Aauuuggh! Insomnia!

[Sock]

It's currently 4 AM. I need to be up at 9:30, maybe 9:00. Lately (for about a week - it's been on and off before then) I've been having massive trouble sleeping. Usually, I don't have anywhere to go in the mornings so have no problem going to bed at 3 am and then waking up at 1:30 PM, but I'm sure it's a bad thing for my sleep schedule.

I found a website (http://www.well.com/user/mick/insomnia/) that gave some good tips, so right now I'm up because I can't sleep, drinking warm soy milk, and am about to go back to bed and will be taking a warm bath in an hour if I still can't sleep.

However - does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? This is driving me crazy!

[BeDeviled]

I use to be such an insomniac and still have bouts of it once in awhile. I do crossword puzzles, not very hard ones just some easy ones and do them while I was in bed. I don't know if it was because it was boring or making me think but after a couple I usually went to sleep ok.

[Qanda]

Check out the tips here.

Unfortunately, many PPTers seem to have trouble with sleeplessness too. :/

[dood]

Turn all your lights of but turn your TV on. Mute the volume and lie in your bed, watching the silent television. It may waste electricity but it works for me (I can afford it though because I only have short bursts of insomnia once every 3 months or so.)

[Stijn]

Going to bed late works for me. I know that I can't sleep when I go to bed earlier than 3am, and even when I do go to bed at 3am+ I still can't really sleep.

Just, well, if you try not to sleep you will sleep. Sounds weird, but works for me.

[Asthaloth]

doing anything an hour before you sleep is a no no.
pictures/music/running/etc stimulates the mind and stops you from sleeping.

other than that i can offer no advice, seeing as ive never been able to get rid of my insomnia.
ofcourse stress doesnt help at all, but oh well.

[Xerophyte]

Reading a book you would never normally bring yourself to read works for me most of the time.

[Yoshi]

Continuing Xerophyte's point, a boring textbook is the way to go. Just ask my sister. :P

[.:Requiem:.]

I have insomnia problems too. Even doing my algrebra homework (yes, actually doing my homework...it's a sign of the apocalypse) doesn't help.

[Forest_Majesty]

Be bad to your eyes . Have dim lighting, and start reading, reading calms you, as well as making your eyes tired, your body relaxed. That cures my insomnia whenever it decided to haunt me, it helps sososo much!

[Twinkle]

Are you sure that you haven't done something inadvertantly to affect your natural sleep patterns? I used to stay up to the early hours of the morning chatting online to a friend and now I've got used to falling asleep late and I can't get to sleep any time before midnight.

[Eo]

I have teh insomnia too; but I don't mind it so much because, if all my RP buddies have slipped offline by that point, I slip into bed and daydream endlessly, trying to get either RP ideas or a POTO dream into that thick skull of mine. After two hours or so of this, I sometimes fall asleep. If not, I tend to get back on the comp and read webcomics...

In other words, I can't very well help you, as during the school year, I kept staying up til 3 and I had to wake up at 5:30. e-e Reading does help, sometimes, but not if you're packed up on caffeine in addition to insomnia.

[Sock]

Are you sure that you haven't done something inadvertantly to affect your natural sleep patterns? I used to stay up to the early hours of the morning chatting online to a friend and now I've got used to falling asleep late and I can't get to sleep any time before midnight.

Well, on weekends/summers I usually don't get to bed before 1:30 or so, sometimes 2:30, then I sleep about 10 to 12 hours (because I've always needed a lot of sleep). However, 4 AM is a definete stretch.

I ended up badgering my dad at 4:30 AM, he gave me a Benadryl and I fell asleep maybe 15 minutes to a half hour later.

[Divine]

I had no problem with sleeping before, but lately, I've had trouble sleeping anytime until 1:00 am, meaning that I always wake up around 11:00. I have to have my piano exam on August 8th at 9:00 am, too, so I better get used to sleeping earlier.

[Asthaloth]

I have insomnia problems too. Even doing my algrebra homework (yes, actually doing my homework...it's a sign of the apocalypse) doesn't help.

i like doing Algebra
though doing somthing obscenly stupid tends to help.
calculating the distance between the Sol and Alpha Centauri in miles is too small (quite easy if you know that light travels at 31,000 miles per minute )
might go for the distance between the Galactic core of the Milky way (roughly 70,000 light years from the edge..) and the galactic core of Andromeda.

eh, i'll give it a go.

edit: Andromedas core is about 89,000 light years from the edge, combined with the distance between the galaxys were looking at about...

3,159,000 light years give or take.