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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ What Do You Do If You Cant Sleep ?

Posted by: chast Dec 10 2007, 01:05 AM

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 wink.gif

I already read a bit before I went to bed but there is no sign of fatigue sad.gif
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 wink.gif)

Greets Max

Posted by: Smells Dec 10 2007, 01:07 AM

Hmmm, I have this problem quite a lot too m8 dry.gif can be a real pain sometimes, especially when theres meetings etc the following day, I usually find sitting in front of the tv for a bit with the lights off gets me ready (obviously with the tv switched on lol!) cool.gif

Posted by: David.C.Bond Dec 10 2007, 01:09 AM

Yeah I have real problems sleeping, think I'm an insomniac!
I usually get up and drink some warm milk, sometimes helps.

Posted by: Robin Dec 10 2007, 01:12 AM

Read or watch TV while in bed, works for me.

Posted by: chast Dec 10 2007, 01:15 AM

I know what I need to fall asleep... My history teacher biggrin.gif biggrin.gif
Even if you are in love with history, you wont find his lessons interessting. Nevertheless he is a very kind guy who can understand the pupil (in my opinion only a few teacher can)

Posted by: Batista Dec 10 2007, 01:21 AM

I'm counting sheeps or old grandmothers. Or not ... I usually read some cartoons or something until I get tired, or else I'm just laying flat out and thinking until I'm falling asleep. Really not much to do about it.

Posted by: FretDancer69 Dec 10 2007, 01:26 AM

what i do is i get my iPod and set a sleep timer (depending on your state), if im very awake, i set 1 hour, if im near sleeping, i put 30 mins and i just try to sleep listening to the music, it works for me alot. smile.gif


QUOTE (Smells @ Dec 9 2007, 06:07 PM) *
Hmmm, I have this problem quite a lot too m8 dry.gif can be a real pain sometimes, especially when theres meetings etc the following day, I usually find sitting in front of the tv for a bit with the lights off gets me ready (obviously with the tv switched on lol!) cool.gif



laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif My dad does that alot laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif

Posted by: Dejan Dec 10 2007, 01:30 AM

If I can't sleep, I don't sleep wink.gif

Joking smile.gif You cannot force your body to rest, have to find a way to clear your mind and relax, everything is in our heads. smile.gif

But if you have to much energy, than maybe you should consider some physical exercises in the evening, and you'll sleep like a baby biggrin.gif

Posted by: buckjones Dec 10 2007, 01:33 AM

I've got an idea pick up the guitar and rock out till you can't rock out any more biggrin.gif Usually wears me right out... Plus for me it gets my mind off of things.

Posted by: Xranthoius Dec 10 2007, 01:35 AM

I either fall asleep with the tv on, or when it's off, I focus my mind on one thing (cant be sleep) and it works for me.

Posted by: Muris Dec 10 2007, 01:42 AM

I'm looking at the monitor until my eyes start to bleed,
then I watch all 3 chapter of LOTR,
after that Ilisten to The Wall album and then I'm dead laugh.gif

Really,have similar problems,
only able to sleep when I'm REALLY tired dry.gif

Posted by: ibanezkiller Dec 10 2007, 01:48 AM

I turn off the lights and BAM... drop dead right there... No books no rocking sad.gif just pitch BLACK

Posted by: SLASH91 Dec 10 2007, 03:38 AM

I'll play either myself to sleep on my acoustic or I'll just lay in bed thinking about all kinds of crap until I bore myself to sleep. biggrin.gif

Posted by: nickmarx12345678 Dec 10 2007, 03:50 AM

When I cant go to sleep and I know i need to (test or something next day) what I do is try to just clear all the thoughts from my head and listen to my breathing and really not let myself think. It s tricky at first but once you get good at it, it really works well, especially if im really restless

Posted by: VinceG Dec 10 2007, 03:57 AM

Yep, try and read while lying down. I have been sleeping good for a couple of weeks now. Every time I lay in bed, in 5 min im out for the night. 7-9 hrs of pure sleep. My sleeping pattern for the past 5 months was sleeping at 5 in the morning. It was a pain going to school because I have to wake up at 6. Imagine doing that and trying to concentrate in college. It was a nice afternoon sleep though.

Posted by: mattacuk Dec 10 2007, 10:29 AM

Ahhh guys, glad to see this thread.


Does anyone here experience problems sleeping if they shred really hard before bed time? I think I mentioned this before in a similair thread.

I spent the whole of Saturday evening sweep picking and when i got to bed i had a wild night unsure.gif From now on Im only ever shredding in the morning or afternoon cause I need a good nights sleep tongue.gif

Posted by: Smells Dec 10 2007, 11:12 AM

QUOTE (mattacuk @ Dec 10 2007, 09:29 AM) *
Ahhh guys, glad to see this thread.
Does anyone here experience problems sleeping if they shred really hard before bed time? I think I mentioned this before in a similair thread.

I spent the whole of Saturday evening sweep picking and when i got to bed i had a wild night unsure.gif From now on Im only ever shredding in the morning or afternoon cause I need a good nights sleep tongue.gif


Occasionaly yea m8, have the whole thing going through my mind, I just do what I said earlier, get up and go and watch some tv, find any film that looks half sensible and watch it till I drop. smile.gif

Posted by: mattacuk Dec 10 2007, 11:52 AM

QUOTE (Smells @ Dec 10 2007, 10:12 AM) *
Occasionaly yea m8, have the whole thing going through my mind, I just do what I said earlier, get up and go and watch some tv, find any film that looks half sensible and watch it till I drop. smile.gif



yeah I was spinning out saturday night i tell you laugh.gif All my brain could do was process was guitar stuff and all i wanted to was sleep tongue.gif

Posted by: The Uncreator Dec 10 2007, 12:09 PM

If i find myself unable to sleeps, i usually.

A ) Fight Crime
B ) Play Some Guitar
C ) Watch The History Channel Special On Flags

truthfully, 90% of the time i go on GMC

Posted by: mattacuk Dec 10 2007, 12:17 PM

I find switching over to Nickleoden and watching Spongebob is great for relaxing the mind and getting a good nights sleep tongue.gif laugh.gif

Posted by: superize Dec 10 2007, 12:27 PM

i used to have problem of sleeping but not so much anymore. when i do have problem i usually just lie in my talking to myself and trie to sleep and then after i while i fall asleep

Posted by: Dejan Dec 10 2007, 12:38 PM

it seems we need some meditation and relaxation lessons as well biggrin.gif

the problem appears when we don't follow the rhythm of the day, we should be the most active in morning and to calm down in the evening, but when we are unable to do so we have to find a way to relax before we go to bed. For example, one hour before going to bed to listen to some relaxing music, and basically to avoid anything that takes an effort smile.gif

Posted by: mattacuk Dec 10 2007, 12:59 PM

QUOTE (Dejan @ Dec 10 2007, 11:38 AM) *
it seems we need some meditation and relaxation lessons as well biggrin.gif

the problem appears when we don't follow the rhythm of the day, we should be the most active in morning and to calm down in the evening, but when we are unable to do so we have to find a way to relax before we go to bed. For example, one hour before going to bed to listen to some relaxing music, and basically to avoid anything that takes an effort smile.gif


I totally agree with you Dejan. Yesterday I decided to spend a couple hours listening to "chill out" music before bed and my night was very restfull ! cool.gif

Posted by: DeepRoots Dec 10 2007, 01:04 PM

Hey guys- (nice topic btw chast wink.gif, 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 wink.gif ) 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 smile.gif .

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 wink.gif , 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 sad.gif 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!!! mad.gif "
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:

http://www.all-i-can-be.com/Hypnosis.html

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 wink.gif.
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 biggrin.gif , I'll update a little later with a few links you may find useful.

Peace

Posted by: Smells Dec 10 2007, 01:22 PM

omg that`d either keep me awake for days thinking about that or put me to sleep to straight away laugh.gif

nah seriously there is something in a lot of what your saying there, its weird how when something is pressing the next day where you simply have to get up and cant afford to oversleep etc you seem to be able to manage it no probs, as you say, in the mind you are telling yourself, "its got to be 6am I get up I really cant stay in bed after that" and always I get up no problem.

Posted by: blindwillie Dec 10 2007, 02:10 PM

Usually I'll just wait until I get tired enough, passing the time with a little nap. biggrin.gif

Posted by: Toni Suominen Dec 10 2007, 02:16 PM

I just listen to my iPod until I get very tired and then I just put it away and fall asleep smile.gif

Posted by: David.C.Bond Dec 11 2007, 02:02 AM

Once again I can't sleep. So I'm on here, and its not making me tired at all.

Posted by: RobM Dec 11 2007, 02:21 AM

QUOTE (chast @ Dec 9 2007, 07:05 PM) *
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 wink.gif

I already read a bit before I went to bed but there is no sign of fatigue sad.gif
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 wink.gif)

Greets Max


I'll spare you what I was going to write about my sleep problems and just write this:

On those nights when sleep just does not come I try to find a really boring show or movie(religion shows work best for me), then I take my medication and kind of half sit/lay down and watch the show with the light off. Eventually I do fall asleep. EWTN is a great channel in the US for this type of programming.

Posted by: Bogdan Dec 11 2007, 02:28 AM

I really messed up my sleeping order wink.gif I usually watch tv and than go to bed..I can't fall asleep while watching tv smile.gif

Posted by: Dejan Dec 11 2007, 02:35 AM

sleeping order?! blink.gif what's that? unsure.gif

i always have inspiration to work when sun goes down biggrin.gif

Posted by: Bogdan Dec 11 2007, 02:38 AM

Well for me it is - going to bed at normal time 12am 01 am , and getting up 9-10-11 am...Not like I do last couple of days - go to sleep at 4-5 am and get up ad 1-2 pm wink.gif Thats sleeping order wink.gif

Posted by: giuseppe Dec 11 2007, 03:16 AM

i just think of what i did today what im gonna do until i fall asleep, also if you try to do homework you will fall alseep SOOOOOOOOOO fast

Posted by: Dejan Dec 11 2007, 09:14 AM

QUOTE (Bogdan @ Dec 11 2007, 02:38 AM) *
Well for me it is - going to bed at normal time 12am 01 am , and getting up 9-10-11 am...Not like I do last couple of days - go to sleep at 4-5 am and get up ad 1-2 pm wink.gif Thats sleeping order wink.gif


No matter when I go to bed I have to wake up on working days at 8am blink.gif and I sometimes compensate it in afternoon biggrin.gif

We need 7 hours of sleep a night, but I read somwhere that if we sleep 5 hours during night, and take one hour nap in afternoon that it's enough unsure.gif

Posted by: Milenkovic Ivan Dec 11 2007, 01:37 PM

Emmm play the guitar smile.gif

Posted by: Juan M. Valero Dec 11 2007, 02:44 PM

hehe, I sleep less than 6 hours a day, so when I go to the bed I am really tired so I have not problems smile.gif (I don't know if it's good or not tongue.gif)

Posted by: stratman33 Dec 12 2007, 02:00 AM

i normally have no problems sleeping, but if i cant, i just read.simple enough! wink.gif

Posted by: VinceG Dec 12 2007, 03:40 AM

Oh yea, one more thing. Do not force yourself to sleep like laying in bed for hours. If you can't sleep. Do something productive with your time. Sooner or later, your body will collapse and you will have the best 12 hours of sleep.

Posted by: Paul Coutts Dec 13 2007, 08:31 AM

For me, it's either play guitar till I get tired, or meditate/self-hypnosis. Absolutely amazing stuff if done correctly, focusing on relaxing your body and mind is key to really good health. I may sound kinda fruity or something, but I used to ignore it until my Psychology teacher taught it to me.
Another thing to get you really tired is to concentrate and focus on something INTENSELY. I'd say now would be a good time to practice keeping your fingers close to the strings wink.gif

Posted by: shredmandan Dec 13 2007, 08:35 AM

I havealot of problems trying to go to sleep sad.gif .I have stuff on my mind so much and most tmes i cant get myself to sleep until the sun comes up,but once im asleep i like to stay asleep along time smile.gif I basically just come on here at gmc,practice guitar or watch some tv when im stuck not being able to pass out.Thats actually what im doing right now tongue.gif

Posted by: Constie Dec 13 2007, 08:43 AM

Awesome post DeepRoots
I got many problems with sleep and staying awake.

Posted by: Layzer Dec 13 2007, 08:45 AM

I sleep so much!!! usually 9-10 hours... When i can't fall asleep i usually think of something very obscure and random (not related with my daily life) and the next thing i know i am dreaming.

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