Very unusual, but cannot sleep a wink tonight. any thoughts?

-- A Rgular (C@nt.sleep.now), September 29, 2000

Answers

Just read from the Great Book of Reubuns...I like the old Testyment were he leaves the flock of humanity to bunker down for the great apocalypse [y2k] then turns against his master in the desert when the rock doesn't give any water. Of course the dim-witted twitmeister redeems himself during the crossing of the river protecting the great state of texASS from all doomsayers.............asleep yet.

-- cpr-u-idiot (momma@dot.com), September 29, 2000.

I like this one...

CPR...I new you were an idiot the day I gave birth to you. You are like you're father [whoever it was] mindless and and suffering from chronic stupidity. I've tried over the years to nuture you and bring forth what little bit of passing hope I had for you're future....but like a dissapointing moment in the bathroom when the desire for a turd brings forth only gas....such are you. Love momma

-- lol (newbe@texnet.com), September 29, 2000.

Sorry I am late with this, as I just got up, but......

Try these:

VALERIAN (an herb sold at any health food store and even major pharmacies) - capsules work best. I like the tea bags but most people can't stand the "acquired taste".

MELATONIN - this is a naturally occuring hormone that your brain releases just before bedtime. I only take a minute fraction of the recommended dosage, as this works best for me and I don't get such horrendous nightmares that some people associate with melatonin. Be ready to have some major REM's.

KAVA KAVA - another herb that works as a natural muscle relaxant. Yes it really does work, no side effects. If you are tense, this will help. Available at health food stores AND most major pharmacies. You can get tea bags, capsules, or liquid formula. I prefer the tea and the liquid. I in fact keep a bottle in my purse for emergencies lol.

I realize this isn't going to help you now, but if you're like me, insomnia occurs for several nights in a row; so you can get this stuff today and have it for tonight. I know it will help you. Peace...Cin

-- cin (cin@=0.)), September 29, 2000.

Reading this board these days would do it for me.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), September 29, 2000.

sex, either with a partner or by oneself is a good sleep aid.

-- (raven@never.more), September 29, 2000.

Got milk?

One quart every night before bed and I'm in deep sleep within minutes.

-- (knocks@me.out), September 29, 2000.

When I can't sleep because my mind is racing, I'll get up and write down or type my thoughts. My mind having been unburdened, I can then usually fall asleep.

knocks, did you say one quart. Doesn't it make you get up at night.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), September 29, 2000.

Nope, it knocks me out so deep that I'm not aware of the need. Piss immediately after drinking the milk, immediately before hitting the hay. After 7 or 8 hours I come out of my milk-induced coma and the first thing I need to do is piss. Bad.

-- (knocks@me.out), September 29, 2000.

This thread is still active? C'mon, "A Regular" has to be asleep by now, geez!

-- (smarty@wannabe.one), September 29, 2000.

Nope. Still awake. Looking for sheep.......

-- A regular (C@ntsleep.now), September 29, 2000.

Whoa, just hold up there, regular. I don't think that's exactly what raven had in mind.

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 29, 2000.

LOL

-- cin (cin@=0.)), September 30, 2000.

A Rgular,

When you are looking for sheep, let me know so that I may hide.

Actually, if you were to take some technical manual, say on operating systems internals book, you would be sawing logs in no time. I have a few that I use on nights when the sand man refuses to visit, and within about three pages, the job is complete.

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), September 30, 2000.

I make some toast with a cup of hot black coffee. Weird as that sounds, it knocks me out pretty quick, as I'm counting 'one-one thousand, two-one thousand'. I never make it past 20 one thousand, unless it tonque ties me. Then I roll back to one-one thousand for another set ;-)

Food always does it for me. I'm usually hungry and don't realize it.

-- (doomerstomper@usa.net), September 30, 2000.

Niacin (Vitamin B3), enough to to give you a good flush (not niacinamide) + about 2-3 grams of inositol powder (another B vitamin) works very well for me.

Glycine (amino acid powder)

Taurine (amino acid powder)

Calcium in some form (ergo, the quart of milk - yuck if you ask me!) A cheese taco would do it. (But some people find calcium stimulating).

Cin - I too take a miniscule dose of melatonin (0.25 mg). The standard dose (3 mg.) to me feels like enough to narcotize a herd of elephants!

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), September 30, 2000.

Masturbate....heck, masturbate with a friend!!! Knocks me out for daze!!

-INever (still have some Y2K pasta, toilet tissue & propane...)

-- INever (inevercheckmy@onebox.com), October 01, 2000.

"Niacin, Inositol powder, Glycine, Taurine, Calcium, Melatonin"

Mmmm, that sounds tasty! I had a chemistry set when I was a kid, but we used it for experiments, not for sleeping.

LOL, and you yuck at milk! (PS. no one asked you)

-- milk lover (knocks@me.out), October 01, 2000.

I had a chemistry set when I was a kid, but we used it for experiments, not for sleeping.
LOL, and you yuck at milk! (PS. no one asked you)

My good man, ponder this:

Human Body Chemical Composition. ... The human body is comprised of ~10⁵ different molecular species, mostly proteins, a large but nonetheless finite molecular parts list. By 1997, at least ~10⁴ of these proteins had been sequenced, ~10³ had been spatially mapped, and ~7,000 structures (including proteins, peptides, viruses, protein/nucleic acid complexes, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates) had been registered in the Protein Data Bank maintained at Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is likely that the sequences and 3-D or tertiary structures of all human proteins will have been determined by the second decade of the 21st century, given the current accelerating pace of improving technology. LINK

Makes a person want to puke doesn't it? ;-)

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), October 01, 2000.

argh! off

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), October 01, 2000.

Read anything you don't really want to read. Also the Bible can be therapeudic. Honestly, not meant in a derogatory sense. If you don't fall asleep quickly it can be interesting reading, and often it works quickly. Or for those so inclined, how about the Book of Mormon, or maybe the Koran?

Also, a chlor-trimeton or benedryl often works wonders. They may make id difficult to wake up in the morning, though.

I've found that 5-HTP can also help, as does a couple of Kava-Kavas.

Of course, sex with an enthusiastic partner usually works for men, although it seems to sometimes have the opposite effect on women. What say you ladies?

-- Sleepy (S@good.nite.to.all), October 01, 2000.

orgasm - great tension release

I agree

-- cin (cin@=0.)), October 01, 2000.

I don't see sex as the answer to this one. Oftentimes I come away from orgasms totally renewed and invigorated.

I simply do what my body states. If I'm awake, why am I trying to sleep? If I'm sleepy, I sleep. I think we've gotten ourselves into habits that dictate that we MUST sleep at THIS time, and we must be awake at THIS time. If insomnia hits and one must be at work early the next morning, simply stay up and do what your body dictates. You may feel a bit groggy the next day [and remember that one hour of sleep makes one feel more tired than NONE]. The next night your body will accommodate the lack from the night before and you won't have a problem.

In essence, I feel that if the mind has problems to resolve, there will be no sleep until these problems are resolved. Staying awake and allowing your mind to see these problems through will resolve the problems.

That's worth what you paid for it.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), October 01, 2000.

A bit groggy? Lack of sleep takes a tremendous toll on the body and mind. Studies have proven it. If you are like most people, insomnia comes in days or weeks, not just one night. It can seriously affect one's job, interpersonal relationships, and life in general.

-- cin (cin@=0.)), October 01, 2000.

Walking for 20 - 30 minutes a day helps me to regulate insomnia, moods, pain, & weight.

-- flora (***@__._), October 01, 2000.

Cin has a good point.

And some researchers say that dreams are what helps us resolve problems and inner conflicts, by forcing us to confront the problems and/or fears that we otherwise might avoid thinking about while awake.

-- (smarty@wannabe.one), October 01, 2000.

When I curl up in bed with a good book (don't need a bad book), most nights I'm out like a light before a half-hour's up. Sometimes it just takes a few minutes.

Anita -- lots of very good points; I agree. And judging by your first paragraph, I see we have something else in common. :)

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), October 01, 2000.

Excellent point about regular exercise - that is wonderful for good sleep.

You are correct Anita, in an ideal world, one gets to the root of any problem with no fuss and bother and no crutch. I have found that for one-shot insomnia, your approach works all right. Instead of struggling to sleep, I just stay up and do something useful and then the next night I am back on track. Then there is chronic insomnia. Of course no one likes to hear others complaining about it, but it really exists and takes a toll. It can tend to feed on itself in a vicious circle. People turn to sleep potions and nostrums because sometimes band-aids do promote healing. :-)

Other possible causes of insomnia: hidden stimulants in the diet; food sensitivities, any long-term stressor such as a bad relationship or career problem.

Most people's circadian rhythm is slightly longer than 24 hours - about a 25 hour cycle. That's your body's built-in sleep/wake rhythm. For most of us, we don't notice it because it gets overridden by habit, schedule, and the presence of light and darkness. This has been demonstrated in experiments by having people live in an environment with no clocks and no exposure to cycles of night and day, and letting them establish their own rhythm of sleeping and waking. On average, people moved their sleep-onset time forward by 1 hour a night. In a month's time they had moved their entire sleep cycle all the way around the clock and back.

Some people have been shown to have much longer cycles. One woman with chronic insomnia who had herself tested in the isolation lab in a sleep disorders clinic established a cycle of awake ~22 hours, sleep ~12 hours. And she felt rested and alert on this extraordinary shedule. The only barrier to keeping this schedule was guess what - her life. "For about three weeks of each month, she follows a normal 24-hour schedule, sleeping from midnight to 8:00 a.m., and during the final week, she lets herself free-run around the clock." Lydia Dotto, Losing Sleep, Wm. Morrow 1990.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), October 01, 2000.

cin, your point is well taken.

The only times I experienced significant, extended loss of sleep (three periods -- each consisting of many months), I'd been suffering from a deep depression as well; and the effects on my job, as well as other aspects of my life, were devastating. I believe it was mostly from the depression, but since the two occurred in tandem, it's tough for me to isolate the effects of the lack of sleep factor alone.

Debbie -- interesting stuff.

-- eve (eve_rebekH@yahoo.com), October 01, 2000.

Imagine your getting a deep massage. Turn your mind toward every limb in your body and tell them to relax while imaging someone deeply massaging your body. Before you know it, your out!

-- imagine (imagin@imagineeeeeee.com), October 02, 2000.

yep that works too =)

-- cin (cin@=0.)), October 02, 2000.