very low.I now take a quality vitamins and have 6/7 hours undisturbed sleep. May not work for all but maybe for some of you.

HAVE A LOOK AT THIS

www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-wellbeing/wellbeing/sleep/insomnia-techniques?utm_source=newsletter-23Oct16&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Print%20Newsletter

I have a very bad cold right now and it's hard to sleep even with sleep aids. So last night out of desperation, as I am sleeping in the lounge, I grabbed my DGD's Violet cuddly toy and pressed the foot for baby/toddler sleep lullaby music. It starts with a voice saying:

Five minutes to bedtime... snuggle up!

I don't think it was the music (which works for DGD for nap) but it was thinking about her that sent me off finally!

Shanma commiseration from yet another insomniac!
We recently bought a (very expensive!) new bed which has helped enormously. It helps with aching joints and muscle pain and also absorbs DH's twitching and movements caused by his nocturnal loo trips. I always used to be awoken by his thrashing around and vice versa but now all is much improved thank goodness. I would not have been happy to have invested so much for it to have made no difference. The only problem we do have is that because it is so heavy we need to have help to move the mattress!
I also use lavender spray on my pillow and diffuse lavender oil in the bedroom. I read, have chamomile or liquorice tea and sometimes go for a night time wander. In the summer wandering around the garden in the quiet at 4am was really lovely. Not something I will be doing in the winter though!
Being retired does change everything as it is possible to live with just sleeping when you can and 'making up your mind that it doesn't matter'. Different ballgame when you are working sadly. Relaxing about it all is probably the key to it all.
I have listened on some of the above links and don't think they would work for me somehow. Some of those sounds really are pretty weird and even startling! Not conducive to sleep for a scaredey mouse like me!

I tried the Nytol you have to ask for at the chemist.
I also try the breathing thing,in for 5 seconds hold for 6 and breath out for 7'and repeat about 6 times.I don't know why but it does sometimes work!

I find listening to podcasts of Desert Island Discs distracts my brain just enough for me to drop off to sleep.

I don't think Syndol has the relaxing ingredient in it anymore. It is now just paracetamol and caffeine or codeine (can't remember which!!). They banned the use of doxylamine which it used to contain but you can buy doxylamine from Amazon.

I used to wake up at all hours. I now sleep most of the night. Try this 1. Do not look at the time that will not help it will just wind you up. 2. I also visualise a white board / black board that is covered in words and in my mind I am using a cloth to wipe the board clean. I always drop off before the board is cleaned off.

I had terrible trouble sleeping for about 10 years, not helped by my husband asking every night "Do you think you will sleep tonight?" I now really try not to think about it and do all the things like baths, sleepy tea (Clipper is good) reading and the radio, but what helps the most is slow yoga breathing and trying to list all the countries of Europe/states of USA/UK counties in alphabetical order. Rarely get to M. I am much better now I try not to obsess about it.