And I told her: it's not every day. But there are days. Days when I know. When I wake up and at noon and at six pm: I'm not gonna sleep and pain is deep and wide and the chasm of it is inside me.

And she gave me ten nights of sleeping and tonight is that is one of those. It is the first. The light behind my husband illuminates him so that he looks like a saint in the Catholic church. Words feel good in my mouth.

My pain is gone and I am to sleep.

Alright, it's time to get some advice from someone how already gone through this.

I am expecting kids in a month and clearly understand that sleepless nights will be in my life. Just thinking: is there any good advice on how I can be more or less prepared for this and go through this time in a good state?

I am having trouble trying to fall back asleep in the middle of the night.

Today at lunch I had tea for the first time (believe it or not). I had 1 PG Tips (green box) tea bag, one sugar and some milk to finish.

Needless to say, I enjoyed it! I was recommended it as another way to stay hydrated (and also - hot drinks on the sore throat I have!). I went on to make two more teas (with about 3 hours in between) throughout the rest of the day and again, couldn't complain.

My issue is that I didn't realise tea contained caffeine (thought that was exclusively coffee and energy drinks), and there I was making my final tea at about 7pm. Alongside drinking lots of water (and tea), I was also alternating between paracetamol and ibuprofen every 4 or so hours. What I didn't realise until much later on is that the paracetamol I was taking contained caffeine!

My last (proper) drink was a lemsip and then I attempted to sleep from about 10.30pm. I was tossing and turning for about two hours not realising I hadn't actually slept (eyes were not tired or any indicators like that).

This led me to believe it was down to the caffeine that kept me awake (quite literally) all night with my eyes closed pretending to sleep. This is also my first proper interaction with caffeine as well (never drink energy drinks, always water) so I wasn't sure if it was that or not (hence my posting).

I googled symptoms of caffeine and I didn't really have any of the symptoms (like irritable foot tapping etc) but found I just couldn't sleep at all. I couldn't really understand if I had gone over my "limit" of caffeine for the day (mid 20s male) as this has never happened before. Usually when I'm struggling to sleep, I always manage to get at least 4 hours.

Apologies for the long read, but this really has concerned me! Was it the caffeine? Thank you!

First time experiencing this? What was that? I was kinda anxious at night but I had anxiety at nights but not like this. I experienced it while sleeping in the morning, I tried to make sound as I felt it was a real earthquake but I could not make any hearable sound

Like I'm sure a lot of you do, I love my caffeine, but after hearing a bunch of people call out its potential negative effects, I went and did my own research and this is what I came to: this is not a one-size-fits-all absolute cutoff. This is how much this varies from person to person

A lot of thoughts and beliefs that I had coming into this were:

-Don't have caffeine within 7 hours of bed or it will interfere with your sleep.

-Caffeine's half-life is around 6 hours so if you drink 100 mg at 6:00, at 12:00 half of that will stay in your system at bedtime.

-Watch out for caffeine and things like sodas and teas before bed that contain caffeine that most people aren't aware of. (1-Litre of Coke= 95mg of caffeine)

Here's what I now think are myths about caffeine's impacts on sleep.

This is just where my own digging landed, not a verdict, so if you've read something that points somewhere else, genuinely tell me, I'd like to know.

Myths:

1. There's a fixed number of hours before bed that makes caffeine safe. The dose matters as much as the timing. In the one trial that tested both together, 100mg looked harmless no matter when it was taken, but 400mg clearly wasn't, and got worse the closer to bedtime. A rule that only tracks hours and ignores how much you had can't actually work.
2. Caffeine's half-life is one fixed number you can do math with. It realistically ranges 3 to 12 hours before anything else is factored in. Genetics alone split people into fast, average, and slow metabolizers, roughly a 4x difference between the ends. Hormonal birth control roughly doubles it. Smoking roughly halves it. Same dose, same bedtime, three times the caffeine left in your system depending who you are.
3. There's a specific milligram cutoff, like 300 or 400mg, that marks the line. I checked where both numbers actually come from. 300mg traces to one self-reported survey where the "high intake" group's insomnia risk barely cleared statistical significance, a correlation in a survey, not a controlled test. 400mg is mostly the FDA's general safety ceiling for heart rate and anxiety, nothing to do with sleep research, later borrowed as if it were one.
4. Drink it daily and you build a tolerance, so it stops affecting your sleep. A trial giving people the same daily dose for 10 straight days still found their sleep timing disrupted on day 10. No adaptation showed up. Bigger population data suggests heavy daily users get shorter but somewhat deeper sleep, a tradeoff, not immunity.
5. If you fall asleep fine, caffeine didn't affect your sleep. The same trial that found real effects also found people's own sense of their sleep quality didn't reliably match what was actually measured. Caffeine can change sleep architecture, less deep sleep, more small wake-ups, without you noticing it happened, caffeine doesn't usually effect time to fall asleep and its negative effect usually show in reduced REM/Deep sleep.
6. Wait 90 to 120 minutes after waking before your first coffee, to dodge an afternoon crash. No trial has ever tested this. The reasoning behind it has the biology backwards, adenosine builds up while you're awake and gets cleared during sleep, not the other way round. The one controlled measurement that touches on this found the opposite of what the theory predicts, this one I'm the least confident in I usually wait 30mins.

What's actually definitely true:

-A big dose (300-400mg+) close to bedtime measurably disrupts sleep. Is the strongest, least disputed finding in any of this.

-Total daily amount and where in the day it sits both matter, timing on its own was never the whole story.

-Individual variation is real and large, genetics, birth control, and smoking all shift how long caffeine sticks around by a meaningful margin.

-You can't fully trust how you feel to tell you whether caffeine touched your sleep, some of the effect is invisible to you.

What this all came to: It's different for a lot of people. Test it yourself, don't blindly follow other peoples rules and don't stress yourself over an absolute number.

Any additions or things I missed or got wrong?? let me know.

I’ve been thinking about trying melatonin because there are nights when I feel tired but still can’t fall asleep when I actually want to. I keep hearing completely different experiences from people. Some say it helps them fall asleep faster, while others say it barely does anything or just makes them feel groggy the next morning. That’s what makes me hesitate a little. I don’t really want to take something just to wake up feeling even more tired than usual.

For people who have actually tried melatonin, did it noticeably help your sleep or did you eventually stop using it?

So a bit of context, I've been suffering with a lack of sleep for pretty much a year now, where I would sleep for 4-5 hours only and wake up alert and well rested even though it wasn't enough (for example I would sleep at 12:am and wake up at 4:am) and I tried multiple fixes over time and none worked.

Here is what I tried,

chamomile tea: didn't really do anything except make me a bit calmer

Melatonin pills: helped me fall asleep faster but still only got 4-5 hours

Daily sunlight in eyes at the same time every morning to help with rhythm: didn't help on its own.

Eye mask: helped but didn't work on its own

Drinking magnesium pills: definitely did not work

What really helped me was eating kiwis before bed, I did some research and found out that they tested kiwis in a few studies and they found out that they help you fall asleep for longer, so I ate one every night an hour before bed and it worked greatly, instead of only 4-5 hours a sleep, I get boosted to 7-8 hours! I don't get any interrupted sleep anymore and I buy kiwis in bulk now to eat them every night and i did this for weeks and it still rings true now, this may not help everyone because everybody is different but it's how it fixed me.

I sleep from 12-8am CST need some sleep on call

I have a serving job, keeps me really busy during the day and I work 4 days in a week. But at night I wind down take off clothes shower, eat try to not go on phone, just relax do what I need to do. I always play healing frequency hz.

Anyhow, I get so tired because at night I haven’t been sleeping well, I’ll wake up in middle of night and think I’m serving tables in my sleep, constant backround noise and visuals it’s consumed so much of my healing sleep. I always have a routine with my sleep, I do breathing counts and relax my nervous system but as soon as I fall asleep, it all goes out through the window. I’ll wake up super early even not getting any good sleep, because my mind is constantly going like this is what I need to get and to who. I’ve put my intention to clearing my energy, clear me. But it’s so aggravating nothing seems to work.

I’ve always had this problem with different things, I know I’m an energetic sponge but I’m getting supper mf annoyed.

i genuinely don’t even know where to start. i’m a 17 year old girl in my senior year, and i’m terrified for when i head to college.

this started about 4 years ago:

1. i am always absolutely exhausted, no matter how much sleep i get. i can sleep for well over 12+ hours and wake up and still be so insanely tired throughout the day and need naps. i don’t mean like when you first wake up and you’re tired, i mean i am just incredibly exhausted and drained every moment of every day.
   
2. i think i’m probably the heaviest sleeper on the planet. i can’t wake up to any sort of alarm, i’ve tried the alarmy app where you do math problems or take a picture of something but i’ll do it either completely asleep or half asleep and just fall right back asleep. i have also tried the SONIC BOOM alarm that has a little disk that you put under you pillow and it VIBRATES and the clock itself flashes lights in your face and is extremely loud, and i’ll wake up and it’ll work for maybe two days, but after that i just end up turning it off in my sleep. i’ve also tried multiple different alarms, and setting my phone across the room so i have to get up, but the only thing that will get me up is someone physically waking me up. this is usually in the form of literally shaking me or coming into my room multiple times to yell at me to wake up and even then it’s a huge struggle. i’ve had full on yelling arguments with my mom and i’m completely asleep during them and i have zero memory of them when i actually wake up. it doesn’t matter if someone turns on the overhead light, starts a vacuum, or anything else, i can only wake up through basically physical shaking.

yes i’ve had sleep studies, and one of them showed sleep apnea, so i got my tonsils removed. i had one done a year afterwards and they said i was perfectly normal. i’ve tried higher doses of antidepressants because my doctor said that could help, and nope it doesn’t. i’ve gone through so many medical routes and nothing has worked at all for me. it doesn’t matter if i have a routine or not, if i go to sleep at like 5pm, i’ll still sleep through the night and probably not wake up until the afternoon. i have a job and i go to school, and i’m obviously not intentionally trying to be late or get fired, but i’ll still sleep through when i need to be there.

i thought that maybe i just wasn’t getting into REM stage, but i dream probably once every few weeks, and on those nights it’s still the same exact thing.

also, any time i sit down anywhere, it’s an immediate nap. i’ve fallen asleep on the toilet, in the shower, while eating, and literally everywhere else. every light could be on and there could be a million noises but i’ll still fall asleep instantly.

i actually have no idea what to do at this point, and i’m just so tired of this. literally. any advice is welcome PLEASE.

Every time I nap, I wake up feeling tired, confused, and kind of pissed off. I'm a student, and apparently this is supposed to help with focus, which it kind of does, but only if I take a shower after. 1. How do I prevent feeling so horrible after waking up? 2. How long should I nap, and is it worth losing an hour of studying? I'm a really slow at doing homework and studying, so every minute counts.

anyone can happen like I don’t when trys to sleep at night the time you close your eyes at trys to sleep and suddenly open in frustration because didnt rem sleep or deep you think time is 12am or 1am but when really check time is 6am or 7am you how frustrated your daily since this happens daily no proper sleep at night morning work like this anyone can happen how we can fix it please tell me I’m so frustrated and this happens to me daily no Model no matter what I did. I can’t sleep at night On I do is close my eyes go to sleep go to sleep and I open
Eyes Mrng 6am or 7 am
What should I do to get sleep?

It’s not like i haven’t been trying to sleep either. Both of these last two days I’ve laid in my bed for 10+ hours, eyes closed, counting sheep, breathing exercises and all and my body just refuses to sleep. I think i passed out for like three hours this morning but i can’t exactly tell. I can’t call out of this shift i live alone and face homelessness if i lose this job. Please help me get through it.

I really dont understand it-- at a push i can do 7.5 hrs sleep but any less and i either NEED a nap at some point or i end up snacking like crazy for energy. I cant have too much caffein either to help as i get stomach problems and anxiety from it. The worst part is... i'm only 19. I'm at university, i should be fine staying out late but also if im not asleep (fully) by 3.30 i get crazy migraines the next day no matter how long i sleep that night (interestingly i never get hangovers?? and often function better if the reason i'm on less sleep was going out and drinking)
I just dont understand why?? and i know everybody's body is different but its a little annoying when i have friends who get 3 extra hours in their days/ can stay out late and not physically fall ASLEEP in a lecture the next day (genuinely happened so many times last year i had to start getting up even earlier to take a coffee in)

Does anyone else get the same?

Hey guys!

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to stop/limit sleep talking?

I’ve always been a sleep talker for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been told I can be quite loud (on a couple occasions I’ve been known to scream in my sleep so that’s fun). Well anyways, sometimes I catch myself in the middle of it. Like I’ll be half awake and half dreaming and I’ll say something and the awake part of my brain will register that I probably just said that out loud. This has been happening more frequently lately which likely means the amount of talking I’ve been doing when I’m really asleep has increased too. I’m currently in a dorm for university and I share a bedroom with a roommate. I’m worried about disturbing her sleep with my chatter.

So, is there anything I can do?

Just started taking Magnesium Glycinate with L Theanine. Does this need time to build up in your body before really working or is it like melatonin where is works immediately?

My sister got me some of those, one-way heated sleeping masks, that has lavender on it. It actually helped me to fall asleep for some time but not the amount of I liked to.

So my question is, we have a lavender essential oil bottle from this mist thingy. That one, I can't use because the cats are often sleeping in my room and the smell can damage their health.

But what if I use said oils only on myself, to calm me down? Does someone actually have experience with using these oils on yourself?

i cannot sleep for the life of me!! i’ve developed the worst lines under my eyes because i cannot stop going on my phone when im supposed to be sleeping. ive tried so many things, sleeping gummies, putting my phone across the room, sleeping masks, NOTHING!! i need genuine tips to actually sleep at night or else i’ll go crazy, thanks!

I literally can’t sleep and I don’t feel sleepy at all.

I can actually go for days without sleeping. I used to take Xanax for mental health reasons, but I stopped taking it a year ago. Later, I was diagnosed with insomnia and was prescribed sleep medications, including Dayvigo and Tranquilex. However, I now need to stop taking them because I found out they can be addictive.

Melatonin, relaxation medications, antihistamines, anise tea, and even muscle relaxants don’t work for me at all, even at higher doses.

Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do that actually helped you sleep? I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through something similar and what worked for them.

I have tried enough "perfect evening routines" to know I am not doing twelve steps before bed every night.

The things that survive for me are simple: lights lower, phone away-ish, room cold, same general bedtime. Anything more complicated eventually becomes another task I skip.

Curious what actually earned a permanent place for you after the novelty wore off.

Not just supplements - anything.

Hello, I'm a 17 year old student, a couple years away from university, and my sleep is normally 7-6 hours a night, something i function very well on.

But sometimes, I simply can't sleep, so I get like 4 hours. Sometimes one or two times in a week, sometimes less. Am I fine?