Help me sleep!!!

Findthecolour I am in the same boat!

I can't get to sleep and then when I do I'm awake at 5 and my head starts whirring. I'd like to be able to take my head off my shoulders and put it in the garden for a few hours while I sleep but I can't (obviously!)

I spoke to my harpist yesterday (never thought I'd say that phrase!) and she said she has the same problem sometimes and the trick is to say the word 'the' again and again in your head and you will drop off again.

I tried it this morning at 5 and IT WORKED!!!

So try that. Sounds daft but it really works

Wow, good luck for your big day! I'm not surprised you can't sleep with all the excitement.

I often suffer from insomnia, and it's not a fun thing. I had months at a time with only sleeping half an hour to an hour a night, which led to hallucinations and all sorts. Not pleasant, I can tell you! Anyhow, it means I have had some experience with this. I tried all sorts of medication from the doctor, herbal remedies and relaxation techniques but very little helped. I have two bits of advice, though.

1. Try Night Nurse. Take a capsule at 8pm. I found that, if I did manage to get to sleep, this helped me get a good few hours of really restful sleep. Compared to other remedies which make you wake up feeling groggy, this was the best by far. Obviously, this is NOT a long-term solution!!

2. If you wake up and feel you can't get back to sleep again, don't just lie there. Get up, go to the loo, read a book, watch a bit of TV, have a cup of tea, clean the kitchen. Basically, anything that takes your mind off sleep. You might find that just going for a quick wee breaks the hold and you drop off as soon as you go back to bed, but if not, just do something relaxing for a while. I sometimes have a hot shower, which can help, too. Snuggle up under a blanket on the sofa and put something crap on TV and you might just drift off there.

I hope this helps. I can't imagine what I'll be like the days before the wedding!

Thank you - I am exactly the same and have another '18' sleeps to go.. Fingers crossed the 'the' technique and exhaustion will help tonight. If not Night Nurse!

Thanks for your replies everyone! Going to give those a go

My problem is that once I wake up if it seems like a reasonable-ish "morning" time (ie. after 4am) my brain is like "OK WAKE UP THEN PLENTY TO DO!!"

Absolutely no help but I'm Friday!!!

Im taking it a day at a time with lots of lists and to do's so I'm pretty organised and not worrying quite so much!!

Good luck!

Typical, I'm having one of those nights tonight! Went to bed just after midnight and fell asleep after reading for ten minutes. But, BANG wide awake a short while later at 1am. Gave up trying to sleep at 1:30 and got up. I've created a budget spreadsheet in Numbers (which makes scary reading - nightmares, anyone?!), and now I'm playing round with our website so I can get my STDs sent out. Starting to feel a little groggy (it's now 3:50), but I know I won't be able to sleep just yet so I might as well crack on with something useful!

Thanks for this! I couldnt sleep last night with all the things I had to do today so went downstairs and made a list, dropped off almost straight after! Also have achieved most of my list because not spent the day trying to remember everything!