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Insomnia Thread

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 12:27 am
by Magrus
I have this sleeping problem, where I can't sleep. I end up spamming/reading/playing games when I can't sleep and I should be until I pass out. I thought "hey, maybe there's someone else out there with the same problem, and why don't I make a thread for it".

Well, here you go. If you have the same problem, and feel the need to post inane or serious things whilst unable to get the rest you aptly deserve, here's a place for it.

At the moment, I'm trashed and full of vodka, thinking to myself "I have a baby that will be here in six hours, and there is no way I'll be asleep anytime soon". Now, I can stay up, eat marischino cherries soaked in vodka, and play video games all night. Which, most likely I'll be doing so and smiting everything that comes into drunken focus in NWN with my cleric/fighter soon enough.

However, nothing beats a good spamming run with like-minded people. So, here we are with a new thread.

Oh, and for future reference, I don't care what goes on in this thread, or any other I make unless noted otherwise. AND...big and...vodka soaked cherries are heavenly. :cool:

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:42 am
by Denethorn
Try drinking beer to drift you off to sleep instead... no I'm not a missionary of The Sacred Fermented Beverage trying to convert you ;) . But I find after I've stumbled home on an eve of extremely heavy beer consumption, even if I have sobered up slightly, I literally collapse in bed due to exhaustion.

Perhaps the sheer effort of raising that pint glass over and over, or those constant trips to the lavatories to empty ones ever expanding bladder simply wears the body out after a few hours.

The more scientific among us might point out the tremondous strain pints and pints of lager place upon the gut. Or that the absorbtion of thousands of calories (a pint of beer can have anywhere between 200-400 calories :cool: ) produces that natural lethargic and groggy effect.

Whatever the reasoning, give it a try sometime ;) . Set aside the vodka, give the distilleries a brief rest for one night. And maybe, just maybe, you'll sleep like a highly intoxicated little lamb :D

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:45 am
by winter rose
throw away the beer/vodka/ what ever you have. Thats a first. Get some warm milk with a hint of honey in it. And take a long warm bath. Get some candles, get some soothing music, and dont fall asleep in the bathroom. :p

You could do a work out before all of the above. It will tire you out, and relaxing in the bath will help you get sleepy.

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:50 am
by Rudar Dimble
Get some order in your daily life. Be awake from 8am to 1pm and then go to bed, whether your sleepy or not...after a couple of days it should work. :)

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:52 am
by Locke Da'averan
[QUOTE=winter rose]throw away the beer/vodka/ what ever you have. Thats a first. Get some warm milk with a hint of honey in it. And take a long warm bath. Get some candles, get some soothing music, and dont fall asleep in the bathroom. :p

You could do a work out before all of the above. It will tire you out, and relaxing in the bath will help you get sleepy.[/QUOTE]

he ain't a woman :D :p

well if tiring yourself out doesn't do the trick.. i'm pretty sure you've tried the "alcohol treatment" more than once so hmm.. and i know that you're not asking for a solution but to discuss about it with others that might have the similar problem.. IMO if one has alot in his mind it's hard to fall asleep.. smth that one looks forward, fears will take your sleep easily..

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:53 am
by Magrus
The only two ways I found that actually knock me out so I stay asleep through the whole night is downing liqour until I pass out (why I drink so often :o ) or rough sex. I know why for the alcohol, but the sex, I can do exercise and wear myself out, and still, won't stay asleep. Something else is doing it there besides just exhaustion afterwards.

So, I just try keeping busy when I can't sleep if I don't have liqour. It gets expensive. :(

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:54 am
by winter rose
[QUOTE=Locke Da'averan]he ain't a woman :D :p

[/QUOTE]

Oh come on now. Men dont like a nice warm bath with scented candles? And perhaps a woman in there too? :p

Magrus -- I would think that alcohol would have negative affects afterwards. So I would suggest you try something else. Now tiring yourself out and a hot bath/shower should work!

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:55 am
by Locke Da'averan
[QUOTE=Magrus]The only two ways I found that actually knock me out so I stay asleep through the whole night is downing liqour until I pass out (why I drink so often :o ) or rough sex. I know why for the alcohol, but the sex, I can do exercise and wear myself out, and still, won't stay asleep. Something else is doing it there besides just exhaustion afterwards.

So, I just try keeping busy when I can't sleep if I don't have liqour. It gets expensive. :( [/QUOTE]

does the sex have to be physically demanding? but indeed, sometimes sex does wear you out so you can sleep better.. that's the stress therapy ;)

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:56 am
by Rudar Dimble
[QUOTE=winter rose]Oh come on now. Men dont like a nice warm bath with scented candles? And perhaps a woman in there too? :p

Magrus -- I would think that alcohol would have negative affects afterwards. So I would suggest you try something else. Now tiring yourself out and a hot bath/shower should work![/QUOTE]
The guy really wants to get you into bath ;)

But I agree...try to stay away from the liquor, it won't help in the long run

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:56 am
by Cuchulain82
[QUOTE=Rudar Dimble]Get some order in your daily life. Be awake from 8am to 1pm and then go to bed, whether your sleepy or not...after a couple of days it should work. :) [/QUOTE]
This works very well for me. CE can probably back this up with actual data, but quality of sleep (how rested you feel, etc.) increases if you are in a schedule. Personally, during the week I do to bed around midnight and get up at 7:00 am. It really has helped my feeling rested since I started getting more regular hours (I used to go to bed at 3 or 4, get up at 10 or 12... then try to fall asleep early the next night- a real mess).

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:56 am
by Locke Da'averan
[QUOTE=winter rose]Oh come on now. Men dont like a nice warm bath with scented candles? And perhaps a woman in there too? :p
[/QUOTE]

well with a woman it's totally different matter naturally :rolleyes:

but lighting some scented candles and taking a long hot bath is more a girl thing IMO :o

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 8:59 am
by Cuchulain82
I sleep like a baby after sex. I have 3 distinct phases that all occur within the approximate 10 minutes post-coital:

(1) giggling- I'm very happy with myself
(2) drowsy- trying to cuddle, etc.
(3) dead asleep- usually 3-5 minutes after stage 1.

Also, sometimes my girlfriend rubs my head at night if I can't sleep. I find this tremendously relaxing and I'm always lights out.

I say stay away from booze too. I love drinking, but the quality of sleep after drinking is usually very low.

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:01 am
by Denethorn
Yeh the scented candles are a bit over the limit. As for the sex thang, its apparently hormonal for us to fall asleep after a bout of intense lovemaking, so women should stop complaining ;)

Being honest, cutting out alcohol completely might solve the problem. My cousin who is similarly heavy drinker suffers from insomnia and occasional depression, and stomach troubles. All apparently related to her daily binges. Drinking till you conk out is not a great idea... atleast in the longterm ;)

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:05 am
by C Elegans
[QUOTE=Denethorn]so women should stop complaining ;) [/QUOTE]

Complaining? I am dead asleep within 30 seconds after sex. It's hormonal for both men and women, it's probably the oxytocin doing it. Oxytocin is a hormone and a neuropeptide that makes us humans relax, and it is released after orgasm and when smelling people you have a close attachment to in both males and females.

More on sleep (and sex) later, I must work now.

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:08 am
by Cuchulain82
[QUOTE=C Elegans]Complaining? I am dead asleep within 30 seconds after sex. It's hormonal for both men and women, it's probably the oxytocin doing it. Oxytocin is a hormone and a neuropeptide that makes us humans relax, and it is released after orgasm and when smelling people you have a close attachment to in both males and females.

More on sleep (and sex) later, I must work now.[/QUOTE]
I'm gonna print this out and show it to my girlfriend. She gets so mad when I zonk out in a few minutes. Now I know it isn't all my fault. :D
("Baby, please, it's biological! I can't help it! ;) )

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:08 am
by Magrus
Yeah, the bath thing irritates me, unless we're involving a girl in there with me it just isn't relaxing.

As far as the drinking, if you knew how I get if I haven't slept for a few days, you'd be feeding me shots to get me to sleep. I've got no reason to worry about long term effects of drinking heavily with my health situation so I don't bother. Sleep deprivation however causes rather immediate effects that can be quite bothersome within a matter of days.

[QUOTE=Locke Da'averan]does the sex have to be physically demanding? but indeed, sometimes sex does wear you out so you can sleep better.. that's the stress therapy [/QUOTE]

Yeah, first off, the girl has to wear me out, which is a good deal of work. It's frustrating not finding a partner than can keep up with you. Otherwise I end up more frustrated and not sleeping at all. If it isn't something physically demanding, an hour or so later I'll end up wide awake and wanting another go at it.

I get the giggly thing, and if I'm not worn out, I end up going back to playful and then horrid tease within the course of 5-10 minutes again. :o A nympho with insomnia does not mix well for a lot of people. :(

See, when I do fall asleep, I wake up 30 minutes to 2 hours later, and it takes an hour or two for me to fall asleep. So if I fall asleep at midnight, wake up at 2, fall asleep at 3, then wake up at 3:30, and fall asleep at 5, and then wake up at 6....there's no true rest there. If I get wasted, I'm down and no waking up whatsoever.

I have anxiety, so worrying is part of why I can't fall asleep. Beyond that...I've always been the type that I just don't sleep enough. I love sleep, but it's always been a pattern that I'll be up for a few days and run on 10 hours sleep spread out over a 4 day period, pass out for most of the 5th day and go back to little sleep again. I don't know why to be honest. :confused:

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:09 am
by Rudar Dimble
[QUOTE=C Elegans]More on sleep (and sex) later, I must work now.[/QUOTE]
And I guess your work doesn't involve any of those two? ;)

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:14 am
by winter rose
Yoga!!!!! (ps have you tried hypnosis therapy for the anxiety)

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:21 am
by Cuchulain82
[QUOTE=winter rose]Yoga!!!!! (ps have you tried hypnosis therapy for the anxiety)[/QUOTE]
That's excellent advice.

Ummm, why aren't you worried about the long term consequence of drinking, Magrus? Not to worry is, well, somewhat irresponsible to say the least.

Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 9:22 am
by Magrus
Yoga was a bad experience. A friend tried teaching me so I wouldn't have to be surrounded by people in a class (which drives me up the wall, being surrounded by people). I can't deal with "relaxing music". "Relaxing music" for me is like...Devil Driver and Dope. So classes are out.

Anyways, friend tried teaching me, and yoga ended up something else. We had fun and got exercise but definately no yoga. I just found it frustrating altogether and we, yeah. No yoga. :o

Yes I have tried that, didn't work. So far, sex and liqour have been the things with the least amount of negavtive side-effects for me to get a good nights sleep.

[QUOTE=C Elegans]Complaining? I am dead asleep within 30 seconds after sex. It's hormonal for both men and women, it's probably the oxytocin doing it. Oxytocin is a hormone and a neuropeptide that makes us humans relax, and it is released after orgasm and when smelling people you have a close attachment to in both males and females.[/QUOTE]

Oxytocin isn't doing it's job for me. :mad:

[QUOTE=Denethorn]Being honest, cutting out alcohol completely might solve the problem. My cousin who is similarly heavy drinker suffers from insomnia and occasional depression, and stomach troubles. All apparently related to her daily binges. Drinking till you conk out is not a great idea... atleast in the longterm [/QUOTE]

I've dealt with this since I was a child, the drinking helps for both the insomnia and the depression actually. Long term health problems aren't a worry for me either.

@Cuch, no, I've been informed by doctors I have no reason to bother with anything long-term for health reasons. Definately not irresponsible, just reality on my part.