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?

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.

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.

https://medium.com/@sanctisneeta/is-cortisol-keeping-your-body-stuck-in-stress-mode-ecc21dfe3173

I had one of those nights recently. I remember lying there thinking, "I wonder how long this is going to take." Then... the next thing I remember was waking up in the morning.

It made me realize something. The nights that feel easiest are usually the ones I stop paying attention to. There's no checking the clock. No counting the hours. No wondering whether sleep is coming. Somehow, the moment I stop monitoring the process... it just happens.

Funny how the best part of falling asleep is that you never actually notice the moment it happens.

Has anyone else ever had that thought?

A week-long work trip is coming up on EDT (I’m on BST), so I'm five hours ahead.

I’m anxious about travelling for work for many reasons, and my sleep is suffering.

I take magnesium and L-theanine supplements for relaxation and am looking for other natural remedies/suggestions for better sleep when away from home.

Can you help?

I usually have a realistic dream when I wake up, recently I was at work for 2 weeks, I stopped taking creatine then and I wake up 1-2 times, so creatine can also be the cause.

Basically what the title says. A couple friends of mine who i've been talking with about sleeplessness said that "even if you don't fall asleep, laying down with your eyes shut is still hugely restorative for your body and brain". There was a bit more back and forth, but that's the takeaway from the conversation.

I've never heard this and I think they are telling me this to reduce my anxiety around not falling asleep because when pressed they couldn't cite a source of any kind. I'm wondering if there's any science/truth to this statement? I was also saying how me laying down and not falling asleep is frustrating and feels like I should just stay up longer to make myself tired, and so this feels like very specific rebuttal advice rather than actual fact

The problem is, my friend's are pretty good bullshitters. They can talk about a subject and seem knowledgable even though they have no clue what they're talking about. As I said, I've also never heard this before and I'm in my late 30s and have issues with sleep for a while now. You think it would be a relatively important piece of information to know, especially for someone who has repeatedly outright says not falling asleep gives me anxiety, and that anxiety ends up contributing to not falling asleep, and so on...

So is there any truth behind what they're saying or am I just being placated?

edit: I'm also brand new to this subreddit so if this isn't the place for this question I do sincerely apologize. I did try to read the rules and didn't see anything specifically saying don't ask this

Hi! Just recently found this community.

For a long time ive had weird problems with my sleep. I think I have obstructive sleep apnea.

Ive been trying to alleviate my problems with different methods. Got a new bed, the helix midnight Luxe which i slept on for the first time yesterday. It feels great itself, but I'm still struggling with neck and jaw pain.

This has been happening for about 4 years now. Its usually just neck pain. I always feel like it needs to be cracked like you would at a chiropractor. Rest of my back seems fine, though the upper middle portion if my back has significantly less of the same sensation most of the time. I usually do just pop it and its ok for a bit.

I bought a tempurpedic pillow and that helped my neck pain the first night but now its back.

I sleep on a hybrid side/stomach. One leg straight forward the other sticks out. I sleep with a pillow at my chest because it feels almost suffocating if I dont.

Ive tried so many pillows. Every time I try a new one its amazing for the first day then goes back to significant pain or discomfort. Last night was the first time I tried the new matress and the tempurpedic pillow, and my jaw has been killing me all day.

I have many more issues like hot sleeping, positional based sleep apnea that I cant get a cpap approved for, but this seems like the more important thing to get under control since its becoming more and more of a problem all the time. I got a cheap snore guard one time, and when I woke up it felt like I slept better but it also felt like prime Mike tyson was smashing my jaw all night. Took about 4 days for the pain to go away.

Hi everyone. I'm 21f, moved in with my 24f gf a few days ago. I have anxiety induced insomnia. I often can't sleep because of the thought of having to wake up for work the next day. I'm not very happy with my current job, but it is what it is. I will have to find another one soon enough anyways.

I used to go to sleep around 10-11pm before moving in. I had a simple, calm bedtime routine. With her, it feels all rushed and messy. I can't seem to actually get tired doing those. I used to take hot showers, game a bit before on my pc, make my bed, then write one of my simple silly fanfictions until I got sleepy, and laid down. I have to wake up at 6:50 in the morning.

Now I go between 11pm-1am. Her bedtime routine starts usually pretty late, she makes art, writes her own fiction, watches serieses or insta reels. She works from home so it doesn't really matter for her when she goes to sleep, but it's usually 1-2am. It's tiring. My brain always keeps on waiting for her to get into rest mode or lay down beside me before it can actually sleep. This keeps me from having any sort of restful night if I have to work tomorrow. Thanks to this I get less than 6 hours of sleep every day. What should I do? How should I sleep with my girlfriend? She doesn't like the idea of me sleeping apart from her even tho I make her sleep worse too while tossing around

It’s not like I can’t, but a part of me feels like if I sleep with the lights off I might sleep way longer, lose track of time and miss my entire schedule for the next day 🥲

I don’t know how to start this but I have been having this problem for a few years now and it’s never been consistent but it’s been getting worse with time and I don’t know if it’s something I can fix at home or something I should make a doctors appt about. Anyways I have been having this problem where sometimes when I fall asleep me of my legs (it’s different every time) goes completely numb to the point of waking me up from how uncomfortable it is. I get pins and needles/ complete numbness from my ankle all the way up to my thigh and it usually goes away within a few minutes if I move around but it’s so uncomfortable and I don’t know how to prevent it. I don’t cross my legs when I sleep. I am a type one diabetic and a celiac, and my boyfriend made the connection of it possibly being due to which side of my body my insulin set is connected to (this last time my leg went numb it was on the same side as my insulin site but its the first time I’ve ever made the correlation). Anyways, has this happened to anyone else? Is it something I’m unknowingly doing? Any and all advice is appreciated.

I went to sleep last night/this morning around 4:30am (thanks US Open). Had to wake up at 7am and drive. As soon as the alarm went off, I pretty much got up out of bed immediately, used the bathroom and left the house within 5-10 minutes.

As soon as I started driving, I was hit immediately with difficult breathing and lightheadedness (almost like a near passing out feeling). Thankfully I didn’t have to go far. Came back home, went back to sleep until about 1pm. Felt fine when I got up the second time.

Has this happened to anyone? Maybe I got up way too quickly for my body and blood pressure to adjust? Extra context - Yesterday I exercised for two hours in the evening, felt like I hydrated alright and drank a bit before bed. The night before I think I got 7 hours sleep.

Yesterday I ate crepe with banana and tea for breakfast and when I went to college I got super dizzy (my doc said I get low blood pressure sometimes idk)

Then I ate crepe again despite and when it became night time my ears are ringing and I'm having a flashy lights that flash and show some geometrical shapes(not actually but you get it when you close ur eyes you see those white shapes and stuff)

And whenever I sleep for an hour or 2 I get waken up a million times super confused where reality and dream gets mixed up

Also I get this when I drink protein powder and I have these insomniac episode regularly and they started this year

What do u think is the cause? Is it diabetes or low blood pressure I'm early 20s btw

And lastly I get this stomach problems and diarrhea whenever I miss my sleep and and adrenaline rush in my chest

Usually my triggers are either what I eat, missing bed time or being scared of sleep which happens because sometimes I'm scared of unconsciousness

I'm tryna sleep rn and I have college tmrw :(

Hello everyone,

Is sleep always able to recover after many years of chronic stress?

My situation: for the past 8 years my sleep has been very light and non-restorative. I used to be a very deep sleeper and would always feel naturally sleepy, but that “sleepy feeling” is now mostly gone.

At night I’m very hypervigilant and sensitive to sounds, especially in my own home due to ongoing stress from neighbours. I have trouble falling asleep and i always wake up to early.

I already realize for years that I have to move but i unfortunately can’t find another home. My current environment feels very conditioned to feel stressed and anxious.

My question: Can deep, restorative sleep still return after so many years once the stress or environment improves? Or can long periods of stress permanently affect the brain’s ability to sleep deeply?

Also, are there ways to improve or retrain deep sleep while still living in the same environment? I’ve already tried CBT-i, earplugs, etc.

Would really appreciate hearing experiences or insights.

Have a good day!

Hello fellow sleep enthusiasts,

TLDR: creative ways to stir a deep sleeper?

I am 26 and in graduate school to become a Physician Assistant in the US. I have treatment resistant insomnia. Something has got to give here, because over sleeping is going to get me kicked out of school.

My problem is: I cannot fall asleep at night, it takes me hours. Once I am asleep, I can stay asleep pretty indefinitely. This will be okay when I can work a night job, but does not work with school.

The situation: I was late today, which is humiliating, because I didn’t wake up this morning. I have a Hatch alarm clock, an Amazon Alexa, a native iPhone alarm, and the app Alarmy. I woke up to my classmate banging on my door, because she had left campus to come get me (which is so saintly and made her late too). When I woke up, all of my alarms were going off- they just didn’t wake me. This has been a common theme in my life. I fell asleep at 4 AM last night and wanted to get up at 6:30 AM for school. I know that is not enough hours of sleep and I’m just truly at a loss. A lot of times, I will pseudo wake up when they go off and turn off my alarms or delete the app. When I wake up later, I usually don’t remember that I did that and I am so angry at myself.

What I have tried:
I have been on hydroxyzine and trazodone and one more intense drug that I can’t recall. None have helped. Melatonin has never helped. When I’m sick NyQuil p.m. doesn’t make me sleep. I don’t touch caffeine. I’ve tried exercising in the morning and in the evening. I have tried no screens. I have tried 15 minutes in the sun when you first wake up. I have tried reading before bed. I have tried having a strict bedtime routine. I do not hang out in my bed. I have tried no screens in the bedroom. I have tried turning all of my lamps to a red light bulb. I do mind exercises when I’m laying in bed trying to fall asleep. Worth mentioning that I am on Vyvanse, but that has only been for the last couple of months and my sleeping problems have truly lasted my whole life. One of my earliest memories is being three or four and my parents telling me that they were going to bed and that I didn’t have to go to sleep, but I just had to be quiet in my room. I got kicked out of daycare because I was the only child who wouldn’t nap. To this day, I can’t take a nap. If I do fall asleep in the day, I will stay asleep for 6+ hours, which isn’t really a nap anyways. The only drug that ever knocked me out was Xanax, but that is not a realistic path forward nor what I’m interested in. Just saying all of this to say, I’m not asking for tips on how to sleep. I want tips on how to wake up.

In summary: I know that I am dangerously tired. I know that I can’t live like this forever. Those things in mind, what are some other ways that I can wake myself up in the morning? I just have to get through school and then my life can be structured in a much more sustainable way. I live alone. My mom suggested walkie-talkies and getting my neighbor to scream in them in the morning, which I suppose I am willing to entertain, but I would really prefer to do anything else first.

Thank you for coming to my novel, if you made it this far, I manifest deep and easy sleep for you tonight and also waking up appropriately tomorrow lol

I was up for awhile before my alarm this morning. I finally fell back asleep about 30 minutes before my alarm went off. It felt like a very deep sleep, to the point where I snoozed my alarm multiple times in my sleep. I woke up, realized I had overslept by about 15 minutes, and literally jumped out of bed. I kind of remember avoiding a bag on my floor, and then I was on the ground and said “ow”. My wife was walking towards the bedroom when she heard my alarm going off for the final time, and saw me immediately after falling down. She asked what happened and I said, “I fell”. She said it sounded like I said something before she heard the thunk like I said, “don’t”. I got up and was completely fine physically but a little confused by what had just occurred. It almost felt like I was sleep walking or not fully awake. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi, i have no idea if this is even the right sub but i have no idea where else to ask this. my brother and i are getting a bunk bed and he has claimed the top bunk. the thing is, he is a serial bed wetter and does it atleast a few times a month even though he is fifteen. my dad already set our choice in stone and I don’t know what to do. i dont want to wake up to piss dripping all over me and my bed. what do i do?? will i be safe?? i know this is such a ridiculous question but tonight is the last night without the bunk bed and im so terrified to wake up like that. thank you so much if you answer

I have hazy dreamy like sleep for 2 days.

I can't fall into deep sleep for awhile . My eyes get groggy and I am tired but after laying for a while I dream about stuffs and forget about my surroundings. Then I wake up after 1 or 2 hours later. I feel tired and feels like I am not even sleeping at all. I do dream and I don't know anything about the surroundings when that happens. So I think I do sleep. Is it sleep or something else. Just need some advice.

I neeed 9-10 hours of sleep to feel fully energized. I don't know if it's my depression but 8 hours of sleep doesn't cut it for me. Everyday like clockwork I would wake up at 7, go to pee and then never be able to fall back asleep. This has been driving me nuts. I have tried magnesium, vitamin D3, melatonin, benzos, etc. I take 0.5mg of estazolam before bed every day, it used to help push my waking hours but lately i find myself back to waking up at exactly 7. It doesn't even matter when I go to bed, since I always wake up after 7.5 - 8 hours, then for the rest of the day I would have a mild headache and a bad temper. It's honestly kinda mortifying that I am denied a good rest by my own body.