sleep...

...is such a nice and calm sounding word. No letters are harsh, just a soft s and l together with lingering e's for the big finally of the p.

Why does sleep elude me so?

When I finally do fall asleep I sleep like a rock, hardly anything, not even alarm clocks wake me (with the exception of a baby or child). As a kid I can remember always staying up late, past my bedtime into the wee hours of the morning. My mother having one fun time waking me in the morning for school.

My problem: I can't get to sleep at a reasonable time. Yes, I have tried first off the shelve drugs then the real babies. For one or two days it will work then again it stops. No matter how tired I think I am sleep does not come. At one point I was on so many drugs to help me sleep I was afraid that I would never awaken!
I have since stopped with all the meds, although do try smaller amounts to no avail. It is like come somewhere around 4PM I wake up. I have been awake much longer but that is around the time my mind really kicks in. I pull so many all nighters in hopes of sleeping the next night from pure exhaustion that it is not even funny, and still I slump thru the day only to wake around the same time 4pm to not sleep again and wear myself out the second night somewhere in the wee hours of the morning and have a long sleep.
When was my mind trained that 4pm or around there is my wake up call?
I have searched to no avail strategies to help me sleep, even the dreaded warmed milk. I even got used to it
Anyway, this is just a 2am rant after again trying to sleep for several hours to no avail. My bed has been carefully crafted to be as comfortable as one can get a bed, inviting, I can almost hear it saying "come to me and sleep". Yet here I am.

Going to try this again. Wish me luck...1 sheep 2 sheep 3 sheep....

do you ever play music? nothing hard and crazy, but Techno or Trance can really do the trick. The repetitive patterns and beat block out other random thoughts as youre falling into dreamworld. I have a hard time sleeping myself, and ususally have to take Nyquil to get a GOOD nights sleep ( where i feel great the next day and not groggy at all)

What about a Fishtank screensaver/real fish tank ( if your computer is in your room of course) The sounds of the "Bubbles"( lol or real bubbles) will also help. I know the feeling though. Ill be up easilly till 4am and on without a wink of sleep, i dont even really FEEL tired! But once im out. im out. Ill sleep right on through till the next night!

Thanks! I have not tried just listening to repeative sounds. I have heard there are cd's out there, perhaps I can put it on my mp3 for nights only? Anyway it is worth a try.
As you can see again I have tried and failed. Now is the point where I wonder should I try to take something else or try and stick it out the rest of the night and stay up all day.
Tomorrow I go grocery shopping, that is if I can between kids getting home and whether I actually do sleep or not. The sleep aid got me dozy tonight but nowhere near sleep, as I get older it gets worse. I will definitely look into some sort of sleeping cd. I have tried sleeping by my fish tank to no avail, but maybe with sounds drumming in my ears can over power my thought processes and lull me to sleep.
Yep, thanks again, I will try it and let you know if it helped me.

I've always been the same way, as far back as I can remember...that's why a 3rd shift job works out well for me. If I get 5-6 hours of sleep a day, I'm doing darn good.

I have to have a fan running right by my head for "white noise" if I want to have any chance at sleep. I used to sleep with a radio on, but that drove the other half crazy, so I converted to the fan, and once I got used to it, it worked well.

Have you tried a set routine? Another thing when I have trouble I read this book called Heritage of the Southern Baptist. I tell you what a few chapters of that and I am passed out!

Or you could exercise. That may help to wear you out. Or you may just be a second shift person naturally

LOL......a set routine with a night shift job, 2 teenage kids, and a zoo full of animals??? One can dream.....

They say that does make a difference though...perhaps I will have to try it someday.

Another thing when I have trouble I read this book called Heritage of the Southern Baptist. I tell you what a few chapters of that and I am passed out!

I don't know if you meant that to be funny, but it cracked me up!

I used to be a non-sleeper, but it was completed stress related. Too many responsibilities, and when it was time to sleep my mind just raced and therefore my body couldn't shut down.

While I was working on fixing the real problem (stress) I took a friend's advice and started doing some meditation and deep breathing exercises before bed, and that helped tremendously.

I have a hard time with routine, I know it is good, but I have high anxiety levels and never know when an attack will hit, I have breathing exercises I use but it tends to interfer when I try to make a routine as then I get fixated on the routine and having to do it. I admit to be slack in that area and tend to be disorganized I know I should work on that, but I seem to get more done by living from minute to minute rather then planning things I just seem to have less anxiety if I don't have to think far ahead and just do when it needs to be done, if that makes any sense.

I am currently reading up on meditation. I am extremely interested in it but have to figure out a way to place it into my non-routine lifestyle and without my flight or fight brain going off lol. It is something I am definitely interested in as I do think that will help with stress relief as well. Thinking about trying to incorporate it into my amount of time (not a set time) on the computer, I just don't have it down yet.

Met one of my college daughters at the grocery store today (one of those non planning things, just call and say I will be somewhere lol at this time as I am on my way) and she said she knows exactly what kind of sounds that I was looking for and will burn some for me so I am hoping that will help as well.

I have started exercising more, I have the treadmill down now instead of up so somewhere along my non-routine day I spot it don't even have to put it down now, I just see it, the flashbulb goes off in my head and I hop on it

I really need to get this meditation down, I feel myself being pulled with thoughts on just how I am going to try to get to sleep tonight!