Sleeping Problems.

[ICB]

Thanks for advice guys its just this sleeping pattern is ridiculous im only getting few hours sleep, thats why i've had no real energy for boxing. Now you would think with only few hours sleep i would automatically get tired, but i don't its quite a problem at the moment.

[Dark Lord Al]

I only sleep lightly , and wake up every 30 mins or so , can be a pain , but hey what you gunna do. who needs sleep anyway.

A sleeping tip - try watching an Audley Harrison fight , that usually sends people to sleep.

[RP33]

I have ALWAYS had issues sleeping, but that's simply because i'm a "night" person and i love being awake when everyone else isn't..

This is my theory regarding anything psychological.. I have anxiety issues and i've been seeing a therapist also, i've had a lot of shit go down hill in my life lately, and the anxiety, at times, eats me fucking alive! But my theory is basically the opposite of what everyone says.. With drug addiction, or alcohol addiction, you're supposed to first and foremost, admit you have a problem.. I disagree with this, mostly.. As far as my anxiety goes, if i don't think about it, it doesn't bother me.. if i tell myself that nothing is wrong with me, and i don't know what a panic attack is, and act like everyone else is, then i'm fine.. may be hard for someone who hasn't experienced any anxiety issues to understand, but it makes sense to me..

so my advice would be to stop thinking about it, somehow, someway.. i'm not saying that you're going to fall asleep right away, but the more you think about how you can't sleep, the more you won't sleep..

you also could take sleeping pills to attempt to get yourself into a routine, but know that they're addicting in the respect of dependency.. you can become dependent on them and not be able to sleep without them, but if you tried it for a few nights it wouldn't hurt..

my problem now is that i can't sleep past 8:30 in the morning EVER.. For example, i was up at 8:30 today, and slept again til 9:30, and now i won't be able to sleep till i go to bed tonight.. Mind you, i was absolutely hammered off of my ass last night, and probably slept like a rock, but i still wake up at some time, or at 8:30 with my heart pounding..

[Julius Rain]

I have sleeping disorder too, some sunday to monday Im up 24 hours. other days i sleep only 2 hours to four hours. I take sleeping pills sometimes and the most hours i got is 15hours straight assleep. Then after that Im up 24 hours again. they say 8 hours is best but when i do get 8 hours im too lazy to function. I think 6 hours is perfect for me, only way I get 6hours a day is if I sleep twice a day.

[Gandalf]

Ive had sleeping probs for a long time. Built up an addiction to sleeping meds too. Trying to work my way through that one, so thats not recommended. If it really is just a temporary thing and you can control it, then its worth a shot. But I got all messywith that.

[Preme]

Try heath ledger, heard he might have a few tips for you.

[Plopeater]

Booze always does it for me or get someone to twat you round the head with a baseball bat

[CFH]

I have ALWAYS had issues sleeping, but that's simply because i'm a "night" person and i love being awake when everyone else isn't..

This is my theory regarding anything psychological.. I have anxiety issues and i've been seeing a therapist also, i've had a lot of shit go down hill in my life lately, and the anxiety, at times, eats me fucking alive! But my theory is basically the opposite of what everyone says.. With drug addiction, or alcohol addiction, you're supposed to first and foremost, admit you have a problem.. I disagree with this, mostly.. As far as my anxiety goes, if i don't think about it, it doesn't bother me.. if i tell myself that nothing is wrong with me, and i don't know what a panic attack is, and act like everyone else is, then i'm fine.. may be hard for someone who hasn't experienced any anxiety issues to understand, but it makes sense to me..

so my advice would be to stop thinking about it, somehow, someway.. i'm not saying that you're going to fall asleep right away, but the more you think about how you can't sleep, the more you won't sleep..

you also could take sleeping pills to attempt to get yourself into a routine, but know that they're addicting in the respect of dependency.. you can become dependent on them and not be able to sleep without them, but if you tried it for a few nights it wouldn't hurt..

my problem now is that i can't sleep past 8:30 in the morning EVER.. For example, i was up at 8:30 today, and slept again til 9:30, and now i won't be able to sleep till i go to bed tonight.. Mind you, i was absolutely hammered off of my ass last night, and probably slept like a rock, but i still wake up at some time, or at 8:30 with my heart pounding..

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about there, I have bad anxiety problems myself. I've been told one of the keys to getting better sleep is to try not to think or talk about the problem as well.

[RP33]

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about there, I have bad anxiety problems myself. I've been told one of the keys to getting better sleep is to try not to think or talk about the problem as well.

not to change the subject of the thread, but i just wanted to say that anxiety is seriously the hardest thing i've had to deal with in my life.. i'd rather be sick in bed with mono everyday, because it's something viral/bacterial that you can identify and take medicine to eventually make things better.. but anxiety is always around, and sedatives only go so far.. I never understood how people could kill themselves, but after experiencing what i have, i can completely understand where people are bipolar, or suffer from any depression, that it can all add up and seem like there is no escape..

[CFH]

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about there, I have bad anxiety problems myself. I've been told one of the keys to getting better sleep is to try not to think or talk about the problem as well.

not to change the subject of the thread, but i just wanted to say that anxiety is seriously the hardest thing i've had to deal with in my life.. i'd rather be sick in bed with mono everyday, because it's something viral/bacterial that you can identify and take medicine to eventually make things better.. but anxiety is always around, and sedatives only go so far.. I never understood how people could kill themselves, but after experiencing what i have, i can completely understand where people are bipolar, or suffer from any depression, that it can all add up and seem like there is no escape..

I know what you mean. Medically speaking, Anxiety is the worst thing I've had to deal with as well.

Like you say, if you're sick it usually goes away and at least your mind functions in a relatively normal fashion. When I was younger, I was moderately depressed, to the point where I at times thought about suicide, but this is worse.

For me it feels kind of like being trapped in your mind/thoughts, and all amout of reason usually doesn't amount to much because it doesn't change how you feel, which perpetuates more anxious thoughts etc. I'm not doing a very good job of putting it into words, but it's a very frusterating/depressing thing to say the least.

I'm at the point where I'm contemplating going on anti-depressants because they're supposed to be quite helpful in some cases, but I don't want to so I'm putting it off as a last resort.

The fact the people who haven't experienced it just don't understand it makes it that much worse.

[RP33]

I'm at the point where I'm contemplating going on anti-depressants because they're supposed to be quite helpful in some cases, but I don't want to so I'm putting it off as a last resort.

The fact the people who haven't experienced it just don't understand it makes it that much worse.

i'd definitely leave anti-depressants as a last resort.. you have to remember that a mood stabilizer works both ways.. meaning you won't get a really low depressed feeling, but you also prevent yourself from being really happy..

every day is a battle, as i'm sure you've realized.. i am at the lowest of lows right now in my life, personally, and i'm trying to keep my head up, but i feel guilty and greedy to tell myself that "things will get better".. who am i to predict such a bold course of events?

[Dizaster]

I'm with you with this problem.. There are all sorts of things that can help...

* One thing i've been doing though for a long time which helps a little in addition to other stuff is doing this trick of picturing colors.. It's a mind thing that relaxes your mind right down..

Here is how to do it... First i'll write the colors in order..

Yellow
Orange
Red
Green
Blue
Purple
Black

What you do when your laying down with your eyes closed, picture the color yellow and thinking of all things that are yellow. Like banana's etc. Play with them, touch them. You can even go as far as picturing yourself in a completely yellow room with yellow furniture and yellow simpsons characters...
The basis of this color technique is colors have different effect on your energy/resonance levels/body frequency.. Yellow is a very hyper color generally when you lay down for bed, you start with yellow and it is about the same energy that your mind is at.
So for about 1 or 2 minutes you will just picture everything is yellow. The next thing you will do is picture everything in the same way, but orange... I like to transition between each color by pretending i'm walking through a big yellow sheet and as it goes over my head and falls behind, i'm in "orange" world..
Anyway, you do this for 1 or 2 minutes with each colour all the way down to purple and then black...
As you go down each level, you'll find your mind and body start to slow down and relax. With each different colour, your breath will get deeper and deeper and slower. You'll notice this if you get down to say, green, and then picture yellow again, it makes you breath faster and more shallow and it feels uncomfortable..
By the time you get to purple if you've really absorbed yourself in the colours right through, you're mind is pretty slow, and at black, you kind of just following behind your thoughts as the flick past one by one, but you are very much detached from them now and they don't tend to keep you awake/tense/anxious... For some of the colours like green I like to picture really green soft grass like on a wet golf course and you can feel it between your toes etc.. For blue you can be swimming in a really deep blue tropic ocean etc.. YOu get the picture.. Or you can be lazy and just simply picture the colour through your whole vision and not objects.. It's not quite as fun though..

You can vary it by spending 5 minutes or more on each colour, or now i've gotten good at it, i'm able to spend only 10 or 15 seconds on each, and literelly I can drop my heart rate and breath from very fast to very slow just in about 1 to 2 minutes very effectively and am almost ready to settle into sleep while my girlfriend lazying next to me is still buzzing...

* Another thing that really helps in addition to this, or seperate, is to take very very long slow deep breaths.. When you first go to bed, you'll find your breathing fast and shallow. So taking a big slow deep breath in and just holding it, it feels uncomfortable and you want to take a couple of quick breaths straight after it to like, catch up.... But that's okay. Just take another really long deep breath in taking as much time as you can, then hold it in as long as you can, and then release.....
The purpose of doing this is to slow your heart rate down mainly. You're heart is usually going fast when you're mind is racing and you are trying to relax. But after about 5 or 6 of these long deep breaths which should take you probably nearly 2 minutes just for the 5 or 6 breaths, your heart should probably almost slowed to half what it was doing originally...

* My final piece of advice is that there is a pressure point just near your eye that if you press into while your laying down, it actually "grounds" and nutralizes a lot of your thoughts and can cause a very deep relaxation just on it's own....
How to find this pressure point is to place the tip of your index finger on the side of your nose right next to your tear duct. Then move it up slightly towards the start of you're eyebrow, then back in towards your eye socket. You'll need to have your eyes closed to press in there. It's kind of just above your tear duct in the dip between your nose bone and your eye ball... Have your eye closed and just press around that area until your finger finds a comfortable spot to rest..... While your laying down, your finger will press on the eye facing the pillow, so the weight of your head kind of provides the pressure....
I should post a picture with the exact are circled, but you should be able to get it and it seems subtle, but it makes a big difference. You can breath easier and you're thoughts kind of 'pack a lot less punch' i suppose is a way to describe it...

I have about 10 times less trouble sleeping these days doing this stuff than I used to before when my mind would run the show and i'd have no chance...

Good luck!