My husband is driving me mad. He has suffered with insomnia for as long as I’ve known him but it’s getting worse. It doesn’t help that he works a 3 shift system. But lately it’s been getting worse. We’ve tried some of the over the counter products but they don’t help. I’m desparate, he is so miserable and tired all the time! PLEASE HELP!
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I had a bad problem with insomnia for many years, and did some research on it. Here are the things I’ve found that help the most.
1. Don’t take the sleeping pills. Although they are not addictive in the way we tend to think (you won’t jones for them if you miss taking them) they are addictive in the sense that once you have taken them for a while, you will have to take them to get to sleep, but they won’t have the same effect they used too. This is because you tend to not get the necessary REM sleep you need to be rested. If you must take a sleeping pill, take it well before you go to sleep. For instance, I prefer to take sleeping pills 2 hours before I go to sleep, so that the pill can get into my system and make me drowsy before I get into bed, then get out of my system (hopefully) early enough that I get some normal sleep.
2. Try to go to bed at about the same time every night. You have some wiggle room on this, but if you stay out on Saturday night till 3, it’ll be harder to go to sleep at 10PM Sunday. (I understand with a three shift system that that is not going to work, but at least go to bed at the same time for each shift)
(Which somewhat contradicts:)
3. If possible, don’t go to bed if you’re not sleepy. Note – one thing I have read and found to be true is that you have to be awake for 12 hours before you can go back to sleep. So if you sleep till noon, again, you won’t be sleepy at 10PM.
4. Don’t spend more than 15-30 minutes trying to get to sleep. If you notice that you’ve been in bed more than 15 minutes, get out of bed and do something for a while. Make sure what you do isn’t going to make you more hyper; e.g. no exercising or energetic music or writing posts to online debates.
5. When you go to bed, choose a chore or some other task that you do not want to do and tell yourself that if you are still awake in thirty minutes you will do that task. Then, if you are still awake, get up and do your chosen task. This is my favorite suggestion, as it has worked nearly every time I’ve used it. .
Those are the most useful suggestions I have. Other things you can try:
Before you start getting ready for sleep, turn off high energy music and turn the lights down. I love R&R music, but I went through a period where I had to turn the radio off every night about an hour before I went to bed, or I would be too wired to sleep. And our bodies react to reduced light by producing melatonin which puts us to sleep.
Get plenty of exercise, but not right before bed. (Unless you’re weird like me – exercise right before bed just puts me to sleep)
Another suggestion that might work is to relax your body, consciously, one area at a time, starting from your feet. You think about the ball of your left foot and relax it, then the ball of your right foot, then the arch of your left foot, etc. You have to concentrate (pretty hard) on what you are doing
Sex *grin* by yourself or with an SO, it produces a nice soporific chemical, which does a nice job of putting you to sleep.
My husband (who worked shift work) adds: make sure that the shifts are rotating in the right direction, namely morning->evening->night and not the other way around. Bob says that if it rotates the other way that the boss is insane. If it rotates in the right direction, your husband want to schedule his sleep times so that he is basically “staying up late” compared to the previous shift.
Hard days work, exercise, deep breathing, try to calm one’s mind, count backwards 51 to 0…fall asleep.
Herbal teas are good; yoga or meditation, go to bed at same time, avoid alcohol or heavy meals for few hours before bedtime. Warm milk is said to work, but it never helped me. Lack of sleep affects your immune system. My son works 3rd and I keep telling him to get a routine. I’d watch over the counter meds.
He’ll have to try to get regular sleeping hours. Irregulay hours can really disrupt the routine. Hot milk is good. Stay away from tea at night. It is a diuretic and he will just be getting up to go to the toilet. He could try a hot bath or shower with lavender. Lavender is very relaxing. Also I read that if there is a lot of light entering the room at night it can disrupt the sleep. Keep curtains drawn and all the lights near your bedroom turned off
drinking warm milk and having a small snack can be very helpful. Milk has properties in it that naturally aid sleep. He might also try taking a warm ( not too hot) bath or shower 30 minutes before bedtime and making sure he does not do any strenuous activity within 1 hour of going to bed. Great sex is also great for relaxation and sleep
Good healthy long bouts of SEX always works for most men .Try that.
Work less, and not at the night! Stress and irregular rest is the absolute most common cause of insomnia. Also, a healthy diet is important.
eating healthy food, yoga and meditation will really help.drinking 1glass of warm milk before going to bed will also help. ask him chant any mantra for 108 times , even before completion he will fall asleep.
hypnotherapy worked for me. also yoga may help
Use melatonin there are several another is Camille tea, warm milk, back rub, Tylenol PM, opiates
One solution is regular exercise, although after a shift thats probably the last thing on his mind! Avoid caffeen at all cost and eat well(lots of fruit and veg) all these will add up and help him relax more, avoid watching TV up to the point of going to bed as this keeps the brain active and makes it harder to switch off, have a bath before going to bed. Its all about switching off and preparing for sleep. Hope this helps. Sim