Insomnia Remedies

[Liberalynn]

When I am having one of those nights where I can't sleep, I have found a rather strange ritual helps.

I get up get a glass of milk, two Peppridge Farm's Nantucket chocolate chip cookies, and then put in a DVD of How The Universe Works narrated by Mike Rowe.

Usually on those nights I am obsessing about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket so I guess having a soothing voice talking about things beyond the troubles of our planet comforts me in some way that helps.

[malthaussen]

1. I have learned that the best cure for insomnia is sleep. n/t

[Liberalynn]

2. I'll have to try that

[DebJ]

3. Obama's voice always puts me to sleep. I start watching his speeches because I really

want to hear what he has to say. But I always doze off... it's like my subconscious feels
he's 'got this' and I just doze off like a child being read a story by their father.

[Liberalynn]

4. The President does have

a comforting presence. Bush on the other hand contributed to my insomnia and gave me nightmares when I managed to sleep when he was in the oval office.

[Laffy Kat]

24. Fingernails on a chalkboard, alright [shiver]. nt

[femmocrat]

5. Same here!

His voice is very soothing and puts me right out. If I want to really focus on what he is saying, I take notes. LOL

[betsuni]

43. Yes, he has a soothing voice...

and for me so does Martha Stewart. I like to watch her old TV show. It is quiet there in Martha's tasteful kitchen, she speaks slowly and enunciates her words, everything is under control, everything is beautiful, nothing bad can happen there.

[grahamhgreen]

44. Put on some FDR when you want to wake up!

[Laffy Kat]

6. Problem is: I'd continue to eat the entire pkg of cookies.

Other than that it's great advice. (I also watch "How the Universe Works" while falling asleep.)

[Liberalynn]

15. Sometimes resisting having more cookies

is hard. HTUW is a great program. I like all the physicists they have on there too. Glad they got Rowe back as the narrator. The one last year was okay but he's better, IMHO.

[trof]

7. 1. Liberal doses of Scotch whiskey. 2. A Charlie Chan movie.

I love Charlie Chan movies.
Warner Oland or Sidney Toler, it doesn't matter.
If I start to watch one much past 7 p.m. it's impossible for me to stay awake until the end.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chan

[Liberalynn]

16. That sounds like a good combination.

[bigwillq]

8. ASMR vids

Last edited Wed Oct 22, 2014, 10:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Usually help me fall asleep.

[Liberalynn]

17. I am so

grateful that someone invented vids and dads. That way you can still watch the things that give you comfort at any time of the night or day.

[Skittles]

28. love love LOVE ASMR videos

I had long wondered if I was the only one with that "sensation" (remember Bob Ross? omg)

[bigwillq]

29. You are far from the only one!

The ASMR community is strong, and growing!

There's been a few segments/articles about ASMR in some mainstream news publications recently.

[Skittles]

32. have you noticed

the authors never seem to experience ASMR themselves? We don't wonder whether or not it's a real thing - we know it is

[bigwillq]

34. It IS real!

[Skittles]

36. my fave is the Russian gal Maria

plush goodness!

[bigwillq]

37. She's great.

But I trigger more to male voices.

Charlie AKA TheLyricalWhispers is my fave, and this is my fave vid ever.

[Skittles]

39. hey, nice! will bookmark

not sure anyone could top Bob Ross (I never had a bit of interest in painting but taped his shows because he was better than valium for relaxing) but I'll check it out

[bigwillq]

41. Bob Ross was a legend.

I still watch his vids. The ultimate soothing voice.

[bigwillq]

30. Bob Ross is an awesome trigger!

For me, other triggers include when someone touches/crinkles wax paper, and I love Doctor Role Play vids!

[Skittles]

33. I love this comment

"I could explain getting caught watching porn easier than I can explain getting caught watching someone folding towels."

[bigwillq]

35. HA! So true!

Google the Folding Napkin Guy. I can watch him for hours.

This guy

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. I like melatonin...

It's OTC and nobody cares how much you buy!

[Liberalynn]

18. I will have to look into that

to see if it conflicts with any of the meds I am on, if not maybe I can try it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

42. I asked my pharmacist, and he checked my list.

He said it's pretty safe, which is why it's OTC. I've taken it several times, and have had no problems with it.

Good luck!

[Liberalynn]

48. Thanks!

[ohnoyoudidnt]

47. I just started taking that.

I feel like I am going into more REM cycles, but I do wake up for just a minute or two a few times throughout the night and fall right back to sleep. I do feel more rested when I take it.

[Initech]

10. You could always watch the DVD of "Atlas Shrugged"

[Liberalynn]

19. Don't want to have nightmares

once I manage to fall asleep.

[Sienna86]

11. A golf tournament.

Best thing in the world.

[Liberalynn]

20. The Golf Channel is in my cable package

[2theleft]

27. Agreed. The hushed voices, nothing exciting happening...

My boyfriend turns on golf, I'm asleep in 10 minutes tops! I wish they golfed at night!

[sakabatou]

12. Hot milk, cinnamon and honey mixed together

[Liberalynn]

21. I've heated the milk before

but I have never tried it with cinnamon and honey. I will definitely have to though. It sounds good.

[sakabatou]

25. It's very tasty

[Liberalynn]

49. I tried

this last night although with just the cinnamon because I was out of honey. It was good and I actually did manage to fall asleep earlier and stay asleep till morning.

[sakabatou]

57. Huzzuh!

[haele]

58. I use about 10/12 oz of just under scalded half and half and a teaspoon of anise seed.

and maybe, just maybe, a half teaspoon of sweetner or Torani syrup (the peanut-butter syrup is really good with the anise). No chocolate. About 4 oz. is all that is needed to put my three year old grand-daughter to sleep when she wants to stay up and up and up...

Occasionally, I'd add a quarter teaspoon of powdered ginger if I'm also feeling a bit off and gassy. Cinnamon tends to give me a shot of energy, otherwise, I'd go ahead and use

The half and half give the drink a creamy texture that is very, very comforting.

BTW, the scalded milk and anise seed is an old 17th cent. simple sleeping aid drink for kids. For an "unquiet mind" the reason that is keeping you awake, you're supposed to add a pinch of ground and dried valarian root (which tastes like old sock, and causes weird, vivid dreams) or cat-mint.


Haele

[Liberalynn]

60. The milk and anise sound good

[vanlassie]

13. Poiroit movies. I have watched the first part of the same one

for years. No idea how it ends. I think it's the music.

[Liberalynn]

22. That's kind of how it is for

me with How The Universe Works. I know how all the episodes start but I don't think I've ever stayed awake through a whole episode.

[vanlassie]

40. Some Sunday morning we will have to knock back

a couple strong coffees and try to hang in there for the end!

[Liberalynn]

50. That's a good idea

My sister said she wondered how the casts and crews would feel if they knew people were using their programs as a sleep aids.

[BlueJazz]

14. I take Clonazepam which causes me to feel very sleepy. (From my Doc. Legally)

On Edit:Been taking it for years. No side affects ..for me.

[Liberalynn]

23. I was on that legally once from my Doctor too.

I was switched to Hydroxizine a few years back for anxiety. It helps me relax a bit but it doesn't really make me sleepy.

[Jamaal510]

26. I take either ZZZ Quil or Unisom,

and then go to sleep while listening to my "Rain" app on my iPod.

[Liberalynn]

51. I have the rain app on my Kindle too.

[Kali]

31. technical or other boring books, read in bed

I rarely have insomnia - in fact the opposite is my problem. Trying to stay awake until an "adult" bedtime. LOL

If I go to bed too early then I will have a period of wakefulness around 2 and that is when the boring book helps.

[nirvana555]

38. it's probably not that great for you but Benadryl

is my go to...

[Liberalynn]

54. Just had to be on high doses of antihistamines

for an unrelenting case of the hives. I am off them now except for hydroxizine and knock on wood, the hives are gone now.

I asked the immunologist if there was any problems with using them long term and he said in his opinion not really. Their only issue with Benadryl was they said it makes you more drowsy than the others, but that's a good thing when you are using it specifically as a sleep aid.

[Liberalynn]

52. Found sometimes to much sleep can make you groggy as well.

I should pull out some of my old college textbooks. One of the reasons I started putting documentaries on at t.v. at night is because they used to make me fall asleep in class.

[Kali]

53. heh, I fell asleep in class a lot

but it was usually due to the "not sleeping" activities of the nights before

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. The summer between college and graduate school, I worked the graveyard shift

in a local factory and got home at 8:30AM, just as the rest of the family was eating breakfast. Then I was supposed to go to sleep. In the summer. In bright sunlight. I was tired at the end of the shift, but it was difficult.

I found that the perfect combination was soft classical music and a dull book. I knew I would have to pass French and German reading exams in my first year of grad school, so I started reading a history of philosophy in German (I had studied it for four years in college) and trying to actually understand it. I never lasted more than two pages, and I never finished the book.

Years later, I found out that I would have thirty days to vacate the house I was living in, because the owner wanted it back, so all the tenants would have to move out. After that bombshell, I was a nervous wreck, because I knew that the Portland rental market was tight, and I barely slept that night.

The following evening, I met a friend for dinner and the ballet, and the soup of the day at the restaurant happened to be cream of turkey. Not being very hungry, I had just a large soup and some bread.

I made it home from the ballet, but I could barely stay awake long enough to put myself to bed. That night, I had the vivid dreams that typically end a period of insomnia for me.

Now if I'm having trouble sleeping for more than one night, I make turkey stroganoff with plenty of sour cream for dinner and then pick out a dull book to read.

[Liberalynn]

55. Those are really great tips.

In high-school normally I actually liked reading the classic books but for some reason I couldn't make it through more than a few pages at a time of the Grapes of Wrath before falling asleep.

My mother even found the movie version on TV and said here you can "cheat" because I'm your witness that you've tried to read it. I fell asleep fifteen minutes into the movie. The teacher was disappointed in me, because she wanted me to like all the classic novels, but I didn't get in trouble.

[orleans]

46. milk has tryptophan BUT.....

"Question: For years, I've had a glass of warm milk to help me fall asleep. I think it works as well as a sleeping pill, but it's a lot safer and is natural - which I like. Is it the tryptophan in the milk that causes me to feel sleepy?

"Answer: Warm milk at bedtime definitely can have a calming effect, but despite popular belief, it's probably not caused by the effect of the amino acid tryptophan on the brain. In order for tryptophan or any sleep-promoting drug to work, it must cross the "blood-brain barrier" and get from the bloodstream into the brain tissue. It turns out that all the other amino acids that collectively make up milk protein block the amino acid tryptophan from getting into the brain.

"The "trick," researchers say, is to have a high-carbohydrate food just before drinking milk - like cookies or toast. Just remember to brush your teeth before going to bed! Carbs cause a spike in your insulin level, and that seems to make it somewhat easier for tryptophan to cross into the brain. Without that carb snack, the sedating effect of warm milk is probably due to the calming influence of a warm liquid and a belief in its results (i.e., a placebo effect)."
http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-28/news/30450609_1_tryptophan-brain-tissue-placebo-effect

[Liberalynn]

56. That makes sense

about the milk being a placebo. But I never would have guessed that the cookies were playing a legitimate role.

[bikebloke]

59. Tried a fan, but it was too cold in the Winter.

So recently I bought a white noise generator. That works and I can turn the volume up if the neighbours wind chimes (bells, really) grow too rambunctious.

Sometimes melatonin works for me, sometimes not.

Also, the light from computer screen can throw your circadian rhythm off. I tried a free app called f.lux that turns the computer light an orange-ish hue as the sun sets. I seem to fall a sleep easier with it.

But if I'm stressed - like yesterday - none of works. Zombie day right now.

[Liberalynn]

61. I love having the fan on in summer

but you're right this time of year you need an alternative. Sorry you are having a Zombie day.