Sleep Deprived! PLEASE HELP!

So I am a freshman up a college and my first week up here I slept like a baby. Then the second week my room mates kept me up but I've got earplugs now and I talked to them so they've been quiet this week. But for some reason this week (my third week) I CANNOT SLEEP. I just toss and turn all night and I'm so exhausted but I can't sleep! What is going on? I was thinking maybe I could try a sleeping aid to try and get to sleep this week. Does anyone know any good ones?

And by the way, I've tried lots of stuff to get to sleep. Like taking a hot bath to relax after my workout and before bed, reading boring things in bed, deep breathing exercises, letting my mind wander, those weird "calming" visualizations...and of course praying and praying that i'd just fall asleep soon! What can i do???

Not being able to sleep sucks, I had real trouble when I was taking my exams. I dunno if this will help you or not, it's gonna sound crazy, but for me it works like a charm.

Lie in your bed with your legs up the wall for like, 5 or 10 minutes, then roll over and go to sleep. Normally I get to the stage where I start to drift off with my feet still in the air and my legs slide down the wall. If I do that I sleep SO deeply.

But like I said, no idea if it will help and it does sound weird. I dunno if you can get it in the US, but Nytol is also good, it's a sleep aid. Or a pharmacy or something will also sell natural herbal sleeping tablets that I've taken in the past. The other things I do are a big mug of hot milk, a couple of sprigs of lavender in my pillow, and also getting in a routine at bedtime. If my body knows it's time for bed then it makes it so much easier to sleep, but being a fresher (as I'm about to be in a couple of weeks!) must make it hard to get into routine! Good luck!

You're thinking about it too much.... Like walking down stairs, the minute you start thinking about how you're doing it, you trip over.   Anticipating that you can't sleep leads to anxiety and all those very conscious  'get sleepy' methods are probably stimulating you so you can't sleep, ironically.  Praying included. :-)

Exercise - especially out in the fresh air -  is good but try not to workout in the evening because that can act as a stimulant.  Don't drink caffeinated or alcoholic drinks after noon for the same reason.  Try to cut right back on sugar or refined carbohydrates in favour of wholegrains and other non-processed foods because steady blood-sugar levels lead to calmer moods and less stress.   A good natural sleep aid at bedtime is Camomile Tea....  Warm, milky drinks combined with something like a digestive biscuit or some wholegrain toast are quite effective for some people.   Foods rich in Omega 3 (oily fish, for example) are believed to be very calming so include plenty in your diet.  Similarly, minor vitamin deficiencies can cause stress and sleep-loss.... so a multivitamin could help.

Over the counter sleep aids like Nytol can help get you back into a better sleeping patten.  But the hardest one to crack is 'not thinking about it'.  As soon as you do that you'll have no more problems sleeping.  Best of luck

This might also sound weird but the thing I always do to make me go to sleep is I think up some characters and situations for them to be in. I'm a writer, so this might be easier for me than you. I play out scenes and situations for them to be in. I think this helps because I want to worry about the things going on in my life, but if I do that, then I can never go to sleep because I can change those things but can't do anything about it now that I'm supposed to be going to sleep. But if I imagine fictional lives, I can solve problems right there.

Original Post by tincognito :

This might also sound weird but the thing I always do to make me go to sleep is I think up some characters and situations for them to be in. I'm a writer, so this might be easier for me than you. I play out scenes and situations for them to be in. I think this helps because I want to worry about the things going on in my life, but if I do that, then I can never go to sleep because I can change those things but can't do anything about it now that I'm supposed to be going to sleep. But if I imagine fictional lives, I can solve problems right there.

 I second that. Its what I use to get myself to sleep all the time.

What also might help is music. Have you tried that?

thanks for the tips guys! I think gijane is probably right about the thinking about it too much thing. I"m going to try to not think about it tonite, mixed with some Tylenol PM sleepaid. And i will try the feet on the wall and music if that doesn't work tonite. thanks again!

 

~Jessie

Hopefully you will read this.  I am insomniac and I work a rotating shift job, so i have some serious sleep problems.  I would say watch your caffeine intake or limit youself way before your bedtime.  I have taken some prescription sleep aids, which I do not recommend on the long term.  I would say check with your doctor to see if he or she can offer you something for a short time.  Over the counter sleep aids, leave me drowsy for hours after I wake up and that is not a very good thing, esp. since I like to be alert.  Taking simply sleep instead of Tylenol Pm is just the sleep aid of Tylenol PM and not the pain reliever, so I would suggest that.  I personally can not sleep listening to a radio because I listen to the radio instead of sleeping.  Since it is your move to college that is probably affecting your sleep patterns, maybe it will go away with time.  Maybe your eating patterns have changed with a roommate.  It could be a variety of things.  Maybe you are nervous about college.  Either way if you are sleep deprived, I would recommend seeing your doctor if it does not correct itself soon.  Good luck in college.

Thanks Gozalien! I should have clarified, I took the sleep aid version of the tyleonol PM,not the regular kind. for everyone who offered advice-I went to sleep REALLY fast last night but woke up at 12:30am and was as tense as a board. My muscles in my arms were so flexed really hard and I kept trying to shake my arms out to get them to realease. that last about a half hour and then I drifted back to sleep until 7am.

I was actually really happy that i got that much sleep last night! But anyone have any idea what the weird muscle tension was about? it was weird and kind of painful.

 

Could be a mild case of sleep paralysis??? It's what happens when your body wakes up during REM sleep. When you're in REM sleep, your body stops itself from moving so you don't hurt yourself while your dreaming! (At least, this is my understanding of it) and a possible cause can sometimes be sleep deprivation, because your body clock is out of sync so you wake up at the wrong time and stuff. Here's a wikipedia article about it, may be of interest to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

The muscle cramping could be vitamin deficiency, over-training/over-exercising, or just plain old dehydration. All of these can affect sleep patterns, too so you might wanna look into those, too.

Wow, I feel like Dr. House now, heehee.

Yoga relaxes the hell outta me. I don't even bother trying to do homework on yoga nights... LOL

I told my yoga instructor about how well I sleep at night and we had a discussion about how much trouble I have falling asleep at night (3-4 hours is a GOOD night for me...). She said to try the downward-facing dog pose for a few minutes (like 3-5 minutes) and it should help me sleep better. Haven't tried it yet, but it's worth a shot. (Here's a link to some instructions in case you don't know how to do this pose yet http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/info/downward-faci ng-dog.asp )

 

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the tips and links, I am going to look into them all!

i second yoga.  i've been an insomniac since i was a kid, and anytime i'm doing yoga, it helps immensely.

but also, the overthinking and anxiety is a big thing.  i've learned not to worry about whether or not i'm sleeping.  if it's one of those nights, instead of stressing and looking at the clock and counting down the hours, i just rest.  sometimes i don't even bother to close my eyes - i just lie there and rest my body.

if i'm genuinely stressed about stuff that needs to be done, i'll get up and make a list, then prioritize and plan what i'll do the next day.  that helps.

i used to do what tincognito describes, but i've tried to stop, because i think i tend to get over-involved in fictional situations ;)  i'm a writer, too, and there have been many times when i neglect sleep, exercise, school, everything but the firmest obligations, in favour of hanging out with my fictional characters (AKA: imaginary friends).

I have very serious sleep issues. My doctor basically has to give me elephant tranquilizers to get me to sleep. It's rather embarrassing when people see my sleep arsenal.

Ok well now that I said it, I guess I have to post it

Two .5mg extended release Xanax
two .5mg perphanizine (part of my bipolar meds anyway)
One 10mg Ambien

After all of that, sometimes I still don't sleep. I really don't know what is wrong with me. My mind just never shuts off.