Insomnia

[Talk2BigSteve]

Is this everyone's regular time to be awake or is it insomnia.

I have insomnia.
I can lay in bed and not fall asleep for hours at a time.
I get maybe 1-3 hours of sleep a night.
Then when I have a few days off in a row I just crash and sleep 12+ hours in a row regardless of the time of day.

Should I go to a sleep clinic for this?

It does not effect me at work.
I have no loss in speed and productivity or mental awareness.
I just don't fall asleep like normal people do.

Is anyone else like this?

Steve

[toss]

You risk heart disease, diabetes, and worse. Go see a doctor.

[mason55]

Have a cigarette....

[fluxrad]

I have trouble getting to sleep from time to time, not on the order of magnitude you aparently have, but I probably realistically get 5-6 hours a night. More often than not I fall asleep too late and get up too late because of it.

I've got a couple of techniques that I try when I'm looking to get to sleep, lying there with my eyes closed but perfectly awake. They all involve visualization.

1. Vizualize the color black. Think about how it looks, feels, and sounds. Think about every aspect of black that you can. Wrap your mind around the color black. If you're doing it right, it'll take quite a while and you'll be asleep before you know it.

But the better one (the one I use most often):

2. Take a trip. You're on a spaceship with a gigantic viewing window. Your trip starts in the center of the Sun. You slowly move to the outside and then to the surface of the Sun. You look all around you and see the Sun from every angle because it's so big. You look up and see nothing but space. Now the spaceship takes off at a few thousand miles per hour towards Mercury. Feel the non-existent gravity on your trip to the tiny planet. Think about the hum of the ships engines, etc. Make it real. When you get to Mercury...orbit for a while. Study the planet. Look at its surface, its gravitational features, etc. This should take some time. Make it real. Then it's on to Venus...and beyond.

I have never got past Mars.

[Talk2BigSteve]

Monday morning I will make an appointment with my doctor for wednesday, that will be 1 week since I quit smoking and I want to get my check up as well. I will bring this up to him. I know stress has something to do with it as well, and I have been under a ton of it lately. This Insomnia, however, has been going on since about Feb or Mar.

Steve

[Skipbidder]

[ QUOTE ]
Should I go to a sleep clinic for this?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not yet. Your primary care doc (if you have one) would likely be able to help you.
The doc is likely to ask you about your caffeine intake.
Bringing a sleep diary in would be very helpful. Record the time when you start to go to sleep. If you wake up during the night, record that time on the paper as well. Record how well-refreshed you feel in the morning. Record any naps taken as well. The doc is likely to ask you about snoring or waking up gasping for breath. (Sleep apnea is a concern...being overweight is a big risk factor.)
Advice commonly given is to avoid doing anything else in your bed apart from sleeping and sex. Don't read or watch TV in bed. (I don't know if this has been validated or not.)

You are probably getting more sleep than you think. People who have trouble sleeping tend to underestimate the amount of sleep they get. (I did when I was having problems.)

If you are having spells where you aren't breathing at night, then make your appointment sooner rather than later.
Hell, make the appointment anyway. You can make it a twofer--smoking cessation and sleeping concerns.

[-Skeme-]

I can't ever keep a schedule and routinely pulled all nighters all throughout HS. This caused me to end up sleeping through class and missing lots of school, which led to me dropping out.

I think excercise would help get me tired. I should've went running lots before bed.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

...is a pretty good movie.

[RED_RAIN]

Sleeping pills?

[Dazarath]

I have insomnia. - I'm not sure what the technical definition of insomnia is, so I can't say for sure if I have it or not.
I can lay in bed and not fall asleep for hours at a time. - Yes, and I hate this. I just stay up instead. At least I can entertain myself that way.
I get maybe 1-3 hours of sleep a night. - Nope, can't say this happens to me.
Then when I have a few days off in a row I just crash and sleep 12+ hours in a row regardless of the time of day. - This happens to me occasionally.

Recently, I've been having a problem where I'll fall asleep and wake up after a couple hours and then continue to fall asleep/wake up several times during the night (maybe around 6 times or so). This is kind of annoying because I don't feel well-rested in the morning.