[ktMD]

I am trying to think of pleasant activities I can do when I am awake at night. I don’t want to do activating things so organizing or things like that–things I wouldn’t normally look forward to during the day–would not be relaxing. Right now, the only thing I can think of is watching tv but that only lasts so long. I have considered reading or writing in my journal but those seem activating to me.
What are some of the relaxing things you do when lying awake at night?

[trailrunner85]

I like to read– recently got a kindle and that’s been great. Amazon sells some nice dim reading lights that clip to your book. I also sometimes just lay there comfortably and try to enjoy resting. Life is chaotic at times so I remind myself that there are times I would live to just lay somewhere quiet and comfortable. I only get out of bed if I am uncomfortable.

I am far from recovered and still need to work on full acceptance but I will say I never panic anymore if I cant sleep. My issue is with stopping reliance on taking a OTC sleep aid. I cave and take it by midnight if I am not asleep – – this still happens a few nights per week.

[sleep]

When I wake up I just lay there because if I go into another room like the livingroom it does not work for me. I try to just say relaxing is good, not trying to sleep just relaxing. I try to get myself out of the worry mode which has helped. I think about living life, what I want to do tomorrow and I say You will sleep later! So now I know I will sleep later, I am not going to have a heart attack or stroke or something, sleep will happen eventually. This gives me some peace.

[ktMD]

Trailrunner85, do you develop tolerance to the sleep aids? I like to read also but my eyes have been burning so it makes it hard.
Yes, the full acceptance is hard!
I’m still working on that. I am very sensitive to the lack of sleep and it is challenging to go to work every day.

Sleep, I don’t like getting out of bed either. Some nights I can rest better than others.I am working hard on acknowledging my thoughts. I read somewhere that you can’t let go of what you don’t accept. It’s true!

[trailrunner85]

I have been told yes. I typically only need it 2 to 4 times per week and I feel shameful taking it. I do think my use of them is purely psychological. I feel they better my ability for sleep but if I could go back I NEVER would have taken them. I understand its a personal choice but I would say work the program without. Its made it worse for me. I fear if I dont take them on tough nights I won’t sleep at all. That’s the last part for me is tossing them and working through the program without the crutch.

At one point I had a dr tell me to take 10mg melatonin, magnesium glycinate, and doxylamine succinate (unisom). They said i could take them all together…. I never did that but that was before I understood all of this.

Good luck to you. We will all get through this. The toughest battles are the ones we fight (or accept lol) alone.

[trailrunner85]

I also HATE getting out of bed. That said, if I feel myself tossing and turning or getting upset, sometimes even just ten minutes sitting on the couch literally looking into the dark room resets my brain. Then I return and its a fresh start. Best of luck.

[Chee2308]

Hi ktMD

If situations like these, it’s always appropriate to recall back what you did when you couldn’t sleep during your pre-insomnia days. Surely, insomnia episodes are not new, there will have been multiple instances in the past when you found you couldn’t sleep but still hadn’t started identifying it as a problem. Then just continue doing that. The goal of insomnia recovery is always to go back to basics and to revert to your somewhat ignorant self because ignorance is bliss when it comes to insomnia.

[Bronte]

Hi ktMD

Like others, I like reading. I love a good psychological thriller and I then (almost) look forward to being awake so I can find out what happens next 😁
I find it also helps me go to sleep at the start of the night because I’m thinking about the storyline and that stifles out the negative thoughts.
I never get up and go to another room as, for me, that is game over and my brain thinks it’s time to get up and that’s it for the night. We are all different. I agree it needs to be an activity that you enjoy and anything that keeps you calm and stops you feeling that panic when you can’t sleep.
I have a mantra ‘it doesn’t matter if I don’t sleep, I am relaxing!’ 😁

[ktMD]

Thank you all for these great suggestions. I know there’s a difference between fatigue and sleepiness. But my night time activities depend on how fatigued I am. Sometimes it feels like my body just wants to lie in bed. That’s when the thoughts can be intrusive. Sometimes when I listen to Martin’s podcast it’s hard when people talk about how hard it is and how long it takes to recover.

[Author]

Posts