Hi,
Yeah I can completely sympathise with this I've never really slept well at all I'm almost always tired, here's a few techniques if found that helped me.
I read somewhere that the place you sleep should be a little like a cave so:
* Keep it as empty as possible this especially goes for anything you associate with activity (this includes T. Vs radios etc if you can) your brain picks up on this and stays in sort of "active mode".
* Especially don't have anything in your sleeping area that you associate with work or stressful activities your brain picks-up on these subconsciously and keeps you in a stressed state while you sleep.
* Try to keep your bed room slightly cooler than the rest of the house (preferably below 21 C although don't freeze
)
* Make sure the room is dark and quite (no d'uh
) this especially goes for LEDs you often have on electronic tech these days particularly the blue ones, certain wavelengths of blue light are picked up by the daylight sensing receptors in the eye and kind of tell your brain to get ready to wakeup.
* If you have a clock in your room once you've set the alarm and turn it away from you, if you wake up in the night and look at the clock you subconsciously become more aware of the time even when you drift back to sleep.
* Use a proper clock for your alarm not your mobile as this is also something that you associate with mental stimulation (infact turn it off or leave it in another room if you can), personally I use an electronic clock I hate the tick tock ones, they keep me awake.
* Try to get some form of physical activity a few hours before you sleep although not right before as it releases helpful endorphins also avoid caffeine and alcohol before sleeping.
* I have read that you sleep better in the nude and have friends that will swear they sleep better when their not wearing anything, personally I only ever found this when its hot though.
* Always try to give yourself a little bit of relaxing "me time" before you go to bed (although I appreciate this may be difficult for a single mom) and this doesn't mean veging out to watch T.V. it means proper relaxation, Oh and on the subject of T.V. if you do watch it before bed don't watch anything like action or horror it puts you in a hightend state of anxiety which wont help you sleep.
* Try to keep some pattern to your sleep otherwise you knock your circadian rhythm out of whack and end up feeling jet lagged.
* Most importantly do whatever you can
not to go to bed
anxious or stressed (much easier said than done sometimes I know).
Few ! that's one long list, some of its really helped me hopefully it can do the same for you
.
Some night I am up all night not feeling tired at all. Sometimes not feeling anything at all other times i feel stressed out and very anxious. Insomnia.
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because my perception is that going to sleep/getting up should be easy for a grown up and it is only me having these issues.
