Hi Thesedaysarenotfun,
Did you find anything you could try on the sleep thread?
To answer your question, my issues with sleep are part side effect of the antidepressants, part poor routine and self sabotage and part racing thoughts and dwelling.
I know my sleep patterns need to change but at the moment late night is my only time to myself without small kids so I'm not really inspired to tackle it yet. Sleep or sanity 😊
My mum struggles to sleep. As long as I can remember she has "run on empty" about 2 hours max.
Rather than fight it she has accepted if she goes to bed she won't sleep. Rather than panic about it she embraced it.
- bought a lovely comfortable couch and made the lounge welcoming.
- In the evening she will lay down and read a book, watch tv, use her tablet.
- She has so many dvds just to have something to pass the time.
- Drinks coffee at night does all the things docs say not to do.
- Keeps a notebook and writes ideas out as they come to her.
Basically she has just decided not to do anything about her lack of sleep. To let go of the anxiety about needing a certain amount of hours. Since doing this she dozes.
It's a joke in our family that she cannot stay awake to the end of a movie. The more noise, the more relaxed and safe she feels (having my Dad making noise, hearing the dog barking at foxes, hearing the washing machine or my kids playing when we visit) the more likely it is that she will be out cold 😊.
My point maybe the amount of effort you are putting in is causing more anxiety? What do you think? When you have leave from work and are not expected to do anything do you rest any better?