Sleeping disoder, maybe? Help?!


Question: I can't ever sleep at night.. It takes me at least 5 hours to get to sleep, and a lot of the time I wake up with less than an hour of sleep. I don't know why, I can be tired and yawning and go to bed, but not sleep. I have a comfortable bed that can put me almost to sleep, my rooms a great temperature when I go to bed, all of that, but I just can't sleep. I told my mom, but of course, she blames it on everything else she blames it on. Somehow, my sleeping problems are my computer's fault.
Anyways, I think it may have a little something to do with the amount of stress I endure in a day (which is a LOT), but I have no way of getting therapy right now (not getting into detail about that). I really don't know what to do, I'm falling asleep during the day because I can't sleep at night, but I have to keep myself up because if I don't, then I won't be tired at night. But somehow, by the time it comes where I have to go to bed, I'm not even tired anymore. Please help, I don't know what to do.


Answers: I can't ever sleep at night.. It takes me at least 5 hours to get to sleep, and a lot of the time I wake up with less than an hour of sleep. I don't know why, I can be tired and yawning and go to bed, but not sleep. I have a comfortable bed that can put me almost to sleep, my rooms a great temperature when I go to bed, all of that, but I just can't sleep. I told my mom, but of course, she blames it on everything else she blames it on. Somehow, my sleeping problems are my computer's fault.
Anyways, I think it may have a little something to do with the amount of stress I endure in a day (which is a LOT), but I have no way of getting therapy right now (not getting into detail about that). I really don't know what to do, I'm falling asleep during the day because I can't sleep at night, but I have to keep myself up because if I don't, then I won't be tired at night. But somehow, by the time it comes where I have to go to bed, I'm not even tired anymore. Please help, I don't know what to do.

If you can't get to therapy, then you have to do some research of your own and read about sleep dsorders on the web. There is a lot out there and it takes a little while to figure out what applies best to you.

Soundls like you have a "delayed-phase sleep disorder."

All that means is that your body clock is set later than everybody elses. When it's bedtime for most people, it's like the middle of the day for you!

Most young people have some kind of delayed-phase "disorder" (but how can it be a disorder if almost everybody under 30 has it?). That's why they like to stay up late and then sleep late. It's not laziness, it's not a moral failing, it's biological.

Most advice out there says not to take naps, because then you won't sleep at bedtime. And this is what you are following.

BUT! It has been my experience that (1) some sleep, even at a non-normal time, is better than no sleep, and (2) sometimes you can be so tired and running on adrenaline, that you cannot sleep, so a nap in the afternoon will actualluy help you sleep at night.

If you sleep for 3 hours in the afternoon, then you might have trouble sleeping at night. So, try not to do that, but again, if you are getting only an hour of sleep at night, then go ahead and sleep in the afternoon!!! Better than none at all!

Part of why naps make it hard to sleep at night is this: When you are chronically short on sleep, even a little tiny nap make you feel like you have enough sleep and you are wide awake. But this is an illusion--your body does not know what it's like to get enough sleep! Even after the nap, you FEEL better, but you are still sleep deprived, just not as much.

So, take the nap.

But then YOU--in your conscious mind--not your body clock--have to learn to recognize what it FEELS like to be tired enough to go to sleep.

You have learned--your disorder has taught you--that in order to go to sleep, you have to be so extremely tired that there is no longer any possibility of fighting off sleep, and ONLY THEN, is it time to sleep.

This is wrong! You have to re-teach yourself that it is time to sleep LONG before you would fall asleep even while running away from wild tigers.

Look at most people--your family members--when they go to bed are they so tired they can no longer keep their eyes open and walk into things as they head off to bed? No, of course not. Most people go to bed long before then. YOu have to learn this too.

How to do that:
It is a slow process, it can't be done all at once.
But go to bed same time every night (hard to do, I know).
Get up if not asleep within 1/2 hour.
Do not lie in bed worrying about not sleeping.
Do light activity--watch tv or read.But emailing and talking on phone might be too much.
Go back to bed when you think you want to try again or no more than 1 hour later. If not asleep within 1/2 hour, then repeat.
Even if you are up all night, you are not up in bed all night.
Get up same time every day (hard I know).
Take small nap if needed in afternoon, so you are not high on adrenaline at bedtime.
Eventually, you will get caught up on sleep, and reset your clock.

But, you are always in danger of messing up your schedule again! So you need moral support. One way is to see a doc on a reg basis, but you can come back to yahoo answers on a regular basis instead, and someone here will remind you of the things you need to do, ad you can even help others by telling what you have learned and what you have tried.

I think my most important bits of advice are:
Read a lot about it;
Naps can be OK;
You need to reevaluate your situation if you relapse into bad sleep habits; and
You CAN overcome this problem!

Also look int whether you are doing anything or taking anything that is a known problem.

Coffee stays in your system for 15 hours--so if you drink coffee other than the morning, it's too late.

Stress and stressful situations cause sleep disorders.
Find a way to reduce and deal with stress.
Being a young person is extremely stressful, so there's no real way around all of it, but you have to find a way to deal with it.

EXERCISE: reduces stress hormones and produces good hormones, and makes you feel more ready for sleep--you need to feel like you have done enough with your day that you deserve sleep. Exercise is probably the best and fastest way to start correcting a sleep disorder like yours--where you have trouble falling asleep at night.

Get to a doctor eventually when you can. Most people should not wait, but you said you can't right now.

Good luck and ask YA again after you have tried some of these things.

Maybe try to re-wrok your sleeping habits around the times when you fall asleep during the day...allow yourself a couple of short naps everyday and see if it helps.

If not, try to get a prescription for some sleep aides. OR use OTC benadryl (regular dosage) and a glass of warm milk and a turkey sammich...that worked for me several times in college

I think you should take a day off and just sleep and if that does not seem to work you should realy see a doctor they also have medicens that help fall asleep and thats all they do good luck

Don't worry, you probably know that there are many cures for sleep disorders, and if you're only getting an hour of sleep a night its deffinately not your PC! try to convince your mum to get you to see a doctor. they wont do anything, bad to you, but they may recomend a treatment. also, apparently, night time is the time when your brain is at it's most creative, so you could have a great idea when you can't sleep, not that that's any consolation. basically don't panic, it's not life threataning unless its REALLY bad, which yours doesn't sound to be. good luck!

all my life I've had the same prob, now I take melatonin, its natrual. find it in the vitamn isle. good luck.

Basically, with sleep, it's on a schedule for a reason. Once you get off that schedule, you need to work to reset it, but that can happen - anybody who does night shift work will tell you that.

Sleep problems can be caused by lots of things, and stress is certainly one of them. If you can, eliminate anything stressful from your life (not easy, I know). Other than that, you should try to cut out any caffeine usage and sugary snacks, especially near bedtime. Medications can interfere with sleep, too. If you take any meds, check the prescription, or with a doctor, to see if they can affect your sleep. If so, see if you can switch to a different dose, or a different medication.

In the end, though, what you need to do is reset your sleep schedule. Try going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, no matter whether it's a vacation day or not. If necessary, take over-the-counter sleeping medications to make you fall asleep at a given time every night. It can help you get back on schedule.

But, really, if this is such a big problem for you, you need to see a doctor. A friend of mine was having problems maintaining a sleep schedule and he ended up having to see a sleep specialist to address his problems. You need sleep, and it's worth it to try to see someone about the problem, if you can. If not, it will affect everything you try to do with tiredness, irritability, etc.

There are several over-the-counter sleep aid medicines you can try and see if that helps you get to sleep. If you find those do help you, then you can try to get a prescription for a good sleep aid medicine that you can continue taking.

I've never tried it, but I've heard that natural remedies like melatonin and lavender oil are supposed to be helpful in falling asleep.

Also, if you drink it, cut out the coffee and tea and sodas that have caffiene. That can really put a wrench in your internal clock.





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