by Danielle
(Conway, Arkansas)
When my husband and I were unable to fall asleep we tried almost everything to try and sleep, including staying up to the next night in hopes we would be so exhausted we could fall asleep, but nothing worked.
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by Christopher
(Austin, TX)
In order to help myself get to sleep, I often will run a bath of hot water and stick my feet in.
This attracts blood to my feet and pulls it away from my brain, making it operate less and become sleepy.
I hear it can help to add bath salts during this step. Then I will turn my fan on and wrap myself up in my covers, then read or watch TV.
The important thing here is not to think about trying to go to sleep; rather, thinking the opposite is what helps here.
Try to stay awake as long as possible, and before you know it, you'll be asleep. I'm not quite sure why this trick works, but it really does, and this step works for me most nights if I don't feel like running the bath.
Good luck sleeping!
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by Rosie
(Olympia, WA)
When I am finding it difficult to fall asleep, I lie in bed and think about relaxing my muscles. First I lay in a comfortable position (usually on my stomach).
I start at the top of my head and imagine each tiny muscle in my head, down into my forehead, ears, eyelids, nose, cheeks, mouth, and jaw all becoming completely relaxed.
I think back to muscles I have already relaxed to make sure they haven't gotten tense again. I continue on down my neck, into my shoulders, my upper back and chest muscles, and so on... but I am usually asleep before I get to my shoulders.
The whole time my goal is to relax each muscle from the top of my head to my toes, but usually I am fast asleep before I get to my back.
Adding a very small amount of diphenhydramine (one quarter to one half the recommended dose) helps quite a bit in helping me fall asleep, and doesn't interfere with deep sleep as much because of the lower dose.
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