Sleeping Problems: How do you deal with it?

[deleted]

Recently I’ve been having a lot of trouble going to sleep any earlier than 3am. As I am writing this, it’s 6am and I haven’t slept. This is the second night in the past two weeks where I haven’t slept at all.

I guess I have too much to think about. I just finished my junior year of high school and I was supposed to apply to colleges early this July but my April ACT got cancelled due to COVID-19 so I’m taking one this Saturday. It will probably be the only one I get to take. I’m a good student, but I’m still nervous.

How do you get yourself to go to sleep when a seemingly endless number of thoughts flood your mind?

 

[SmoochsPLH]

Coming from someone who doesn't usually sleep till 6-7am (insomnias a pain) and has a brain that won't shut up, I'll give you some stuff that helps me from time to time.

Count backwards from 99 to 0. When you reach 0 start from 99 again. Keep looping from 99 to 0. Try to focus only on the counting. Eventually you'll doze off.

Watch videos that don't engage your brain. A video that you've seen a ton so you know what'll happen, a calm video, or just a boring video. Usually what does it for me is no commentary longplays of video games (longplayarchive is nice) or no speaking asmr baking vids (decocookie and hanse). Be careful you could fall asleep with your electronic on top of you.

Try reading a book.

Don't sleep like I do.

And if you're ok with it, take some sleep meds. I have in the past when anxiety was an issue.

Pretty much you have to bore your brain to sleep sometimes. And of course you're gonna be nervous it's college and the whole covid thing doesn't make it easier. But you'll be fine. All bad things no matter how severe pass. Just trust in your abilities. <3

 

[amohr267]

Honestly, when I'm stressed out nothing helps me at all. But I learned that just being in bed doing nothing is better than doing something because "you won't sleep anyway". Your body will feel better even if the sleeping mode didn't work properly.

 

[Xara]

my sleep schedule has been whack lately and like smoochsPLH suggested, if you’re okay with it, i would try sleep meds - that’s what i do on the nights where i cant fall asleep and it helps a lot ;w;

 

[*The Oakboro Mayor*]

Quarantine really messed up my sleep schedule, but here is what I found helps me sleep when things are stressful and I have a lot of thoughts.

Keep a “doodle journal” (as I like to call it) next to your bed so you can doodle your thoughts and feelings at night. Even though I can’t draw to save my life, I find that it helps me release some stress by just drawing what I feel.

Read a familiar book. I keep the same book next to my bed and read it when I feel stressed out because it’s something that’s familiar to me and it doesn’t keep me up at night wondering what’s going to happen next.

Try melatonin. It’s a natural supplement that you can take and it doesn’t harm you in anyway, it just helps you get to sleep faster.

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

This has literally been me since the lock down started. I've tried going to bed normally once, at around midnight to 1 am, but I ended up staying up super late the next day and was completely sleep deprived. I really don't know how to deal with it. Whenever I have no reason to sleep, like having work the next day, it seems like my body just keeps running, even on fumes, I just don't know how to rest... Like.. right now, it's 7:30 basically.. And I know my body is tired but I can't bring myself to sleep. It wasn't much better when I worked.. I'd sleep around 3 to 5 am and then have to drag myself out of bed to make it on time. I'd run on 3 hours of sleep every day in a high stress environment lol. I honestly have no idea how I survived those days XD

I think once work calls me back, I'd have more of a reason to fix my sleep schedule. As for right now, I guess the answer to how do I deal with it is.. Well.. I don't. Hehe.

 

[Blink.]

This has literally been me since the lock down started. I've tried going to bed normally once, at around midnight to 1 am, but I ended up staying up super late the next day and was completely sleep deprived. I really don't know how to deal with it. Whenever I have no reason to sleep, like having work the next day, it seems like my body just keeps running, even on fumes, I just don't know how to rest... Like.. right now, it's 7:30 basically.. And I know my body is tired but I can't bring myself to sleep. It wasn't much better when I worked.. I'd sleep around 3 to 5 am and then have to drag myself out of bed to make it on time. I'd run on 3 hours of sleep every day in a high stress environment lol. I honestly have no idea how I survived those days XD

I think once work calls me back, I'd have more of a reason to fix my sleep schedule. As for right now, I guess the answer to how do I deal with it is.. Well.. I don't. Hehe.

literally this. omg, I relate to the last line moreso! I don't! won't fix til I get called back to work ;~;

 

[Snowesque]

I'll just be up a long time. I don't expend a lot of energy, so that's the only way I can sleep when I want to.
When I've a lot of my mind, I just tell myself not getting sleep doesn't help at all and that somehow helps.
Avoiding looking at any devices or the clock helps a lot too, negates much of the "running out of time" anxiety.

Just takes some experimenting as we've all got different stuff going on.

 

[Midoriya]

I haven’t been able to wake up in the morning recently, no matter how late or early I go to sleep (which is slightly concerning...). The only thing that really helps me is going to sleep early and thinking about nothing when falling asleep, and when waking up there can’t be a ton of noise going on or I won’t want to get up (I’m a bit picky about getting out of bed, which probably isn’t a good thing).

I think just reminding myself that all of the thoughts and things I’m thinking can be dealt with later helps me a lot though. That, and maybe a glass of water and a nice book or show.

 

[InkFox]

Reading is the only thing that helps me, if I don't read, it takes me hours to fall asleep.
I read until I'm able to go through a few pages without my mind drifting out to some other thoughts, or if I feel my brain shutting down, like I have to reread the same passage several times to understand what it's about.
Nothing else helps, I'm a serial thinker, it never ever stops, particularly if I'm worried about something, and when the thought machine is on, sleep never comes haha. I hate to wake up late though, so no matter how much sleep I got, I'm always up before 9.

 

[_Rainy_]

I naturally just want to stay up quarantine or not, but it’s definitely gotten worse lately. It doesn’t help that I get all my energy at night. During the day I feel tired and blah and I tell myself I can’t wait to go to bed. But then once evening rolls around I’m feeling good for the first time all day and don’t want to go to bed. If I try to go to bed at 10pm when I’m used to going to bed at 2 or 3 am, it just won’t happen. When I try to fix it I’ll go to bed 15 minutes earlier and slowly do that until I get used to sleeping at a better time.

 

[biibii]

cbd oil or melatonin gummies!

 

[Shellzilla_515]

I take a few deep breaths and lightly tap both of my sides with my fingers. I also switched something up by turning off the lights in my bedroom and using lights from another room instead. I'm not sure if you sleep with lights on, but it helps for me.

 

[SpiritofAce]

I deal with my sleeping problems by ignoring them.

 

[Corrie]

I usually have no problem falling asleep. It's staying awake that I have troubles with lol. If I'm stressed with a lot of things on my mind I try to read or watch a show to distract myself.

 

[Aerious]

ZzzQuil if you'd like to immediately fall asleep. Worked before all of my standardized testing to ensure that I slept properly. Not a long-term solution, obviously. Meditation works well in general. I start at my toes and work my way up telling each part of my body to relax/loosen up. Usually pass out before I reach parts of my face.

 

[Dwayne Johnson]

i don't, lol

i wait until i just black out lol

 

[SoftenedHearts]

Honestly I just kind of watch stuff until I can't keep my eyes open. Music doesn't work, if it's something I love it's too engaging and I'll just jam out and daydream for hours, but I'm super picky with relaxing sleep music and one "off" note or sound that's too loud or high or jarring will entirely wake me up. Right now it's nearly 10 am.

In actuality what helps for me though when I don't get like how I am now (because I've had issues with sleep since I was born and I am not being remotely hyperbolic):

• Counting down from 1000. From 100 is too small and looping just gets frustrating and confusing to me, whereas it's easier to ballpark where I was at on a larger number scale
• I sleep with an eye mask, ear plugs, and these really comfortable fingerless paw gloves. Gets me all cozy and helps me stay asleep
• WEIGHTED BLANKET. Not for everyone, and I disagree with the excess hype they got as a cure all, but good lord is it a godsend for me. I have anxiety, restless legs at night (would sleep with my legs up on the wall), ADHD, and very strongly suspect being autistic as well. That sucker puts me out like a light. And mine has a washable cover that one side is cool bamboo material and the other is a really soft microfiber that gets all warm. It's heavenly.
• If you can separate your online time to not-your-bed and set up good sleep hygiene with a nighttime routine, I can't recommend that enough. That's the #1 thing that helps
• EAT WHILE YOU HAVE ENERGY. A big thing that keeps me awake is that I'm too hungry to sleep, but I've gotten too tired to like, get up and feed myself. And sleeping immediately after eating just does not happen for me.
• Sleep supplements! Make sure to research how they interact with your medication though. You also really don't need much melatonin (even though finding mixed supplements with 3 mg or less is a pain). Probably don't start with melatonin tbh. CMZ (calcium-magnesium-zinc) is really highly regarded. My brother with sleep problems nearly as bad as me had to stop taking it when he had a baby because otherwise he would sleep through crying! I take a blend with Valerian root, 3 mg melatonin, magnesium, passionflower, lemon balm?, and chamomile. I sleep super deeply with it though can tend to be very groggy when I wake up
• Honestly it's been done to death, but mess around with chamomile tea. I thought it was bunk since it didn't work when I was a kid but had 2 mugs last month and was ZONKED.
• Also yeah your body reacts to supplements differently as you age. All this sleep aid stuff used to do NOTHING for me but now it knocks me out (I just have to like.... remember to take it before 5 am)

If outside of COVID you find you really struggle with anxiety and it having a strong negative impact in your life, I do highly recommend seeking professional help if you can. Sleep aids help a lot but that seems to be your root issue. Finding ways to ground yourself should hopefully tackle the root issue. If you wind up on anxiety medication when I know it's my anxiety keeping me up, I take 1 of half of 1 and it helps slow my racing thoughts when it would be unending (I have a very low dosage). Not saying this as your first route to take, but if you or anyone in this thread wind up taking a "twice a day as needed" type medication, this can be incredibly helpful (especially on nights before I have a big thing coming up).

I'd suggest full on sleep medication as a last resort. It can work but so many sleep medications really mess you up. I had one of the more "gentle" ones and it had a potential painful nausea side effect, and kicked in in 10 minutes or less. Well one night I got the painful nausea (really feels like the worst you've ever had), went to the bathroom, then woke up bare-ass up, a busted nose, broken glasses, and my dad freaking out. Aside from that though it was one that didn't leave me feeling awful in the morning lol. Still, never took it again.