Sleep Disorders Community

Can't fall in sleep is a terrible thing; I experienced it myself for almost 6 months. But if you make up your mind to go through it, you can !

Last November I was stress out from my moving, from one day to another I just lost my sleep. I went to bed at 10:00, but I could only fall in sleep at around 3 am, some of the night I couldn't sleep at all. I was horrified; I didn't know what I had. Then my period came, it was not normal for me, as I took anti-baby pill without break. I ran to different doctors and hoped they could help, but they only write my magnesium and sleeping pill. I realized the dark site of the sleeping pill, I just took it for 5 or 6 times, then I burned them all. Because I always thought of the tablets, when I was awake at night, it made the situation worse.

I read lots of research about sleeping and realized that I can't force myself falling in sleep, it's a natural process, but I can create the atmosphere for it. In the day time, I tried to focus my normal daily life and not to think about my sleeping problems, I know it's hard, but if I make myself happy in the daytime, I can mostly sleep well at night. If I really couldn't fall in sleep, I would get up and grab a book to read till I was really really tired, then I laid down and tried to catch that magic moment to fall in sleep. Every morning I open my eyes, I'll give myself a smile. It doesn't matter how many hours I slept. If I got enough sleep that's great, if not, I would tell myself, " I didn't sleep well yesterday, but I will sleep well tonight".

It takes time to get back to the healthy sleeping rhythm. The first action I took was stopping the anti-baby pill, I am not sure if my sleeping problem had something to do with the pills, but it's definitely related to my hormone, I just want to get back to my normal natural hormone level.

Second: Reduce stress and do sport, lots of sport. It's impossible to reduce stress to zero, we are human, it's normal to have stress, but too much stress will be harmful for us. For me, Sport is a great way to drop stress, If I have time in the morning, I run about one hour. If I have no time in the morning, I will reduce the TV time and walk 1 to 2 hours at the night time. It really helps!!! At the same time, I used meditation to calm my mind.

Third, sleeping diary, I wrote just a pair of words to document my sleeping. After 2 or 3 months, I checked my short diary, I realized I got my sleeping problems mostly around my period and the ovulation. So I tried to slow down my daily activities during this period and relax myself as much as I can.

It takes me almost 6 months to gain back my "sleeping confidence". I am 38 years old; I shared the same experiences with the women who are a little older than I. They had the same problem when they're around 40, as long as we are away from the sleeping pill, we will go through this critical period.

As Bobby McFerrin sing: "Every life we have some trouble, if you worry, you make it double, so don't worry, be happy"---------Trust yourself, you will go through it.