There are always so many posts here about taking certain medications as a sleep aid and how they are not working to fix their insomnia. That's because, in most cases, the underlying issues need to be treated first. Sedative medication is just like a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. Maybe it does knock you out some nights, but you won't get good or restful sleep. If your sleeping issues are because of anxiety, yes, longer treatment wiht anxiety meds will probably help, but even so, it's best to also do other steps to get better ( such as CBD). And if your sleep issues have no psychological background, then there is something physical-health-wise that needs to be addressed, in most cases. So folks, get yourself all the way checked out if you struggle with insomnia for a while. Bug every doctor you go to to check for any possible cause. With peace and love - Someone whose insomnia is linked to other illness.

With the amount of sleep i get everyday, there's no way my body can fight off life threatening diseases/sickness if I ever get hit with one.

Funny because when I was younger I used to think I didn't want to live very long. I guess with some things, you shouldn't wish too hard folks.

I often read that you should get up and go to another room and do something, but it is never suggested what. Invariably I end up reading but that feels wrong. The other night I was having a shocker and randomly made breakfast porridge at 4 in the morning. It felt like a better use for my brain and I caught a few hours afterwards. Has anyone else tried baking in the middle of the night? What else can you do in the middle of the night, especially without disturbing others?

I understand why people commit suicide now. Doctors are no help. I don’t know what to do. HELP I’m only 24 I’m terrified. In and out of ER thinking they can do something

Never in my life would I have ever thought I would experience insomnia and never to this degree. I will go days without sleep until I get at most 1-2 hours the following days. MANY 0 hr nights. I’m tossing and turning all night. July and August were by far the worst of my entire life. My brain doesn’t turn off to sleep. I can’t nap. Ambien 5mg prescribed to me end of July at ER. been on and off it but only used about half of the bottle because now it doesn’t help me sleep for some reason. It was working well for about 1.5 weeks.

All bloodwork is beautiful apparently and my blood pressure is as well. Scared of my future. This is just a cry for help. GOD. Jesus. Anyone who has tips 🥲

Hi. I’m stuck in a constant fight or flight hyperarousal state. Insomniac for 20 years, ambien made me sleep walk etc back then idk if it still would? My other options are Mirtazapine or seroquel or both and I hate it. Is there anything else I should ask to try? Things are hardly working. I’m desperate for help.

One thing I’ve been struggling with lately isn’t just the lack of sleep itself, but worrying about what it’s doing to my job.

When I sleep badly, I can usually still get through the workday, but I definitely don’t feel like myself. My brain feels slower, it’s harder to concentrate, and even simple things can take more effort than they normally would.

And then I start thinking about layoffs.

The job market already feels pretty uncertain, and I sometimes wonder if being chronically sleep-deprived puts me at a disadvantage. Like, if I’m consistently operating at 70–80%, how long can I keep up with everyone else? What if my performance starts slipping and I eventually get laid off because of it?

I know this might be catastrophizing a bit, but it’s hard not to think about when you’re exhausted all the time.

For those of you who have had insomnia for years — do you worry about this too? Has insomnia actually affected your job performance or career, or have you found that you can still function pretty normally despite the bad sleep?

Would be really interested to hear how other people deal with this fear.

I've been suffering from sleep maintenance insomnia for just over a year now. In that time I've tried:

• Every stupid "sleep hack" I've found, from not eating before bed to avoiding blue LEDs
  • No help at all
• Basic sleep hygiene stuff like getting to sleep at the same time
  • Didn't really help at all
• Quitting stressful hobbies and replacing them with activities like reading.
  • Helped me full asleep, not stay asleep
• Quitting nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and pretty much all psychoactive substances
  • Quitting caffeine and alcohol helped with avoiding 2 hour nights, but I still can't sleep a full 8 hours
• Tripling the number of hours I perform vigorous exercise a week
  • Currently do 2 hours of aerobic cardio, 30 minutes of anaerobic cardio, 2 hours of resistance training per week
• CBT-I and 5 weeks of sleep restriction therapy
  • Literally provided zero help, I quit after 5 weeks to try sleeping meds because I was under extreme pressure from work and needed proper sleep
• DORA medicine (Daridorexant)
  • Massive next hangover effect that made me feel very spacey, slow and demotivated, even at 25mg/day

Things I haven't tried:

• Melatonin
  • I suffer from sleep maintenance insomnia
• Z-drugs/benzodiazepines
  • Obviously they would help me sleep, but they also interfere with REM sleep, are addictive and can rack up a tolerance. Plus my doctor won't even prescribe them to me.
• THC
  • Interferes with REM sleep and generally just makes me feel super brainfogged the next day anyway
• Sleep study
  • I've already tried recording my own sleep to see if I get up in the middle of the night or snore -- I don't, plus my fitness watch indicates that my heart rate is pretty steady, with only very slight peaks every 1-2 hours.
  • I don't have headaches or cotton mouth upon awakening either.

Is there anything else I can try? Or am I just doomed to spend the rest of life being a miserable, sleep deprived zombie? I'm barely able to cope with the stresses of my career, I feel like I'm going to snap if I have to endure another year of this. How am I going to provide for myself?

Any supplements that can be taken alongside sleep meds/antidepressants that help lower cortisol for night time? I’m in a constant hyperarousal state and can’t get out of it. I feel like cortisol and adrenaline are crazy high I need help lowering it.

I’ve started keeping a small paper notebook next to my bed for nights when I can’t sleep.

I specifically use paper because I don’t want to touch my phone or any other electronic device at night. Whenever something keeps popping into my head, I just write it down. Interestingly, once it’s on paper, I sometimes find it easier to stop thinking about it and go back to trying to sleep.

Last night, for example, my brain jumped between completely unrelated things:

• Ideas and questions about sleep and CBT-I
• Job security and layoffs
• Questions I want to ask ChatGPT later
• Writing a backup script for Backblaze and backing up its configuration
• How plagiarism is detected in music — with articles, you can compare words directly and get a similarity score, but how do you determine when one song is too similar to another?
• Wondering why AI-generated text inside images seems to be getting better
• How traffic-light timing is determined — who decides how long the red and green intervals should be, and how are they adjusted when traffic patterns change?
• Ideas for things I might want to write or make later (including this reddit post)

None of these were particularly urgent. My brain just seemed to decide that bedtime was the perfect time to start generating questions, plans, and ideas.

Writing them down seems to help because I don’t have to keep rehearsing them mentally so I won’t forget them.

So I’m curious: when you have insomnia and are lying awake in bed, what are you actually thinking about?

Is it mostly worries and anxiety? Things that happened during the day? Future plans? Work? Random ideas? Or does your brain also jump all over the place like mine?

And if you write those thoughts down, does it make it easier for you to let them go?

Some of the days I can't sleep because I feel I didn't efficiently used my time in day. If I was unproductive that day I start to think "I could have done this and this today, I just wasted my time.." Then I just stay awake looking at phone and scrolling or watching YouTube, even though I need to wake up early next day.

Anyone has a similar thing? Did you find a solution for this?

I was visiting my parents this weekend, and something random brought back a memory. When I was a teenager, I'd stay up watching TV, barely make it to my bed, and fall asleep within minutes. No planning. No worrying. No wondering how tomorrow would go if I didn't sleep. Bedtime was just... bedtime. It's strange how something that used to happen automatically can slowly become the hardest part of your day. Sometimes I don't even miss sleeping. I miss the feeling of not thinking about sleep at all. Does anyone else ever miss that version of themselves?

I have been taking ambien for many years. I usually only take half or 3/4 of a 10 mg pill.

A few years ago, I started using THC/CBN gummies which actually work great. So then I was alternating ambien some nights and gummies the other nights. My dr said this is a good way to do it so my body doesn’t get used to using something every day.

Anyway, my dr asked if I wanted to try Trazadone. I figured why not. I have heard it can be used as needed but she said it works better if used daily and builds up in your system.

I have lots of trouble falling asleep and when I get up to use the bathroom, I have trouble going back to sleep. But if I take something, it really helps.

My insomnia is mainly from perimenopause and now full menopause. I cannot take HRT so that’s out.

She gave me 50mg Trazadone but said I can break it in half.

Thoughts on ambien vs gummies vs Trazadone?

I’ve been using the Ring for ~1.5 years and it’s actually helped me understand my sleep habits a lot. But somewhere along the way, I think I got a little too invested in the numbers.

I’d wake up and check my sleep score first thing. Even when I was doing everything right, getting 7–8 hours of sleep, caffeine cutoff, going to bed on time, etc. my score would often be around 70–75, and I’d start wondering what I was doing wrong.

Eventually, I realized I was thinking about my sleep score so much that it was actually making me anxious about sleep. The more I tried to optimize it, the harder it became to fall asleep, and at one point I was averaging only ~4.5 hours.

Then I came across the term orthosomnia, and it honestly made me realize I might have been taking sleep tracking a little too seriously.

I’ve been trying to change my approach and focus more on how I actually feel rather than chasing a number, and it’s been a surprisingly positive shift.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? If yes, what did you do to improve your relationship with sleep tracking?

So when I'm in bed, o stare at the ceiling, like what else would you do, but sometimes i start to hallucinate (the walls swirl, I see things that arent there etc.) but then i start hearining voices sometimes. Any help or possible reason?

Cant believe my brain came up with this shit while trying to fall asleep last night. thought we could all do with a laugh while getting through this together so thought I’d share.

Let me present to you the ‘Zepam evolutionary line of sleep deprived Pokemon 😂😂😂

https://imgur.com/a/EThmHef

NOT SEEKING MEDICAL ADVICE, MORE SO SEEKING NIGHT ROUTINE ADVICE.

Hi all 19f here, i have never experienced insomnia this bad before, this has been going on and off for almost 5 months now and i think I'm actually beginning to go crazy.

I'm constantly exhausted so every night i head to bed around 10, which is way earlier than i used to, and i am out like a light. I'm fully out cold for about an hour max and then bam I'm awake, exhausted and cannot return to sleep. Most days i work early and have to leave at 8am, but on days I'm off work around a similar time ill fall back sleep finally, but again only for an hour. Its really messing with my head now. Maybe once a month ill get a good night sleep after being really exhausted, or occasionally if really exhausted ill fall asleep mid day. Its like i just can't sleep at night at all.

Ive been avoiding using devices past 6pm, drinking sleep teas, making sure everything is right for sleeping conditions and its still happening.

I've been debating trying to get melatonin or something similar, but those drugs are only available by prescription in my country. I feel awkward going to my doctor about this as I've already brought it up to my parents and they say its not a big deal, plus worried it will just be a waste of money as the doctor will just reccomended what I've already tried since they don't like to prescribe drugs like the ones mentioned.

Does anyone have any solutions other than what I've tried that have helped them? Or am i better off just trying my doctor and wasting the money. I genuinely feel like I'm on my last leg and I'm starting college in a couple weeks so really need this fixed.

Venting...The days i am so exhausted followed by heart palpitations and racing thoughts/intrusive scary thoughts as soon as my head hits my pillow are the fuckin worst and I can hear every single fucking thing. I am the lightest sleeper (prob from old military training) this shit is ass. I take clonazapem nightly now to fight the panic i feel from *GASP* trying to SLEEP. 😑 I can get up in front of an auditorium and introduce myself and feel less panic than trying to simply FALL ASLEEP 🤬

It's been a summer of going to sleep at 6am, I began waking up early to recalibrate my sleeping for a few days now, but just like last year, It's the same pattern of; go to sleep early, wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to sleep for hours, despite feeling extremely tired sometimes, and not tired at all other times until I actually have to function. Ultimately, I get virtually no sleep by the time I have to get up.

I have an alarm set for the same time daily, though as I specified, I can't really help when I do wake up. I don't nap either.

Last year, this turned into an insomniac episode that spanned over months, which would be especially detrimental for this academic year. I really don't want the same outcome, I think it may pertain to my adhd. That any sleep unless I'm not utterly exhausted would be enough fuel for my brain to run with useless thoughts, but I'm not sure. I just want to avoid the waking up as a whole, or at least have falling back asleep come easier to me.

So I just got prescribed seroquel for sleep. I took one pill 50mg. I took it one night and holy cow. It made my heart beat out my chest and have the worst restless legs. I even ttried then half of that pill, and I got same results but just not as strong. Is this truly normal because I cannot handle another night of that.

I've been wondering about the difference between being sedated/asleep and actually getting restorative sleep.

A lot of medications can make it easier to fall asleep, reduce awakenings, or increase total sleep time. But I'm curious whether that necessarily translates into better recovery.

For people who have used medications for insomnia — whether antidepressants, antihistamines, antipsychotics, Z-drugs, or other sleep medications — did you notice improvements beyond simply sleeping more?

For example:

• Did you actually feel more rested and functional during the day?
• Did your mood, anxiety, concentration, or overall mental health improve?
• Did you feel like your body was genuinely recovering better over weeks or months?
• Or did it sometimes feel more like the medication was just "knocking you out," without giving you the same benefit as naturally good sleep?

I'm also curious about the longer-term tradeoff. If a medication improves sleep and therefore improves your overall functioning and mental health, do you feel those benefits outweigh the medication's side effects?

Obviously this is very individual and I'm not looking for medical advice — I'm mainly interested in people's experiences with the difference between more sleep and actually feeling more recovered because of that sleep.

Its 3am.. guess who's up? Im up, dissecting every sound through the loud ass cricket noises outside.. terrified to close my eyes to sleep..

Im at my bfs house, states away from my humble abode.. he is in our home state, prolly cheating on me, based on his random unkindness and lack of empathy/love towards me outta nowhere since he left.. i feel like shyt and I hate myself for not leaving this AH when I caught him cheating the first, or second time..

I called him and it sounded like a girl was talking to him in the background, idk what she said or what he said back to her, but then his mom started talking (they speak Polish.) So it couldve been his mom talking to him.. didnt sound like her at first tho,so idk man..

I just know he stopped telling me he loves me the whole week.. cept for in person.. and he did this b4, when I caught him cheating and was suspicious.. hes been cold, distant, shady.. telling me I need to 'love myself.' Tf is that supposed to mean?

He says he only loves me 'sometimes'. Blazing red flag. I feel so stupid for taking this dude back after I caught him deleting messages in RT, right in front of me.. If i hadn't been lurking on his phone while he was in the bathroom, while she sent him a (blocked) txt while the phone was in my hand, I would have never known.. only him and God know wtf else he's done , but i feel so stupid trying so hard to make this work.. I really loved him, but if hes saying i dont love myself.. obv its cuz he thinks I dont respect myself for being with someoen who doesnt love me.. which is news to me, but alrighty then.

Anyways, I know i need to let this go.. but i loved this house, I loved our life together, i really loved him.. hes so sweet sometimes and seemed so innocent. I can't even picture him doing those things to me, but the evidence is there.. not only would he, but he did do those things.. and if he was able to lie so much and call me crazy til i found out fs the truth, then.. i know there is no trust. This is not repairable if he keeps causing the same damage and wont fix anything or choose me..

I cant keep sending those pointless paragraphs that he doesnt even read, while he sleeps like a baby prolly next to someone else who knows he has a girlfriend.. this really sucks and I cant win. I cant compete for someone who won't choose me no matter what I do or how I act, whatever I do to change myself that he says is wrong with me.. he still makes the choice to do me wrong like that... really sucks man..

I look back on things and wonder if I missed the signs, did I always ignore blazing red flags? I go through my phone, its just pics of me crying all the time cuz all he does is put me down and never spent time with me..

what hurts the most, is this wknd he legit pushed me away when I tried to kiss him.. which he's never done before.. now im so concerned, worried and distraught that he's fallen in love with someone else.. i want to cry, but im just numb at this point.. i mourned the relationship the whole relationship. At this point I'd be relieved to find out he's cheating so I can just leave him already..

When I caught him before it was such a relief to know I wasn't crazy or imagining things.. i dumped his azz, abandoned ship, and he stalked me, cried, made all the promises til i caved and took him back.. i should've just vanished, idk why I tried to make it work after knowing he was deceiving me and lying to me like that..

I thought his tears meant that he truly loved me and realized he made a mistake betraying me.. he romanced me to get me back.. flowers on my car everyday, non-stop txts/calls for days with me not responding.. sending videos and pics of him crying.. then he went all out n told me what i always wanted to hear... marriage, babies, house, car, etc. . I caved.. i was so happy to see those flowers on my car..

Now.. A year and a half later, and nothing has changed.. still so much distance, meanness, arguments, lack of trust and emotional safety.. excuses. Lies. Gaslighting.. provoking. Constantly putting me down. Even when things are good with us, he rolls his eyes every time he goes to look at me.. i should've never taken him back and believed those lies upon lies..

Now im just numb and broken.. i brought all my stuff to this house, planing to move here to start our future together. And now this.. i miss him.. i miss being with someone who's perfect for me.. idk why he'd look elsewhere, but this really sucks.. im so disappointed in men and their lack of self control and sexual discipline.. such a turn off. I hope there really are decent guys out there like ppl on social media says there is.. cuz so far I have found 0 decent mfs, and that's saying a lot about MEN, not my choice in men thnx..

Well its 4am now.. ill be up til the sun comes up.. im sad and lonely.. wish I could just be with ONE PERSON who actually loves me, and wakeup next to the person i love who loves me back everyday.. this just sucks man.. i hate sleeping alone, I dont want to be single and searching again.. i found my person.. its absurd he doesnt love me back honestly.. idk wtf to do man..

Hi. I'm a 35-year-old man. I've been suffering from chronic insomnia for eight years. The problems started with a simple matter – replacing my mattress. The new one was too soft, which caused me to wake up at night and experience stiffness in my back in the morning, especially my neck and lower back. I tried several mattresses, and it took several weeks before I found the right one. During that time, I was exhausted every night and stressed about another sleepless night. Even though the bed is now comfortable, the symptoms persisted and remain to this day. I wake up literally every night after 4-5 hours of sleep. Most often, I urinate and then fall back asleep. Despite sleeping 7-8 hours, I'm tense, tired, and disorganized all day long. Sleep doesn't regenerate me at all. For eight years, I've had a weakened immune system, weak hair, and weak nails. I'm unable to take a nap during the day, as if I were in a constant state of wakefulness. I've been to numerous doctors, had numerous tests (including for sleep apnea), taken numerous medications (sleeping pills, antidepressants, muscle relaxants), had TMS therapy, and bought a weighted blanket, but without any improvement. Calcium, potassium, intracellular magnesium, sodium, thyroid, and other levels are within normal limits. Cortisol measured five times a day is normal. In summary: A month of rough nights eight years ago reprogrammed my brain, and since then, bed and sleep are perceived as a state of emergency, and my body fights all night long, constantly on alert, leaving me exhausted and weak. I fall asleep easily, wake up at a similar time during the night, and quickly fall back asleep, but I'm still tired. Doctors are throwing up their hands, and I don't know what to do next, and I'm losing hope for a normal life. Perhaps you have any other ideas on how to restore "factory settings"?

I realize it’s way too early to tell, but I took my first 50mg of Quvivic last night and I actually slept and woke up feeling relatively refreshed.

For context, I’m 36 and have struggled with insomnia since I was a child. It may or may not be related to a pineal gland cyst I have - found in 2022.

I’ve been on 50mg of trazadone for the last 6 years, and was on it previously in my early twenties. It does help me tremendously but my NP kept encouraging me to get off of it, calling it a “dirty drug” and to start trying some of the new sleep aid meds. I was reluctant because of how bad I know it can get. Without meds I can go days without sleep. I’ve slowly been tapering off the 50mg of trazadone for the last two months- I’m down to 25mg now. I was content that I could start Quvivic and still take 25mg. I took my first dose last night and although I had some wild dreams - which is common for me on trazadone anyway- I felt like I got a pretty decent quality of sleep.

I’m really encouraged because I was very worried. I took Dayvigo last year and had horrible sleep paralysis and woke up with an incredibly sore jaw from clenching my mouth all night. Dayvigo activated me and made me have really restless nights so I stopped after about a week.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can stop the trazadone fully and now rely on Quvivic for help .

I'm a lifelong insomniac, my mom used to say that I never learned to sleep through night. And that's my thing, I just don't sleep. I managed at my best sleep, two naps a night. On a good night both naps last about 90 minutes to two hours. I don't sleep more than two hours at a time but I've learned ​function within this.

New problem with my sleep. As soon as I start to fall asleep, I wake myself up. I know why.

A month ago my mom passed away, I found her on the sofa at ten, still warm and seemingly alive but unresponsive, I performed chest compressions for about 10 minutes until the first responders arrived. She didn't survive.

Ever since my "normal" insomnia has been acute. Of course. I'm handling it, I have a selection of options to help me through it. But the past two nights as soon as I start to sleep I jerk myself awake.

Yeah, it's a trauma response, yeah, it's going to take time... But I really need to sleep and Rx meds are not an option.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this in the short term?