Sleepless night

[jiamei67]

Hi all,

I always have problems falling asleep ever since I was a kid, now I know it's dyspraxia related. It's just so frustrating to lie in bed wild awake, my brain is just racing, thinking what has happened during the day. If I had a bad day, all conversation will be played back in my brain and I get so agitated, upset that i have palpitation. I just keep thinking what will happen if I did not say that or if I did say it. The night is so long that I am scared of bed time. Do you have the same experience? If so, how do you deal with it? My company is going through a massive re-organisation, the stress and work load make the bed time even more difficult. I am so so tired but I can't sleep, sleeping pill is no longer working! Please help me.

[alice3rd]

Hello ,
This sounds unusual but if you have any sensory problems this can affect you at bed time !
I know that personally my sense of touch it very hyper sensitive and by using heavier bedding it desensitises me, as I find that when my senses are in overdrive my brain usually follows ! This doesn't just apply to touch say for example hearing, noise cancelling head phones ! Vision, use an eye mask ect .....
Also relaxation tapes are great but not the ones with just music, you need one where they tell you how to relax and destress.
Another recommendation Is if you dO physical exercise you fall asleep quicker of a night time
Hope that helps x

[joy]

Hi
This is not uncommon for dyspraxics who suffer with anxiety and panic attacks.You seem to be trapped in the fear adrenalin fear cycle. First you need to understand that your fears are terrifying only because your body is in a sensitised state as a result of an exhausted nervous system your fear of another sleepless night and overactive mind and dreading the feeling of night time coming for fear of having another sleepness night and it happening again , only to get up totaly exhausted . So your fear of it creates it.Have you seen a doctor he might be able to give you something and maybe get sometime off work to try and get some rest to take some of the pressure off you. the palpitations I will do a short post on them that might help you to understand them better.You can get some good relaxation tapes if you shop around . Paul Mckenna does a good one.

[BinaryBovine]

I can relate to this problem. I don't think I ever got enough sleep when I was at school due to stress and anxiety. I used to get nightmares about my problems too, still do sometimes. It usually involved being bullied, or losing everything, forgetting things, being in the wrong place and getting in trouble, it was awful.
I didn't even realize most of the time I had a sleep problem though, despite being tired pretty much every day. The way I dealt was to read every night before I went to bed. I LOVE reading, it relaxes me, entertains me, and most of all distracts me from my life. I'd get a really good book (Harry Potter was my favourite- I was one of the very first to read it) and delve into the story. Often I'd fall asleep with the book in my hands. It annoyed my parents as I'd usually read till very late, but at least I'd get to sleep eventually. Another thing I recommend is, if you have a clock by your bed, cover it or turn it around so you can't see the time, otherwise you'll 'clock watch' and that'll increase your anxiety. There were times I'd look at my clock, see the time and panic, "Its 2am! I've gotta get up in 5 hours! I've gotta sleep RIGHT NOW!" Then I'd toss and turn trying to sleep and panicking all at the same time
Read a good book is my advice, but stay away from Stephen Kings books! I read Duma Keys once and got the worst nightmare of my life!

[jiamei67]

Yes, it's the fear of not being able to fall asleep makes me even more stressed. I will have lights on, book by the my pillow just in case I couldn't sleep then I can read again without getting up. I am just in this catch 22 situation, the more I need a good night sleep, the longer it takes me to fall asleep, the more stressed I get. I have tried most of herbal remedy, you name it, hot milk, lavender oil bath. I am proud of being dyspraxia, but insomnia does bother me, sometimes I am so envious of anyone who can sleep like a log. Clock idea sounds good, I will try it tonight. Thanks for all your kindness, we are helping each other and I no longer feel lonely.

Jiamei

[BinaryBovine]

Glad to help, the insomnia isn't something only dyspraxics suffer from though- my husband has chronic insomnia and he's not dyspraxic at all. I hope you manage to get your insomnia under control soon, sleeping pills are a last resort and can be very addictive so I hope you don't have to resort to them. I've tried herbal stuff in the past myself- like lavender oil on my pillow- it made me nauseous! For me it all depends on my state of mind as to weather I can switch off or not. Meditation can help too, like listening to your breathing etc...

[The new luddite]

You could be describing me with what you've just said , Personaly I lile a good bit of escapeism before bed so I read quite a lot also I tend to go for good long walks to get myself physically tired also try avoiding alcohol and caffine before bed (obvious I know but it does help.)

[Captain_Ludd]

Yeah I'm the same, as already mentioned I like to do some physical activity before bed my preference is walking, gym is also good but if you do that wait a couple of hours before sleep because otherwise you might still be on an Adrenalin high.

I also drink warm milk before bed, I always thought it was a myth but it does release Tryptophan which helps produce the sleepy hormones, I know its tempting but avoid alcohol before bed (hopefully your not drinking on sleeping pills anyway !) it will "knock you out" but the sleep you do get will be more fitful (I think I remember reading alcohol promotes production of Norepinephrine which is a stress hormone but don't quote me on that.)

As also mentioned a good bit of escapism always helps I like reading a bit of Terry Prachett before bed its not to heavy and funny with it, try to avoid anything like action or horror before pushing out the Z's it gets you into the wrong state of mind for sleep.

My bedroom has only one piece of technology in it, my alarm clock nothing else no computers no pads no phones, no TV nothing, your brain associates them with mental activity which is again not psychologically good for sleep.

On that note try to avoid technology with screens or lots of lights before bed, there are receptors in your which pickup the blue wavelengths put out by most LEDs and assume it means its getting light causing your body to go "time to getup" that's why Apple introduced Night shift mode but I'm still not convinced better just avoided all together where possible.

Oh and finally never do any work in your bed room because you start to subconsciously associate the place where you sleep with the stress of work.

Lot of stuff there but it helps me and hopefully at least some of it helps you .

[Jonifers]

Hi, what do you mean by heavier bedding here. New here from Australia!

[Tom fod]

Hi and welcome Jonifers

This is not easy to explain and won't necessarily make sense to everyone unless they share similar experiences in the way they process sensory information. I believe what Alice alluded to back in 2012 was a need to feel some weight in the bedlinen as for many this can have a calming effect. On summer nights there is a trade off between heavier bedding and not feeling too uncomfortably hot. Many of us struggle to switch off our minds and enter a relaxed enough state to enable sleep.

Hope that makes sense?

Hello ,
This sounds unusual but if you have any sensory problems this can affect you at bed time !
I know that personally my sense of touch it very hyper sensitive and by using heavier bedding it desensitises me, as I find that when my senses are in overdrive my brain usually follows ! This doesn't just apply to touch say for example hearing, noise cancelling head phones ! Vision, use an eye mask ect .....
Also relaxation tapes are great but not the ones with just music, you need one where they tell you how to relax and destress.
Another recommendation Is if you dO physical exercise you fall asleep quicker of a night time
Hope that helps x

[Clumsy]

A heavy duvet is a must for me, I can't sleep without it. It feels comforting to have something pressing down on me. This extends to things like tight fitting clothing, nothing crazy just the slim fitting stuff.

[morgank82]

Here is a good remedy for sleepless nights that will work at times. If u boil and banana and drink it like tea, it will help to go to sleep. Not all the time though.

[morgank82]

Spd can be a hassle at times trying to go to bed with. If under dyspraxia and have anxiety it will indeed turn up your volume on your Spd and make it more intense. Soothing music of zen ,Japanese music is the soothing to senses and calms the mind . Again might work at times not all.

[HopefulMike]

I get a awful nights sleep when I'm highly stressed, I can go to bed early but my brain will tick over a million miles a hour. I don't really remember dreams but when stressed I kinda day dream not properly asleep about not being to sleep. So I have in the past stayed awake silly hours so I'm super tired and get a few hours of sleep half decent sleep then a whole nights of stressed sleep. Stupid logic I know.

Some great suggestions on here, I've always struggled with the logic of reading making you sleepy. Now I realise I mostly read crime thrillers so a pretty stupid thing to read before bed. Although sometimes does work as makes me forget about the things that have stressed me out.

[HopefulMike]

hmmm it seems a little sad that Im replying straight after my own previous post.... anyway! I'm getting barely much sleep recently I keep waking up or lay next to my partner for what feels like hours on end.... I mean I'm getting enough sleep im not so tired as i used to be im getting what feels like 5-7 hours

However in reality I think I'm just really restless and even in my dreams I dream of trying to sleep and I forget to the the pinching technique....