Practical Advice Sleep deprived and feeling agitated all the time

[rav1e]

I'm still trying to adjust to a new sleep schedule. Normally I can't sleep very well, on account of the chronic pain I feel, but as of now, I want to feel less agitated and overall don't wanna feel like absolute shit when I get through the day.

I cannot seem to nap, like at all, the moment my head touches that pillow, I just sleep for hours. Which is probably why I can't sleep right now.

What I've tried:

1. Mindfulness: It doesn't help me sleep, but it does stop the racing of thoughts and that's nice.
2. Music
3. Audiobooks

I don't think that music and audiobooks are a good choice to help me fall asleep, given that I tend to focus on them, but they do distract me from worrying about how terrible the next day would be with my lack of sleep.

I also have terrible anxiety, and I find myself needing to calm myself and breathe deeply quite often, yet I can never shake the feeling that I'm out of breath.

So, what do you people do when you feel tired? I don't like coffee since it agitated me, and yeah that's about it, for now.

 

[may71]

I'm sorry you've been sleep deprived.

You might want to take a look at this:
The Sleep Book: How to Sleep Well Every Night
Dr Guy Meadows

It's been recommended on the UK's reading-well book list. I haven't read it, but all the books there have been vetted by at least one health professional.

I'm not sure if the book addresses pain as a cause for insomnia, so it might be of limited use.

I've found an acupressure self-massage is really helpful at night:
https://www.suicideforum.com/commun...-insomnia-and-anxiety-updated-5-12-17.133822/

I cannot seem to nap, like at all, the moment my head touches that pillow, I just sleep for hours

If you're sleeping at the wrong time, you might want to try setting an alarm so you only nap for about 20 minutes. That might help you get to sleep at a later time.

1. Mindfulness: It doesn't help me sleep, but it does stop the racing of thoughts and that's nice

I think meditation can actually be better than sleep, so if you just lie in bed and you can meditate deeply, it might be ok.

"Headspace" and "Insight Timer" are two popular online sources for guided meditations. They offer phone apps to download, but the meditations are also accessible via web browser. There are also plenty of other meditation that you could find online, or via youtube videos.

Joining a meditation group can greatly increase the benefits of a meditation practice.

If you're happy with your current mindfulness meditation, it might work just fine to try to do that all night, even if you can't get to sleep.

 

[rav1e]

I'm sorry you've been sleep deprived.
.

Hey thanks for replying! That book looks interesting, and sadly no matter how hard i try i can't do short naps, so i'm just stuck being tired.

I did sleep pretty well yesterday, in the middle of mindfulness meditation, so that was nice!

 

[Lifeisthis]

Check for sleep apena and you deserve good sleep

 

[seabird]

For occasional wakefulness I've found those self accupressure exercises work very well. They don't guarantee against bad dreams and anxiety, but I recommend them. Thanks @may71 for making them available here. I like the tapping on the crown chakra one.

 

[rav1e]

Check for sleep apena and you deserve good sleep

thanks for wishing me good sleep, how do i check for sleep apnea? i don't think i wake up feeling like i lost breath.

 

[Lifeisthis]

Thats only one possible symtom tell your gp ur symtoms you can always do a sleep study where you go to a place or some of it done at home to check how long or in rem sleep or if u do have sleep apena at all. If you do you get a device that really will help.

 

[Just_a_guy]

At least for me, there is no other way to fix something like this than being generally active during the days. In particular, physically active, so any sort of exercise is important but anything helps as long as im not at home doing nothing. This also reduces my anxiety a lot, which is probably a big part of it. In general, especially being physically active will help in so many things including chronic pain too (depending of course on what causes the pain).

Fixing this problem long-term will take a while, so i wouldnt expect quick results, even though just being physically exhausted at the end of the day will def help from day 1.

I have also had this problem from "the opposite", at one point i was so exhausted from work that my body went haywire or something and i couldnt sleep even though i felt like i was about to die just about every night for a long time. Paradoxically exercise did eventually help with this too. i think over a long time i got a bit fitter to pass my days at work easier, and this left me with more energy for the day after work and going to sleep gradually became like less of a "pressure" if that makes sense.

All in all, i think these kinds of problems rarely have simple and easy "hacks".

 

[rav1e]

I'm glad that you took the time to talk about this. Yes I would agree that being active might help with my condition, I still can't sleep, but I'll try to be a bit more active and see where it takes me. And yes being occupied, in other words "distracted" does help a lot with anxiety, a bit anyway.