I used to have insomnia frequently and then I discovered podcasts. I put a whole bunch in a queue and rarely make it through the first one. If I wake up in middle of night the podcasts are still going and after a few minutes of listening I’m asleep again.
I go to bed about 12 and usually get at least 8 hours, unless I have to be up early.
My D always says if she gets up and can’t sleep she reverses herself on her bed - so head at the foot of the bed. Works for her!!! I wouldn’t hesitate though to change sleeping place - move to another bed, couch or something.
One thing I found helpful during my years of insomnia was to turn the clock around so I didn’t know what time I woke up or how long I was awake or how many hours until I had to get up. There was no upside to those calculations and I was happier not knowing exactly how sleep deprived I was.
I have to say listening to meditation sound track really helps me going back to sleep. It makes me focus on something other than “I have x number of hrs before I have to wake up or when I wake up I have to do these things.” Even if I don’t fall asleep, it calms me down so I feel rested when I get up in the morning.
I take melatonin 20 min before bed if I know I have to be on top of my game the next day. It is probably few times a month or when I travel across time zones. I rarely feel groggy the next day. I would try it over a weekend to see how it affects you.
I usually go to bed around 11 but watch TV for an hour, by which time I’m ready to fall asleep. After turning off the TV I listen to an audiobook and am usually sound asleep after 2 or 3 tracks. I occasionally wake up around three and listening to the book usually sends me back to sleep relatively quickly.
When I was younger, I always had problems falling asleep. But I would drink coffee all day long. When I got pregnant, I turned to decaf, and since then I have a cup or two of full-strength before noon and decaf afterwards. It has helped a great deal–I can tell the difference if I have caffeine later.
I usually wake up around 7, but being retired means I can sometimes sleep later. It also allows me to nap as needed during the day!
On weeknights I get about 7 hours sleep and weekends 8 or 9. I sleep ok most of the time, but I do have times (somewhat regularly) where for several days I cannot get back to sleep. Most of my solutions have been mentioned.
To get back to sleep, I use Melatonin and/or put a bit of lavender oil on a Kleenex under my pillow. These usually work though not always right away. Some nights I just get up and do something else for a while so I’m not trying so hard and then go back to sleep.
If I’ve had several days of this already and really need some sleep, I will take a Benadryl before going to bed. This usually gets me through the night.
It depends on the schedule of the rest of my family.
Last night my daughter worked till midnight. She had my car, but she’s a new driver and I was up till she got home.
The same will be true tonight.
Today I slept in till about 7. Tomorrow I’m teaching summer school, so I’ll have to be up a bit earlier.
But when I was seriously ill in 2008, I learned that I really can function reasonably well for a few days without a lot of sleep. (At that point, it was worry that kept me up, not scheduling.) So if I hit a few nights in a row where I don’t get as much sleep as I would like, I know it’s no big deal.
I know this sounds odd, but one aspirin-free excedrin works for me on the occasion I really need to sleep. I think that I may have aches and pains that I am not aware of. I kept track of this with a fitbit for several months to confirm my sleep. Doubt it is a placebo effect, but you never know. I several times tried tylenol alone but it did not work. I drink one cup of coffee in the morning. The caffeine in the pill does not affect me.
My average last week was 6 hours, 30 minutes. I don’t have any trouble sleeping once I’m in bed. The difficulty is getting to bed at a decent time! We work late and then need to unwind a little, by watching TV or sitting in the hot tub.
Currently (at 58) it’s about 6 1/2 hours a night. I used to be able to sleep a very long 9 hours, but it’s dwindling. My grandmother was averaging 4 1/2 hours a night until she was 90 and passed away. Every older person I talk to about sleeping and eating patterns pretty much says the same thing “as you get older you need less” - I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what I hear.
7 1/2 hour pretty much every night. I have been fortunate to never have had any sleep issues. I generally go to bed around 11 and read for about 15 minutes then fall asleep.
I used to watch something on Netflix or Amazon before going to bed. I was convinced I needed something to wind down before settling in. I stopped doing that, and I’ve found that even if I might feel “awake”, once I settle in, it doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep.
I need 8 or 8+ hours of sleep to feel at my best. Alcohol before bed disrupts my sleep by causing me to wake too frequently during the night or to wake up for the day too early. If I need more sleep, it’s better if I go to bed early vs. trying to sleep in later.
When falling asleep, I plug into some nerdy podcast. I find if I wake during the night, playing a podcast keeps my monkey brain occupied and prevents it from latching onto Life’s Problems.
H has almost always had trouble sleeping. He wakes in the middle of the night, and his mind starts whirring away, thinking about work, worrying about work, solving work problems, work, work, work. Then he worries he will feel like crap at work for not sleeping well. Then his back aches, and he worries more. He is not very open to mindfulness ideas, and usually resorts to OTC sleep aids, which konk him out, but don’t result in him feeling well-rested.
A client of mine told me Lexapro quieted his mind, completely fixing his mind waking and working endlessly in the middle of the night. H won’t try it.
@goober1997 Have you discussed doing a Sleep Study, and would you get insurance coverage for it?
^That’s where naps come in and can be very beneficial.
I’ve never been a great sleeper, but in the past 5 years or so, it’s gotten much worse. I go to bed at the same time every night (around 11:15) unless I fall asleep on the couch because I’ve been sleep-deprived. I can function if I’ve had 7 hours of sleep, but often I wake up after 5 hours and have trouble getting back to sleep.
Benadryl has worked at times, but isn’t a good long-term solution for me. Melatonin helped me fall asleep, but not stay asleep. My doctor doesn’t like sleeping pills, but prescribed Trazadone for me. It’s a 30+ year old antidepressant that’s not really used for that anymore, but one of its side effects is drowsiness. I take 50mg at night. It worked very well when I started taking it 7 months ago, but more recently I’m waking up early and can only get back to sleep about 50% of the time. I may up the dosage to 100mg, but I don’t want to get into a pattern of needing to increase the dosage beyond that. On the plus side, I fall asleep on the couch less frequently.
I was thinking about this last night so went to bed earlier than usual (still used melatonin) and miraculously slept for 8 hours. The whites of my eyes look white today. I can’t remember ever seeing them this clear before.
Thankfully I sleep great with about 7-8 hours night. But I also intensely workout anywhere between 75-90 minutes 6-7 days/week, so I’m also pretty tired by the evening.
I sleep 6-7 hours per night. I do tend to wake during the night, sometimes multiple times, and the thing that works best for me is using a Kindle Paperwhite. I read it at bedtime and then anytime I wake up during the night I just read until I fall asleep and it will just shut itself off. It is NOT like a computer or tablet or even like a Kindle Fire, in that it is not backlit like computers are and won’t stimulate the brain or do anything to keep you awake. Nor will it disturb your partner. This has been a great solution for me as I don’t worry one bit about any waking time- I just peacefully read and drift away again. 
(ps- it has to be a paperwhite though, not any other kindle.)
I am so, so sorry. I am very lucky as I sleep like the proverbial log. 8 to 10 hours, with 10 being my natural amount if I don’t have to use an alarm. Once in awhile I do wake up around 4 a.m. and lie awake worrying. Needlessly. I read myself to sleep on my Kindle every night.
I struggle with insomnia for periods of time and then sometimes I sleep great. Anything I try to help me sleep, melatonin, OTC, or even prescription doesn’t work after using it for more than a few nights. Sometimes I can’t fall asleep and sometimes I wake up 1-2 and can’t go back to sleep. I am usually up at 4:30A, but that works for my as I exercise in the morning. Of course getting up early increases the ruminations.
About melatonin: Your body naturally produces less than .3 mg. .3 is the recommended starting dose with adjustments up to 1-2 mg. My understanding is more than that, it can make you irritable and groggy. But, of course, everyone is different and who knows what is really in everyone’s melatonin supplement. It is meant to help get you to sleep, but not maintain sleep.