How do you cope with wakefulness during the night.

I used to have a big problem. I examined my caffeine intake and realized that between Diet Coke, Tea and Coffee in the evenings and at night was not helpful. I was sleeping lightly, waking up and staying awake for hours.

I cut out caffeinated drinks beyond afternoon and now I sleep better. I may wake up but usually will fall back asleep within a few minutes.

I also find that as I get older (I am 48), I require less sleep to feel ok. I may wake up at 5 or 6 and feel like I had enough sleep.

How old are you and what is going on with your sleep?

I play a word game om my phone. The background is black and the letters are yellow, and I have the screen turned all the way down and at an angle. The game consists of finding as many word combinations from 6 letters. It occupies my mind enough to distract me from those thoughts that I might stress over, but it doesn’t stimulate me as much as watching video or reading does.

I read a National Geographic or Scientific American, or do a Sudoku, or sometimes come to this site. That usually puts me out. If I am really energetic and the weather is nice I will go outside and look for night critters in the woods. Sometimes the silence and darkness is almost magical.

Once I became familiar with the idea of First sleep/Second sleep, I stopped having trouble falling back to sleep after waking, as I was no longer anxious about being awake.

I do, and the way I deal with it is to get up and read or watch TV or play on the computer for a while. When I find myself getting tired or bored, I get right back in bed and usually fall asleep right away.

fluther, youtube

Fluther
Watch TV
Work on organizing paperwork
Write a list of things to do
Facebook

I often find it difficult to fall asleep when I go to bed. Sometimes I lie there wide awake for 2 hours, but then I eventually get to sleep and when I wake up I feel fine. I guess I just don’t need as much sleep as I used to.

I meditate and don’t worry too much about trying to fall asleep.

It’s a good thing, because lately I don’t meditate during “normal wakened hours” as often as I’d like.

Up, empty bladder, back to bed, lights off; then I always listen to an audio book. At some point I fall asleep. I use a Walkman, have several spares and large collection of AA batteries.

I hate waking up in the night. I am usually too tired to move but can’t sleep. I realised that I will be awake for two hours so I just wait for the time to pass and towards the end, I will get up and go to the toilet. Then I get back to bed and usually fall asleep quite quickly

I usually fall asleep right away and then wake up in the middle of the night, I’m not sure why. I try to get back to sleep but if I can’t I play games or surf the net on my mobile phone. I always fall back to sleep again after an hour or so but don’t feel as refreshed as I would if I slept right through until morning.

Sometimes. Not so much at the moment thankfully.

If it’s thoughts about work that are keeping me awake, I get up and do some work. Or, if it’s just general wakefulness, I get up and read, watch something on TV or do something to distract myself. I can usually go back to sleep then. I hate lying in bed staring at the ceiling thinking about how busy I am the next day and how much I need my sleep.

Internet pornography.

By working.

Now, wakefulness during the day is a problem for me.

Get up and watch some TV. Have a glass of milk and a sandwich.

I write. I’m most productive between 2 and 6 AM.

When I have to deal with my wakefulness, I take a short warm shower or if I do not have time, I just dip my legs into the warm tub. Sometimes, after taking a shower, I drink a cup of milk to help relax my muscle and spirit. That’s my solution.