How do you get to sleep?

Stephalump · Mar 11, 2013

Thank you all for the great advice :). I'd prefer to steer clear of meds and wine but they are good suggestions. The more tips you come up with the merrier . Also, I'm a dorm student so my resources are limited as far as baths, and am not old enough to drink[/quote']
Seriously, the best thing ever is melatonin. Have you tried it? I've found I don't need an entire pill...a quarter of the big 3mg pills 45min before bed and I'm out. If I take it the same time every night for a week my body gets into the schedule and I don't need it again until I screw myself again by staying up late.
Also, your morning schedule is just as important. If you get up at the same to,e every morning (whether you have plans or not) you'll save yourself the groggy "slept too much" feeling and then the late nights that follow.

hodgieRN · Mar 11, 2013

If you are lying in bed and can't fall asleep, get out of bed and sit on the couch for 5 minutes, then go back to bed. If you lay there and never get up, you will become irritated that you aren't falling asleep. Getting up and going back will clear the head.

My mind races at night. I have a million things I think about. So, I try to imagine one thing...like a picture of the beach. I focus on that one thing. If bills, tests, or work start funneling in, I switch back to that one picture in my head and hold it. After a while, it becomes boring, and I fall asleep.

Another thing I do is tense different muscle groups and then relax. I squeeze my hands for 5 sec, then relax; my forearms, then arms, then neck, then abd, then legs, then feet. After that, I imagine myself floating in water. This relaxes the body and the water is the one picture I concentrate on. The longer you can go without your mind racing, the faster you will fall asleep.

Try and get sleepy somewhere else, then go to bed. I often get frustrated as I lay in bed. So, I will lay on the couch and get super sleepy. Right when I am fighting sleep, I will go into the bedroom.

Listening to music is a great way to relax. I did it as a kid. I would put on headphones and lay there. I would start nodding off and then take the headphones off and crash. When you listen to music, your brain is occupied and the mind won't race as much. I don't know if you listen to electronic dance music, but there is a super chill music station that makes me crash. It's on Digitally Imported - addictive electronic music or DI.fm. Look for the station that says "Space Dreams." There are iphone apps that stream digitally imported radio and that's what I use on my phone. I use the TuneIn app. The channel is just ambient melodies. It sounds like you are floating in space. Its long, continuous, synthesized melody that has no beats behind it. It turns my brain into jelly.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Mar 11, 2013

Seriously, the best thing ever is melatonin. Have you tried it? I've found I don't need an entire pill...a quarter of the big 3mg pills 45min before bed and I'm out. If I take it the same time every night for a week my body gets into the schedule and I don't need it again until I screw myself again by staying up late.
Also, your morning schedule is just as important. If you get up at the same to,e every morning (whether you have plans or not) you'll save yourself the groggy "slept too much" feeling and then the late nights that follow.

I also agree with trying melatonin! I work nights and I constantly switch back and forth from sleeping during the daytime to being awake during the day...so to get me back on track, I use melatonin. Melatonin works very quickly and the best thing is, you don't feel groggy when you wake up!

Jill2Shay · Mar 11, 2013

I wish melatonin worked for me. I don't have a problem being tired, I have trouble shutting my brain off. I'll lay there for hours, completely exhausted, and not sleep singing a song over and over in my head. The only thing that shuts it up is medication.

hodgieRN · Mar 12, 2013

Melatonin give me vivid nightmares.