What Do You Do If You Cant Sleep ? Options

[chast]

Hey GMC'ers

Since I dont fall asleep I'm wondering what do you guys do if you dont fall asleep ?
Usually I do nothing than resting in the bed and try to fall asleep but right now I am too awake to fall asleep

I already read a bit before I went to bed but there is no sign of fatigue
Right now it is 01:10 o'clock (1:10 pm ^^) and I want to sleep because I need to be awake for the upcoming math test tomorrow (its not the math test that keeps me awake )

Greets Max

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This post has been edited by chast: Dec 10 2007, 01:20 AM

[DeepRoots]

Hey guys- (nice topic btw chast , I'm really interested in sleep atm so excuse my long boring post )

I've been looking around the internet for quite a while now about different sleep techniques etc. And have been quite astounded by the wealth of information!

<unfortunatley i cant give specific links right now- as im at school and they seem to have blocked EVERYTHING but google and GMC>

Right so i've been reading on www.stevepavlina.com (i'll give a few specific links a little later ) about how to become an early riser...and included here was alot of information that he considers important on how to get that good night's sleep and therefore get up as early as you like.

i reccomend you check this out, as this morning i got myself up out of bed quite happily at get this-

04:30 AM .

I then got some exercise, played guitar, had a great breakfast, caught up with my French project and got to school on-time (i never usually do any of these things in the morning).

So together with what i read at his site- i've partnered that with a little of what i've found works best for me to come up with an unbeatable sleep pattern:

- Go to bed WHEN YOU'RE TIRED ONLY

(yes that means stare at a book, hopefully a theory book , untill you feel you're gonna drop. As an alternative to this you cold browse around our forums a bit, but staring at a monitor for too long may screw around with your head, depending on who you are. Avoid activities like playing guitar right before bed as this can get us quite involved- and often absorbing activities like this can just keep us awake and alert for longer).

- Tell yourself when to get up!

(This is something i found myself doing- keep telling yourself when you need to get up, convince yourself, and repeat it over and over again. Also tell yourself why you need to get up. "get up, 5 AM, do school work","get up, 5 AM, do school work".....

- Have the same wake up every day

(That alarm should be going off at the same time every day, that way you're body will eventually be beating your alarm to a wake up call! You need to practise getting up at the same time every day)

- Dont have a conversation with yourself!

(I always used to wake up, hit my alarm off and go back to sleep. Then i started waking up at my alarm, but convincing myself to back to sleep- The conversation would be like
"Its cold when i get out of my blankets, Its still dark outside, Noone else in the world is awake at this God-forsaken time!!! "
Hopefully having convinced yourself the night before when and why to get up, you wont be having this conversation but you need to discipline yourself in the evenings to the point of where you ignore your morning advice you give yourself)

- Do whatever else you want to with your day, you now probably have alot more time!

- In the evening yet again- go to bed when your tired.

(However at Day 1, your probably going to get really sleep really fast. Try avoid having an afternoon nap as this will throw you off your sleep schedule. You'll find you're tired alot earlier than the night before so you might drop off sooner- this is your body trying to make up for lost sleep. However, you must still get up at that strict 5 AM <or whatever time you decided upon>).

I think that before considering how to get to sleep- you must set up a schedule to follow. Since starting this i've found that i'm gaining 2+ hours extra a day. thats 14 Hours a week. Over 56 hours a month. You get the picture. I'd also say that i'm more alert during classes and at work (im part time work, full time school).

Remember you DON'T need the same amount of sleep every night. As i mentioned above your body will tell you how much sleep you need depending on how hard your day was or how much/little sleep you had the night before.


Now to your question, how do i get to sleep-

I find that because i need to be both tired and relaxed; the best thing to do once i've decided to go to sleep is to listen to a hypnosis track on my mp3 player.
Most hypnosis tapes will start by relaxing you- otherwise you'll have a hard time getting into trance.
They also come in a range of topics- like recently i've needed to get over procratsination, so i chose:

"Chris Morrison - Procrastination to Motivation"

I think it is the best out there- when im awake during the day- it'll get me soooo deep in trance that i dont know which way is up! Also i've found that i'm wasting less time- so it must be doing what it says on the tin .
I think that this combination of being very tired, and then being utterly relaxed is the ultimate way of getting to sleep. I find i'm out within 10 minutes, which is about how long the relaxation section of the mp3 is- so i'm not bred, no drifting thoughts....

But, if you think Hypnosis is a waste of time, or you dont have or intend on getting any hypnosis tracks- try listening to some relaxing music. No not the latest "Whale and dolphin sounds" album- we're musicians dammit! I like any baroque music for getting to sleep, also Andy Mckee and the softer side of Dream Theater seem to be on the agenda.


So i think that is my rant over , I'll update a little later with a few links you may find useful.

Peace

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