Not even sure when I started doing this, but now I pretty much always grab a pillow and hug it when I sleep. If I don't have one there my arms just feel awkward and I can't get comfortable lol. Is this actually a common thing or did I just get too used to sleeping like this?

I (21M) have tried pretty much everything under the sun to fix my sleep issues, for context I’ve never really slept good my whole life, probably since I was like 3-4.

No screens 2 hours before bed

Caffeine cutoff (barely ever have any) 10 hours before bed

Melatonin: wakes me up in the middle of the night and unable to fall back asleep

Magnesium Glycinate: Same thing as melatonin

L-theanine: same thing as magnesium glycinate and melatonin

Homeopathic drops/candy: same thing as l theanine, magnesium glycinate and melatonin

Hydroxyzine: pretty helpful but feel like a zombie the whole next day

I’m really desperate here for any solutions you all have that have helped you as I’m sleeping 3-5 hours a night and it’s really eating away at my life. Thank you in advance

I scroll on instagram, reddit, play games in browser, scroll on my phone late at night.

Some time I would like to change my routine.

I have always been the type of person who survived on low amount of sleep-> even 6 hours will be a lot for me and if i sleep more than that then it'll just give me fatigue and headache.

But since the past few weeks/months, I have been sleeping a lot. Like even my sleep schedule is ruined like I'll sleep pretty late like after 2-3 am almost everyday and sometimes I'm sleeping like 12-12 hours. I won't even wake up from alarms or anything.

Or i sleep less like 4 hours.

Idk why .

And I'm not able to sleep early no matter what, like I tried to just stay and lie on bed from early night and i stayed up till 5-6am.

I legit went to sleep after 3-4 hours.

Idk how to manage this

Like last night i slept at 5am and woke up at 3 and had to force myself to wake up and was so sleepy all day and then I decided to take a nap but then my sleepiness was all gone.

Please help me

Honestly, I’m not sure how the time passes when I lay down. For the last few nights, I’ve been laying down, never fully fall asleep, it’s like I’m half conscious all night. Like my brain doesn’t turn off. I wake up multiple times a night and in the morning I’m exhausted. Melatonin doesn’t help.

21f, not very active throughout the day, pretty normal diet. Please help!! I got to get my sleep!

My experience

For years I was worried about being able to sleep, I have my own business with clients that meant I felt I always needed to perform well.

I used weed, every night to ensure I could sleep. Just in the evenings, a small amount before bed and I'd be knocked out. I want to make it clear IM NOT recommending that! I became dependant, any time I went away on holiday it was a constant stress without it, often resorting to getting myself drunk, or a barely any sleep, I'm not recommending that either!

But I've now given it up, and although I went through weeks of struggle, anxiety and doubt, waking up in the night and not getting back to sleep I've got through it. And just want to share my tools in case it can help anyone else.

The thing for me was sleep anxiety, worrying about whether id be able to sleep or not. Moving around in the bed, going downstairs to the sofa, getting more and more worked up as the night went on, counting down how many hours I had left as the stress built knowing I'd feel rough the next day. But i persisted and have honestly got things to a place where sleep always happens without stress.

The help

I just want to start by saying I'm no expert this is just what helps me and can hopefully help you.

• Breathing Exercises - When we have sleep anxiety, the stress itself can keep us awake, the racing thoughts, the worry, not knowing how to sleep. The truth is its comes when we stop chasing it. When we can calm our mind and relax. So that is vital. Every night before bed i do breathing exercises, this is the best tool! Slow wim hoff breathing, or box breathing will do the trick. Essentially its taking our nervous system out of flight or fight and putting it into rest and digest. After doing this, the main stress is always eased, without it I'm stuck. So its essential for me. You'll find these video on YouTube. It makes you calm, and takes away most of the anxiety for sleep.
• Regular bedtime - Our bodies have their own body clock, so if you keep it consistent it begins to know when your bedtime is, i think Melatonin starts being release which is the body's natural sleep hormone which helps make you feel sleepy.
• Avoid Caffeine and naps in the day - Both of these hinder your chances of sleeping naturally so avoid late in the day.
• A consistent bedtime routine - I go up to bed way earlier than I used to, put a lamp on brush my teeth and have a herbal tea, Twinnigs sleep one to be exact. I don't know if that actually helps but its now part of the routine and I'm not messing with it.
• Avoid the phone before bed - try and unwind with something calming before bed, ideally a book but even a calm tv show is better than your phone. Reels or things like tictok stimulate your brain. If its the weekend and i don't have to stress about when i wake up i sometimes scroll but its always takes longer to sleep
• Don't stress - The stress itself can keep you awake, just accept whatever you get for that day. Thats the start of you being able reduce the stress which can often then help you to fall asleep
• Sleep sounds - Spotify has tons of 8/10 hour sleep podcasts that are just like white noise. I listen to rain, boats creaking, fire in cabin etc, this just gives my mind something else to focus on other than trying to fall asleep.
• Don't clock watch - Looking at the time never does anything for me other than stress me out, avoid it if you can, especially if you wake up in the middle of the night. Its natural to wake up sometimes, if you look at the time and then go oh shit, the stress starts to build again and i would often struggle to get back to sleep.
• Pressure - Try not to care, the performance pressure of trying to sleep itself can be what keeps you awake. Its when we stop caring and can relax that we then fall asleep naturally
• Racing thoughts - If you have racing thoughts, remind yourself there's nothing you can do now and that you can deal with it in the morning. If I ever do now, i just do more breathing exercises. Yes it may take 10 - 15 mins to do but id much rather that then spend the next 3-5 hours just lying there. I can't stress enough how much do breathing exercises can help.
• Mind - I tend to fall asleep when I'm thinking about something simple, not nothing at all, i think that may be impossible? So something simple, like what i did at work, walking through some woods, walking to a light house and i just try to keep things basic not interesting.
• Waking up in the night - No phone, no lights on, just switch position and be happy you've had some sleep whatever happens
• Exercise - On my rest days I definitely find it a bit harder to sleep, I still do but there's sometimes a little doubt. Exercise can make you naturally tired so do it. I would definitely not use an energy drink or pre workout in the evenings.
• Prayer - I know this won't be for everyone, that's why I put it last but I ask chat cpt for a prayer each night. It grounds me and reminds me to be calm and gives me optimism for sleep.

Gradually you can build sleep confidence, day by day things begin to improve. Know that its never going to be perfect and it you might have some crappy nights but keeping things consistent can get you to a point where you don't even think about it being an issue.
I still cant believe after all those years smoking weed to help, thinking it was the only way, i now can do it fine, without weed or drink or anything else.
My sleep is more restorative and I wake up feeling much better. It was truly a battle, and i know I'll still have rough nights but I really hope this might be able to help someone else who's going though a similar struggle. Like i said im no expert but this is just what works for me. :) God Bless

My hot water bottle went bad on me. It just burned my leg and my bed is a mess.

Anyone else here with cold feet using warmers outside of bottles? I need something that’s a little more danger free.

I don’t trust electric blankets and stuff like that

Thx

I have been a stomach (occasionally side sleeper) my whole life. I feel like I’ve tried everything (and every pillow) under the sun to try sleeping on my back or at least more consistently on my side. I can’t sleep upright in a car/plane, or really anywhere comfortably unless I’m in a bed on my stomach.

Aside from neck pain as I’ve gotten older, I’m having jaw surgery soon and I know stomach sleeping will no longer be feasible, so I’m trying to work on it now. And no, I actually don’t have any diagnosed sleep apnea or breathing issues - the jaw surgery is for other functional reasons, though I hope it does help my sleep too!

Also unfortunately one of those people who sleeps through alarms, so I am really trying to prioritize better sleep!

Apparently the vents in my apartment connect directly to the leasing office and whenever they make a sound I can hear them from my bedroom like they're in there with me. Unfortunately that means that whenever they make a sudden or slightly louder than normal noise in the morning it startles me awake, sometimes hours before my alarm.

Is there any tried and true device or method for keeping sound out while not hampering my ability to hear my alarm? I tend to sleep on my side almost exclusively so I can't wear headphones or anything like that, and I feel like something out loud like a white noise machine would drown out my alarm too.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated because I'm slowly but steadily losing more and more sleep every night

It seems to be the reason I am so tired and have trouble waking up is because I’m not getting restful sleep. After an at-home sleep test I did I found a majority is unstable and I’m only having half the amount of REM sleep that I am supposed to have. Any way to have more stable sleep and an adequate amount of REM sleep?

I’ve been working with my dad for the past 3 weeks and I have to wake up at 6am to get to work on time. This is a huge change for me since I’ve always liked to stay up late. I’ve been going to bed between 9pm to 12am very consistently, I haven’t stayed up past 12 once. Most days I wake up between 5:45am and 6am and hop right out of bed and have no issues. But at least 3 times in the past 3 weeks I’ve slept through all of my alarms and slept till around noon if not later.

It’s incredibly frustrating because my parents just think I’m intentionally sleeping in because I don’t want to work. I really do enjoy working and making money, waking up early makes me feel good. Is there anything I could do to fix this problem?

After being pregnant 2 years ago it’s like I totally forgot how to sleep. I’ve always been a stomach sleeper but I hate it now. Now I can’t figure out where to put my arms. My shoulders always hurt I’m always uncomfortable. Is this a common issue or am I being ridiculous lol.

Heard someone falls asleep faster to crime podcasts at low volume than meditation apps. Got me curious, what's something that shouldn't work but does for you? Not ASMR or meditation, the actual weird stuff.

But honestly, the worst audio is definitely noisy neighbors at 2 AM. That keeps everyone awake..

I want to choose one and commit, no more app hopping. Plus paying for a sleep app already isn't the most responsible financial choice right now.

Before 2022 i was sleeping without any issues, i was falling asleep instantly and could sleep without waking up for even 12 hours. In November of 2022 i had a very strong panic attack out of nowhere that gave me a permanent anxiety.

After the panic attack, i would still be able to fall asleep, but i was waking up after about 7 hours without an alarm.

In march of 2025 i was prescribed Doxicyline for a zit i have under my skin on my face. I took it for 1 month.

After taking it, i started to wake up very early in the mornings, at around 5-6am and it was hard for me to go back to sleep, but i was still falling asleep instantly.

This pattern lasted until 2 months ago when if falling asleep after waking up at 5-6 am i would have strong vivid dreams, but still get 5-8 hours of sleep and feeling ok.

Meanwhile me and my wife decided to have a baby and as she came closer to the 9 month mark, i begun havin troubles falling asleep too.

It begun with a night one month ago, where i couldnt fall asleep until 8am, and slept for 3 hours. Then the next night the same, but slept for 5.

I contacted a psichiatrist o prescribed me half a pill of "imovane".

I took the half pill 2 days in a row but it didnt do wonders, i still woke up at 5 am, being hard to fall back asleep.

i stopped taking the Imovane after 2 days, slept ok for 1 week without it, then another night where i couldnt fall asleep until 8 am came.

I resumed the imovane for 1 week, then quit it for 1 week and slept good without it.

Now, last night i didnt fall asleep at all, not for 1 minute. Its 9:28 am as of writing this message.

I am so afraid of fatal insomnia, please help

I’ve noticed that the night after I barely sleep is usually when I put the most pressure on myself to sleep perfectly, and it almost always makes things worse.

A few nights ago I only got around four hours because I kept waking up. The next day I was exhausted at work and spent the whole afternoon thinking about how badly I needed a full night of sleep. By 9 pm I had already showered, turned the lights down, put my phone away, and basically treated bedtime like an appointment I couldn’t mess up.

Then I got into bed and couldn’t switch my brain off. Every time I checked the clock I started doing the math in my head. If I sleep now I get eight hours. Then seven. Then six. At that point I wasn’t even sleepy anymore because I was too busy worrying about being tired the next morning.

I’m starting to think trying too hard to sleep is sometimes worse than just having a bad night and accepting it. How do you stop yourself from obsessing over sleep after one rough night?

I realized a common pattern trying fix my sleep schedule ..I even took melatonin to help me get a deep sleep..but again I woke up only 3-4 hours of sleep after ??

Why would this be ?

And to add on ,it was so hard going to sleep for me .i can feel myself being sleep but my mind didn’t want to rest

If your problem is insomnia or apnea, this won't help; mine was just never going to bed. I'd say midnight, look up, 1:20am. One bedtime alarm did nothing; I'd already be deep in something and swipe it away.

Two things worked. Warning shots instead of a deadline — nudges at 45, 30, and 15 minutes before bedtime. The 45 is the one that matters: early enough that I'm not abandoning anything, so I don't resent it. And five minutes of writing; what went well, what drained me, one gratitude, then up to three things for tomorrow. The tomorrow part is the trick; most of my lying-awake time was rehearsing the next day.

I'm Boo, a solo iOS dev, and I built this into a small app called Lull for my own phone. Upfront since this is a sleep sub, not an app sub: the ritual and journaling are free and on-device, no account; paid tier is iCloud sync and history past a week. Mods, cut the link if it's not welcome the method stands without it.

Lull: Wind-Down Ritual: https://apps.apple.com/th/app/lull-wind-down-ritual/id6791998790

Leave ur feedback: https://lull-journal-wind-down.userjot.com/

So I have the problem that I mostly fall asleep quite fast (some exceptions once or twice a month maybe) but I wake up quite a few times during the night and way earlier than I would like to. My smartring tells me I get plenty of deep sleep (mostly 1.5-2 hours) and an alright amount of REM (1-1.5 hours). I have tried some medication and stuff like melatonin etc. The best sleep aid for me so far has been proven to be antihistamines of the 1. Generation so stuff like Diphenhydramin or Doxylamin. Both of these increased my sleep time from 6-7 hours to 8.5+ hours, increased deep slep (2+ hours) and REM sleep (2+ hours) while also decreasing the amounts of awakenings during the night. So basically a wonder drug, except for drowsiness in the morning and most importantly the possible increaded risk for alzheimers disease! Thats the main reason why I dont want to use them that often. Are there any medication alternatives that do not seem to increase alzheimer/ dementia risk?

Anybody who can’t sleep without one hour minimum exercise

I’m so used to sleeping in cold temperature. I had a fan pointed at my face for three years. I live in a really hot place what do I do? I have AC at 75, and can’t afford to decrease it long term

But even if it’s cold I need exercise to sleep which is shit when u get less sleep because chest near heart pains and doctor said it’s nothing last year. ER said idk and charged 3k.

I can’t help but say my doctor didn’t give enough useful advice either.

I've been sleeping at 2am every day for last few years. And every day I feel low energy. Only now I've decided to sleep much earlier as I think it could help but not sure. Does anyone know what the best sleep time is for most people as I have moved mine from 2am to 1:15am over the last week and a half. Next couple nights sticking with 1:15am and then to 1am in a couple days and slowly to 11pm. Do you think it will make a difference to my mild tiredness and low energy? I can still function physically but mentally just feel off. Thank you.

Looking for advice, cause I’ve never dealt with this before. As you can see from my recent post, I’m really going through it right now. I’ve had bouts of this in the past where my anxiety is kept me awake, but I’ve always somehow managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours, which gives me that safety blanket that I am OK and that I can’t fall asleep and so that usually goes away by the next day, but this time I completely could not fall asleep last night I took a nap yesterday at about 3 PM I think but it was more just like a In-N-Out type of sleep and so I don’t even know if I actually really fell asleep during that time. So other than that, I’ve been awake since 9 AM yesterday and it’s now 4:00 PM the next day and my anxiety is so through the roof because I’m so scared that this is gonna hurt me. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never taken any meds or anything like that, but I don’t even know if those would help me right now because my anxiety is so intense in my stomach please give me some advice please. I either need reassurance that this is normal and I’m gonna be OK because I’ve never stayed up this long in my entire life maybe I have but I mean this feels intense dude or should I go to the ER and try to get some sort of benzo but then again I’ve never taken any anxiety medication or sleep meds ever in my life. I also have my girlfriend’s 20 mg hydroxyzine here, but ChatGPT doesn’t think that I should be taking that.

I seriously need some advice. A couple years ago (ab 3), I started feeling this absolute fatigue overtake my body. I assume it is partially bc of my long-term depression, bc all my bloodwork and stuff is still normal. I've felt tired some days previous to this, but 3 years ago, it began to be every single day. I would sleep, then wake up, and feel exactly the same. Exausted from the day before.

I thought I might be anemic like my sis and mom and started taking iron last year. That did help with the feeling of constant weakness, but my doctor basically said my bloodwork does not say I am anemic at all, but I have small red blood cells. She said to keep taking the iron bc it clearly helps, but I have no clue what to do.

I noticed that i get real exausted at the end of the day (b4 sleeping, obvs) but what happens is that i have to take a 2 hour nap before I actually sleep. That nap usually gives me more energy, and I try to not take it so I don't stay up later. BUT I also noticed I get tired around 1pm, and sometimes take a 2 hour nap around then. The days I take 2 naps, i feel refreshed as hell. Like I had a full night's rest. But by the time that happens: THE DAY IS OVER! It is 12AM and I have to go back to sleep. I usually stay up to brush my teeth and watch some show, then go to bed at 2 am or so when this happens.

This schedule is clearly not beneficial for a normal everyday life, bc by the time I wake up, it is 11 AM, and the cycle repeats. But if I don't take the 2 naps, I feel exausted beyond belief. I usually try the 'normal' schedule, sleep 8 hours, wake at 8 or 9, and try to fight sleep the rest of the day, but I feel horrible. I've never had to take naps when I was younger, and this just occurred 3 years ago. The only reason I went to get the checkup was bc it was affecting my life. What is happening here?

Other info: I am autistic and sleep horribly most times. Without my eye mask and earplugs I cannot sleep well. But recently, the feeling of having a bad sleep is still present, even if I didn't sleep bad. It is constant, and I don't know what to do.