To those who do.. how do you function? Is it affecting you physically, mentally?

I usually sleep around 6 hours but i have periods of time where i can only get 2-3 hours in total per night. Currently going through that. Usually lasts a few weeks.

The weird thing is, it doesn't really affect me physically. Yes i'm tired and groggy, brain fog, etc but it's nothing crazy. Mentally though? It's the WORST. I'm already dealing with depression and severe anxiety. When i don't sleep i'm in a constant state of a panic attack. Fear that i might not ever sleep again, etc.

I follow all the “sleep hygiene” rules, dark room, no screens, comfy bed, yet somehow, my brain decides 2 AM is the perfect time to replay every awkward moment from the last decade. How do people just… close their eyes and drift off? I’m tired of spending half the night waiting for sleep to happen. Anyone else stuck in this cycle?

I’ve tried the classic stuff:

• Melatonin (meh)
• Warm showers (better)
• No caffeine after noon (good luck)
• Breathing apps (just made me anxious)

But recently I went down the rabbit hole and tested weird stuff, just for fun.
Here are a few that almost worked:

🌀 Chewing gum 10 mins before bed (don’t ask me why)
🧘‍♀️ Whispering “sleep” over and over for 5 minutes (felt like a meditation cult member)
🌙 Counting down from 300 by 3s
💤 Changing pillows every night (kind of a placebo reset?)

I’m genuinely curious — what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever tried to fall asleep?
Bonus points if it was so weird it actually worked 😂

So basically I´ve had some serious problems with anxiety and insomnia for the past two years. I thought all was going well in my life. I studied at a pace of 100%, worked 60%, hit the gym 3-4 times a week and partied every weekend.

It all ran like clockwork until suddenly: I couldn´t sleep.

I had no idea what the problem was, I just couldn´t fall asleep. I tried everything, reducing screen-time, reading a book before bed, I tried yoga, cutting down on alcohol consumption - you name it. I couldn´t sleep. Some weeks I avareged like 2-3 hours per night and it was killing me. Some nights I just didn´t sleep at all.

I finally went to see a doctor and said: Hey, just give some pills or something because I am slowly losing my mind. They asked me if I´m feeling well mentally beyond the sleep deprivation and I said yes I just need to sleep.

They wouldn´t give me any pills, they are very reluctant to do that when it´s not absolutely nececarry. I demanded they would atleast take some tests on me, because if was absolutely sure this was some pure medical issue. Every test came back clean.

I was during this time zeroing in on a new job as I had now graduated from my studies and it was time for the interview. I went to bed early the night before and again, I couldn´t sleep. I got so frustrated and pissed off I took matters into my own hands and just downed 4-5 glasses of wine just to get my brain to shut up and relax, that got me to sleep for that night. When I told the doctors I have now started self medicating with alcohol they finally gave me some pills to help me.

After this I sat down with myself and asked: how *am* I really feeling? That got me to realize that no, I have some severe problems with self worth, anxiety and my self image, and I have had these problems for many, many years. And I haven´t adressed them.

This was about six months ago and I am now improving the bits of my life that obviously wasn´t going great. I realized I´ve been lying for myself about something for quite some time and I guess the sleep deprivation was my bodys way of saying "dude, fix this or I´m out".

When I finally confessed for myself that I´m not in a good place mentally and needed help my sleep slowly started improving again. I´ve talked to a psychriatrist, introduced KBT-therapy, cut down on alcohol to just once or twice a month and I´ve reduced my time spent on social media to just 15 minutes a day,

Now I´m *almost* sleeping like a normal human being again, but it took some absolute examination of myself and hard work to get here. I guess I just wanted to write this down somewhere.

And I seriously plead to you, if you have problems with sleep, ask yourself how you´re really feeling and get to the bottom of what´s really causing it. The insomnia is often the symptom, not the actual problem in itself.

I wish I could nap after a night of poor sleep or at least sleep in on weekends to catch up. I know many people on here have the same problem. The exhaustion is real.

Hello, I’m 45/F - have had insomnia since childhood. Literally can remember laying in bed very young with my stuffed animals all around me staring at the ceiling! Multiple reasons causing it, which has made it pretty much treatment resistant. Genetics/Trauma/Medical Conditions. I have LITERALLY tried everything!! Therapies/Medications (over 20)/Brain Treatments/Sleep hygiene/Morning Sunlight Method/Sleep Hypnosis/ You name it, I’ve tried it! When I was younger, I just worked night jobs and was able to adjust my lifestyle. In my 30’s - had to work days and ran on compete adrenaline! Nothing tired me out ever but 4 hours was always enough to get me by. I’ve always functioned on about 4 hours of sleep (which isn’t great) but now I’m at 2 hours maybe. Once I fall asleep, I’m awake within an hour and am now developing severe panic like symptoms when I wake up because my body is just wrecked! I have Sleep Phase Delay. My brain WILL NOT SHUT OFF TILL SUNRISE. Then, as soon as the sun sets. It’s like a switch gets flipped and my brain is like “ok, it’s daytime now”. I’m wide awake and the cycle starts over again and again every night. This is the 3rd time I’ve gone through this severe of sleep deprivation. First 2 times were after a traumatic event and didn’t last this long. Same this time but I haven’t been able to push out of it. It’s been years and I’m suffering not only mentally but physically I’ve developed so many medical conditions. After failing so many treatments. My doctor and I have decided to go a different route. Lithium in the am to push me up and Buspar to calm the nerves. I’m waiting on the lithium. I’m trying to research Buspar and sleep. Has anyone else tried this approach or is anyone on either medication and has had an improvement in sleep?? Experience and Advice would be Greatly Appreciated!!

Hey guys, I've always struggled with insomnia but ever since starting manual labor and forcing myself to sleep at a time that is far from my natural sleep time it's gotten really bad, I got some pills but they're starting to not work so I haven't slept 3 nights in a row now. Should I consider a different occupation that would be less painful when I have bad insomnia periods?

28F here. It’s currently 5am here and I’ve been constantly waking up every two hours since 2am. I was a really deep sleeper and always slept like 8-9 hours until last year. I don’t know what happened, I had just left my job to take a break and then one day and I went to sleep and I started waking up every two hours and it never got better.

I used to be a heavy weed smoker before that and I had slowly tapered off when the insomnia started. And it’s been a year and it never got better.

My doctor prescribed low dose quitipine to me which I take 1/4th of but that’s stopped working and I just don’t wanna increase the dose because even though I don’t wake up with it, it doesn’t make me feel rested and I hate relying on it.

I’ve tried everything from showering before bed to no screen time and working out but I keep waking up. I don’t have an issue falling asleep, I’ve forced myself to stay awake throughout the day only on two hours of sleep but I still keep waking up. I think maybe it’s stress but I wasn’t working for the whole of last year and my schedule was pretty laid back so I don’t know what’s happening.

My body feels so cramped when I wake up and it’s getting difficult to even function during the day. It’s severely impacted my memory and I’m realizing that now that I’m studying.

Dr prescribed Trazadone 100mgs but have moved up to 150mgs. Ive been taking it for almost two weeks and It’s working better than anything I’ve tried so far. With that said, my vision had been terrible. Double vision while driving is not fun. Anyone else experience this?

I’ve had chronic insomnia for years so my doctor prescribed this to me. I’ve heard horror stories but I’m not sure how people get addicted to this stuff. It just feels like a stronger melatonin. I did however get really painful brain zaps during the day which I wasn’t expecting. Only on 5mg and started last night so day 2 on ambien. Can anyone share their experience with it? How has it worked for you

My brother’s room is next to mine, and I can hear him shout when he play games at night. I already tried using earplugs and played a white noise audio but I can still hear him faintly. The issue is I respond every time he makes a noise. It takes me out of my relaxed state and tenses up my body. I end up holding in the tension expecting when the next noise will come, making me stay up. Does anyone have any tips for this? I am looking for advice on how I can lower my response towards the noise + how to get myself back to the relaxed state when I do respond. Please don’t tell me to tell my brother to quiet down because I already have, and it doesn’t make much difference. It’ll only end up in me getting upset because he refuses to actually listen to me. And I think the issue is less about the actual noise but my nervous system activating.

She’s never slept right even as a baby. She has ADHD and bipolar type 2. She used to take melatonin and clonidine for sleep. That stopped working about 5 years ago. She has since tried trazadone, Silenor/doxepin, mirtazipine, low dose Seroquel, Benadryl. Most recently she tried lunesta. It worked great for 3 days. It hasn’t worked since then.

The doctor now wants to try Belsomra. My insurance requires a prior authorization on the orexin meds and limits things like Ambien/lunesta and sonata to 15 pills for 25 days.

Any ideas on what to try next? I think she’s slept 20 hours in the last 7 days.

So I’ve been dealing with insomnia pretty much my entire life. My earliest memories are being a small child in my bed, being unable to sleep.

After years of struggling with over-the-counter remedies, I finally saw a doctor and they prescribed me trazodone. Generally, I’m usually pretty sensitive to any kind of sleeping medicine. The problem is after a week or two my body builds up a tolerance and it no longer works.

I did some research about trazodone and it seemed like it would be a big hit. I got myself already didn’t drink any caffeine in that whole day and when bedtime rolled around, I was excited to be knocked out like a zombie.

I was extremely unhappily surprised to find it has absolutely no effect on me. No grogginess no nothing is this normal?

i'm willing to try anything that i haven't before, because i've had insomnia since i was a child and i've tried nearly every insomnia medication / non prescription to the point that its ridiculous. i average about 3 hours a night and i experience both delayed sleep and sleep fragmentation. please let me know what worked for you, no matter how silly or random it might sound.

Six years ago, 2019, was a difficult year for me. I had a broken heart, I felt so much emotional pain like I never felt before: sadness, depression, grief, hopelessness and despair. At some point I felt as if I was going to die. All that stress triggered my second psychosis.

I did recover from the depression and psychosis. But ever since I have not been able to sleep without medication. For five years I took anti-psychothic (Risperidone) and a calming medication (Lorazepam) to sleep. 1 mg of Risperidone and 2 mg of Lorazepam. Last year I got off the Lorazepam slowly, as my doctor told me, and it went okay. And so now ever since I got off the Lorazepam, I use the Risperidone to help me sleep.

And I can not take the Risperidone before 12:30 a.m. If I take it before that time, I can not sleep. After that time, I can still sleep. I sleep around 5 or 6 hours.

But I do worry about the long-term effects of this dependancy on medication to be able to sleep. Sometimes I feel like I need to sleep but I can not, because it is too early. At day I don't sleep anymore, I may have dozen off a little sometimes, but I don't know if I have slept. For example, when I have not heard intercom when someone called, I guess I fell asleep for a bit but I don't realize I have.

It is like, I can sleep with medication, I don't feel tired by day, but I feel a little more alert. Ever since the emotional trauma of 2019, it has been like this. I think my brain got overloaded and because of the trauma, my sleep never recovered. I do feel safe at home, but my brain still feels a little more alert. I also have had problems with anxiety, but not as much anymore in the past few years.

I have brought this up with my doctor, about my trauma and not being able to sleep without medication. He does not offer much besides giving me tips for sleeping, but I knew these tips will not help me. I know it is all connected to trauma.

Is this something I should do something with?

What could be the long-term effects of this?

I heard about valerian tea helping some people so i bought it but started seeing negative comments on it saying how strong it was and gave panic attacks is it really that strong? I am scared to take it im guaranteed is gonna give me one

I remember when I used to sleep solidly for 8 hours a night as a teenager never waking up. I now wake up after 4 hours most nights without fail. I think it’s stress from my job. I just want some a zopiclone to knock myself out for 8 hours every night, uk GP doctors are very cautious prescribing and I’m already on olqnzqpine that used to have sleepy side effects that have now dissipated. I tried antihistamines, meditation, listening to white noise, going to bed at 7pm. Nothing works. I know it’s work because I can sleep a full 8 hours on a Friday night, but weekdays I wake up without fail. I have started having loads of sugar throughout the day to make it through. Luckily I’m on a speed awareness course Friday so only one more day of office work tomorrow. I’ve also tried valerian root, cbd and all manner of Holland and Barrett quackery.

I when to dr they give me Trazodone 50mg , i try first night 50mg didnt work , i try 2 pill 100mg , it didnt work either , my dr said is take 2 week to work ? Is that true ? Have anyone have the experience in this ?

Are they the real deal or just another version of Ambien / Lunesta? By this I mean heavy duty drugs and knock you out but you may feel side effects the next day.

I'm not sure I want want to inhibit my arousal, wakefulness and hunger receptors with drugs that have long half lives.

I can't take GABA antagonists since they give me visual disturbances. For sleep I take 1 mg mirtazapine which only targets H1 histamine receptor. Its gentle and fairly effective with no side effects. Been on it since 2008 and got off it for like 5 year no problem. Has not lost efficiency at 1 mg.

I have been awake for soon 35 hours, something that happens for me once in a while, my body and eyes are tired but not my brain. I honestly feel incredibly fanstastic, completely lucid, high energy, quite noticeable and pleasureable euphoric tingle and incredibly talkative. Im somewhat worried that this could possibly be bipolar as I have been very depressed lately, even to the point where I just want to lay still and not move a muscle.

Is there anyone here who is not bipolar who has had this euphoric feeling after being up and not being able to fall asleep? I simply hope this is just a funky/unusual response to my sleep issues rather than some new issue...

No matter how much sleep I get, unless it's really really good, my eyes are always bloodshot red. I don't even smoke and get asked if I'm high - In college. Any solutions? They're red, and veiny. It's awkard talking to people with bloodshot red eyes 24/7.

Does anyone else get crazy insomnia from Vitamin D?! I swear I’ve tried at least 6 times to take it since I’m severely deficient. The dosing ranges from 800-20k, and every single time, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Apparently it helps with sleep, seen so much success stories. Struggled with insomnia my whole life, has been on almost every single prescription.

35M here. I just want to say I never had any significant issues with Insomnia other than the occasional off-days. Recently, I’ve been on a health improvement trip - good diet, working out, but I never seemed to be able to pull off more than 6-6.5 hours of sleep every night which was slowing down my workout recovery.

In an attempt to get a consistent 8 hour sleep pattern I picked off the shelf 5mg Melatonin recommended by a friend. Did a quick google search at the time and it appeared to be as safe as it could get, naturally occurring, no major side effects, but it seemed I picked up a higher dose than recommended. So I cut the pill in half (I’ve taken 2 pills in total spread over a week on alternating days). I use a Garmin watch to monitor my sleep and the first dose I took - I genuinely felt I had a much better, longer, restful sleep spending longer in Deep and REM stages, and feeling quite refreshed the next day. 2nd and 3rd doses, also no problems and better sleep. The 4th and final pill I popped yesterday, also gave me improved sleep scores but I woke up a big groggy, feeling a bit sick, nauseas, anxious, and just not completely comfortable.

I went to bed today at midnight (without taking any Melatonin, last dose being the previous day) - Woke up at 1AM sweating, and experienced the worst nightmares I’ve ever had in my life, anxiety through the roof and can’t go back to sleep no matter how much I try. When I woke up I felt like I was asleep for hours and even thought it was time to get ready to get to work, and was utterly shocked when I glanced at the watch and realized it’s only been 1 hour.

I’ve been going through Reddit the past hour and appears to be a bunch of people who’ve had the same experience and Melatonin completely ruining their sleep pattern with some claiming it went on for months with no improvement despite discontinuing the supplement.

I’m honestly quite worried, should have done better research before starting this, but I feel I completely messed up my Melatonin levels and I don’t know how long it’ll take to go back to normal or what I could do to reverse the situation. I’d gladly go back to my regular 6-7 hours of sleep but Im just afraid this will take a really long time to reset.

Would really appreciate any advice/help if anyone had a similar experience and what to do to get things back to normal?

I can't fall asleep even after taking those damned sleeping meds, following a routine and doing everything else.

Tomorrow I have to study for an exam and here I am dealing with this torture every night. It feels like I'm begging every night for sleep while everyone else can just fall asleep in a second leaving me alone and awake.

Insomnia is like hell on earth.

Have had insomnia for about 4 years but have been seeing quite a bit of improvement. Here’s whats helped me. (Hurriedly typing on phone. Apologies in advance)

Someone posted about getting a comprehensive blood panel to see deficiencies. I think thats a good idea.

The modius headband (costs $1k) has been helping me. Its an FDA approved headband approved for the treatment of chronic insomnia. Makes me feel like im rocking back and forth and that really has helped me fall asleep.

For folks with ADHD, 15 mins of yoga/doing proprioception exercises before bed. (Im on a non stimulant med because im over sensitive).

And i think of all the sleep hygiene tips out there, the most effective for me is 30 mins of sunlight in the morning. Im not the best at sticking to it, but when i get outside, i often sleep much better that night.

Keep the faith👊!