What do you do when you can't sleep?

[Nomilynn]

Apparently when I can't sleep I go on PT It is 4:30am here and I am wide awake. I did the same thing last night and ended up having to take Benedryl. My doctor told me that Benedryl is a safe *occasional* sleep aid but I can't get my mind to shut off. I've just made lists of all the things I have to do tomorrow, I've emailed the people I have to be in touch with, etc etc but now my mind wants it to hurry up and be tomorrow so I can get all these things done. The stupid part is I will be so tired that I'll fall asleep and get nothing done during the day.. :S I wish I knew how to break this pattern.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Justin often has trouble sleeping too. He usually watches TV for awhile, that usually helps him, but not always. He usually drinks a glass of milk before bed, almost every night. I don't know if that helps him or not though.

I almost never have trouble sleeping. When I do it's when I don't wind down before going to bed. I have to get everything else done, clean up the kitchen after supper, take the dogs out for their last walk, put my birds, rodents, reptiles to bed. Then I sit on the couch with the dogs, cats, & Justin for awhile and watch TV. That relaxes me and I can fall asleep easily after that. I wouldn't be able to sleep with out watching TV to wind down first.

If I can't sleep after winding down then I lay in bed and take really deep breaths and listen to my breathing, that relaxes me and clears my mind. This will sound silly, but I've done this since I was little- if I still can't sleep I lay in bed and imagine myself somewhere wonderful, like laying on the beach in Hawaii, or sailing with my favorite celebrity. Use your imagination and do something you'd love to do but probably never will, basically just day-dream until you drift off into a night-dream. Sounds silly, but that's how I'd fall asleep as a kid.

Another thing that helps me if I have something bothering me is to write in my Live Journal, if I don't want anyone to read it I keep it private, just writing it down helps to get it off my mind. If I have a lot of things that need to get done on my mind I make a ta-da list, then I don't have to worry about that until the next day.