Solutions for sleeping trouble?

Has your friend tried Melatonin at bedtime yet? We use it for all adults and our 6yr old son in our home. Many families with autism find it so helpful they can’t live without it.

For an adult I’d recommend beginning with one pure 3mg sublingual tablet at bedtime, then increase the dose as needed. Currently I take 6 to 12mg for severe chronic insomnia and am getting at least 6hr of sleep at night with occassional 8hr nights.

Exercise and a nice goblet of wine 2 hours before bedtime and a hot bath with soothing music and candle light. Works like a charm for me. :-)

For something gentler than melatonin (it is a hormone), I strongly recommend the herb Valerian. It smells awful so don’t use the tea, but it comes in pills too. Gives me lucid dreams, and I never wake up groggy from this stuff, like I do from sleeping pills.

Does she know what, about her sleep environment, is throwing your friend off? Is there too much light? Even the small lights on a cable receiver or a clock can stimulate the mind enough to keep it from resting. Is it too cold or too hot in the room? Is there a television used, in the room? Assigning anything to a bedroom other than sleep and sex sets the environment up for failure. Your friend might also be experiencing side effects from the sleep, and any other medication that is being taken. Talk to the Dr. about timing of all meds . Reduction of caffeine might help, as well. Just a couple of suggestions.

@annewilliams5: Good point. I forgot to add that I used to have real bad insomnia, and it only got better when I removed all electronic things from my room, including my alarm clock!

@Melonking: Has your friend been to a doctor about this? Insomnia can be the sign of larger medical problems, including narcolepsy (a friend of a friend was just diagnosed with this after having years of insomnia and fatigue), and thyroid problems.

If they have a heart condition, are they on a medication that could be affecting their sleep? If so, as @bookish1 mentions they should talk to the doctor.

And exercise is good for a heart if done under supervision, so they should talk to the cardiologist about that too.

And they should look at what they eat at dinnertime and in the evening. No caffeine, no sugar.

I don’t see how doing yoga cannot be anything but beneficial both for heart conditions and insomnia. Between daily yoga and either one mg of sublingual melatonin OR a Bendryl the person should be able to sleep. They should not ingest any caffeine in the afternoons and could use a fan to block out noises. I have tried many forms of melatonin and varying strengths and , for me, less is more. Thus the one milligram peppermint flavored worked well .

Marijuana

Is this person having trouble because their head is hard at work thinking? If that is the case I recommend downloading a boring book or a book on meditation or relaxation onto an ipod or phone or mp3 player and listen to that. It always works for me, makes me stop thinking, then my head will let the rest of me go to sleep.