Can't Sleep, Any Tips?

Drugs. That's my only tip. Drugs were the only thing to work on me. Calming stories helped a lot but they made me feel sleepy not sleep. But then again my problems were because of trauma

Hey friend. I have insomnia too. Have you tried diphenhydramine? (Benadryl, etc). It's an antihistamine (allergy medication) and it puts a lot of people to sleep. It is also a common sleep aid drug - for example I have a liquid gel sleep aid that's just diphenhydramine. It really helps me but I spoke to my doctor about using it and he said long term it can cause cognitive issues. So it's best not to use it for years on end but can help in a pinch. You can also try sleep aid teas like camomile or valerian root. White noise like rain or a fan can also help. They have apps for that. I hope you get some sleep. 💚

Hey there! So sorry you have been going through this. I have gone through the same and melatonin certainly didn't help me at all. I use an app called better sleep and it has been really wonderful. They have meditations and sleep sounds to help you relax. I thought it was really stupid at first and figured it wouldn't help, but it really did. I also drink golden milk, also stupid sounding, but it's a mixture of warm milk, tumeric, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, and honey. It really helps me feel tired.

Disrupted*

Also if you are diagnosed with insomnia your natural clock is distrusted by this sleep disorder so check with a doctor and they can maybe prescribe something that promotes sleep if your rhythms won’t do it naturally

Here’s what I learned as a neuroscience minor: melatonin is produced when your retinas signal the pineal gland that it is dark which in turn can promote sleep but does not actually make you sleep. Blue light the light that comes off tv and phones is a melatonin suppressor so using those right before bed makes it harder to signal. If you take melatonin at night and then use a bright light in the morning you can shift your natural clock to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. The main hormone that causes sleep is adenosine which builds up during the day the longer you are awake the more that the adenosine will signal your body to sleep. Taking too much melatonin will disrupt your natural clock and act kind of like nocturnal animals where their melatonin levels rise at night like most species but their cortisol also rises at night which is what allows them to be nocturnal.

Hey! There is actually some research that higher doses of melatonin don’t actually work as well because over time it creates a build up in your system so lower doses might actually work better. I personally take prescription sleep meds otherwise I basically never sleep like more that four hours ever. Other things have helped though. Weighted blankets are great. Sleep music/asmr are great. There are a ton of free options on YouTube. I also like the BetterSleep app because it allows you to design your own asmr for whatever sounds good that night. Doing relaxing activities like taking a bath, reading, watching a show that you already know how it ends, is happy and relaxing, and that you won’t want to finish all the way. I know a lot of people say no screens but movies are one of the only things that pretty reliably distracts my brain enough to snap out of overthinking or being super active. I really like Moana because I’ve seen it plenty of times and it’s relaxing. Getting up and stretching is good too!