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[underthebelljar]

"It's at night, when perhaps we should be dreaming, that the mind is most clear, that we are most able to hold all our life in the palm of our skull. I don't know if anyone has ever pointed out that great attraction of insomnia before, but it is so; the night seems to release a little more of our vast backward inheritance of instincts and feelings

Comments

[redcalx]

If you're having trouble sleeping I totally recommend B-Vitamins, specifically B6 and B12 although I tend to take a combination pill and add B6/B12 to that. Also be careful not to take B12 too late in the evening, I get some pretty vivid nightmares if I do and I've read reports of similar experiences. I also took Magnesium for a while, this will probably help if you are deficient at all. There's Magensium in fruit and veg BTW.

Prior to all this I used to listen to the radio with earphones, quite often after an hour or two I'd get sleepy, but by then of course you've lost those hours and it didn't always work.

Also beware of antihistamines and other drugs, histamine and histamine receptors are fairly key in controlling wake/sleep cycles.

[underthebelljar]

Nah, I drink a lot these days and thus don't have my usual insomnia. I actually feel as if I'm sleeping too much but that's not the case. It's just that I typically sleep from 4am-11am. With getting up later in the morning, I feel like I'm sleeping more but it's a healthy amount just an abnormal schedule.

Actually, I always play music when I go to sleep. Silence when trying to fall asleep usually makes me feel unsettled.

Thanks for the recommendations though. Without chemical-aid, I'm naturally prone towards severe, chronic insomnia so I always welcome that sort of advice. And, yeah, antihistamines used to help me sleep but now they make me more nervous than anything else whenever I take them which is rare.

[redcalx]

Heh, my post drinking session sleep tends to be quite poor, it's really just unconciousness without the refreshing qualities of sleep :) Also it sends my internal temperature control haywire.

Actually, I always play music when I go to sleep. Silence when trying to fall asleep usually makes me feel unsettled.

Music definitely helps. It gives your mind something to focus on that isn't all the usual 'clutter and noise'.

And, yeah, antihistamines used to help me sleep but now they make me more nervous than anything else whenever I take them which is rare.Heh, see my recent posts on vitamin C, anxiety and hay fever. I was mightily pissed off to discover that the antihistamines I predominantly took as a teenager are very effective SSRIs. Many of them are also used 'off-label' as anxiety treatments which in turn are well know to have anxiety as a side effect. It sounds dumb but it makes sense when you consider the underlying mechanisms. IMHO it's generally a bad idea to screw around with brain chemistry with synthetic compounds - or non-