chamomile

Skip the chamomile, you want valerian tea.

That will make you sleepy. Tastes nasty, though. I actually like chamomile, with a little honey. Valerian's better in pill form, so you can skip the taste.
 
trying to. instead i'm just drinking blandness.
I'm a lousy sleeper. It's like telling people you're having a baby: everyone's got advice.

So of course I do too. Only three things ever work for me:

1) Drugs: if you're getting to the point where being spooked about not sleeping is what's keeping you from sleeping, they're the only thing that breaks the streak. "Last night"'s dose makes me tired the next night too. I hate the way they make me feel, personally, so could never get hooked. More than once a month or two is pushing it for me. But they help "reset."

2) Excercise

3) Reading instead of (not after) computer or movie. For as long as it takes for your eyes to give out and shut (since the alternative is being up anyway). This one works best with 1 and 2.

Doctors say CBT and sleep hygiene stuff is the best long-term solution. Maybe, but when I can't sleep, I want it TONIGHT. I don't care about next year.
 
I'm a lousy sleeper. It's like telling people you're having a baby: everyone's got advice.

So of course I do too. Only three things ever work for me:

1) Drugs: if you're getting to the point where being spooked about not sleeping is what's keeping you from sleeping, they're the only thing that breaks the streak. "Last night"'s dose makes me tired the next night too. I hate the way they make me feel, personally, so could never get hooked. More than once a month or two is pushing it for me. But they help "reset."

2) Excercise

3) Reading instead of (not after) computer or movie. For as long as it takes for your eyes to give out and shut (since the alternative is being up anyway). This one works best with 1 and 2.

Doctors say CBT and sleep hygiene stuff is the best long-term solution. Maybe, but when I can't sleep, I want it TONIGHT. I don't care about next year.

drugs would be nice, but all i have is benadryl. i think i've worked up a resistance. i have no idea if that's possible, but it definitive doesn't seem to work on me anymore.

personally, i've discovered that a simple shower can work wonders most of the time. i have no idea why, but on nights when i take a shower before going to bed i usually tend to go to sleep with much greater ease then the nights that i skip it for whatever reason.
 
drugs would be nice, but all i have is benadryl. i think i've worked up a resistance. i have no idea if that's possible, but it definitive doesn't seem to work on me anymore.

personally, i've discovered that a simple shower can work wonders most of the time. i have no idea why, but on nights when i take a shower before going to bed i usually tend to go to sleep with much greater ease then the nights that i skip it for whatever reason.

Showers usually wake me up.

Benadryl usually works for me, but when it doesn't, it has the opposite effect. Also, it tends to give me a bit of a hangover.
 
Showers usually wake me up.

Benadryl usually works for me, but when it doesn't, it has the opposite effect. Also, it tends to give me a bit of a hangover.

yep. that hangover is a total bitch and i tend it to get it whether it works or not.
 
drugs would be nice, but all i have is benadryl. i think i've worked up a resistance. i have no idea if that's possible, but it definitive doesn't seem to work on me anymore.

personally, i've discovered that a simple shower can work wonders most of the time. i have no idea why, but on nights when i take a shower before going to bed i usually tend to go to sleep with much greater ease then the nights that i skip it for whatever reason.
Right, Benedryl is a different effect. One option for tonight would be to try a different antihistimine. Even for allergies, they apparently lose effectiveness over time unless you switch it up.

Shower is great. Aside from all the other reasons, I'm convinced the sound of the shower functions like white noise to put us in beta states. That's why we do the zone-out thing in there. (Well, the second reason).

Good "sleep hygiene" says that you never lie in bed not sleeping--that the bed is only for sleep. I disagree: if you're going to be awake for the next hour anyway, do something low-fi right there until your will gives out.

Not to get all science-geeky, but the sound and cadence of unforced speech holds a primal comfort for us. Find a good podcast--something talky--plug in headphones, turn it down to the level that you can just barely hear it at. Let your mind get lost in it. The rhythm and sound of unforced speech will pick up where the benedryl leaves off.
 
and i see that i'm typing like a moron. thanks for the advice. i'm gonna go take a shower and maybe go for that soothing voice thing.

also, masturbation. endorphins. them's the shit.
 
drugs would be nice, but all i have is benadryl. i think i've worked up a resistance. i have no idea if that's possible, but it definitive doesn't seem to work on me anymore.

personally, i've discovered that a simple shower can work wonders most of the time. i have no idea why, but on nights when i take a shower before going to bed i usually tend to go to sleep with much greater ease then the nights that i skip it for whatever reason.

Sonny is right; people develop a resistance to antihistamines. Most of the first generation ones are soporific, but some folk respond paradoxically to them and get wired, and the hangover effect is always there as they interfere with REM sleep.

The shower might be a white noise thing, but may also be as simple as physically relaxing tense muscles. Or even a placebo ritual.

So go take a shower.
 
i would bet on option two because i definitely feel a lot better. also, i'm naked. have fun with that image.
 
anyone know how easy it is to get that valerian stuff? i mean can you just get it at a grocery store, is it with the tea, et cetera? my curiosity is peaked even if it does taste like ass.
 
anyone know how easy it is to get that valerian stuff? i mean can you just get it at a grocery store, is it with the tea, et cetera? my curiosity is peaked even if it does taste like ass.
Yes, you can get it in grocery and health food stores. It does work, but you have to be sure you're lying in bed, prepared for sleep. The effect is fast-acting and not very long-lived.
 
Traditional Medicinals has a mighty night tea that has Valerian, hops, and my personal favorite passion flower. Try it. It works.
 
Traditional Medicinals has a mighty night tea that has Valerian, hops, and my personal favorite passion flower. Try it. It works.

i'll definitely give it a shot. apparently i can get it in town if their site is to be believed. that's almost amazing 'cause this town sucks.
 
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