Disconnect

[maystone]

I am literally staggering because I'm so tired, and yet I can't fall asleep. My brain will not shut down long enough for my body to take over. It's been this way since I was a child, and I still haven't learned how to manage this weird disconnect. Brain worms, I call them; swirling around, thoughts and pictures and snatches of songs and jarring leaps from one subject to another. It's immensely frustrating, even more so when all around you there is the soft snoring of everyone else who can just . . . shut down. How do you do that? I can't be the only one who suffers this noxious form of insomnia, can I? Speak up, out there.

Comments

[kelly-girl.livejournal.com]

I'm like that too. When I lay down I can never just go to sleep. My brain is too busy. It leaps from one thing to the next and I need at least 20 minutes for my brain to calm down. I used to try different relaxation exercises but they don't work much. I used to do the 'count to ten' thing but then I realized I never made it to 10. I guess my brain couldn't stay focused long enough. It's strange.

Back in college I would sometimes tell myself stories. These days I do that too. I think about my current stories I'm working on or just about new ideas. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn't.

These days I go to sleep listening to my favorite movie on DVD or some cable program.

[maystone.livejournal.com]

You, too? It gets frustrating, doesn't it.

If I told myself stories, I think I'd just keep awake trying to finish writing it in my head. On the other hand, I did turn the TV on, and I was asleep in about an hour, so I should just use that as my fallback (so to speak.)

[gatezilla.livejournal.com]

Oyah. The last couple of weeks have been pretty bad for me. I've taken to just giving up on my bed altogether. I get comfy in my recliner with a blanket over me and I turn the tv on, but really really low so that I have to strain to hear it. That usually puts me out and if I wake up again, I'm typically tired enough at that point that I can go back to bed and actually sleep.

Stupid insomnia.

[maystone.livejournal.com]

I am finding that leaving the TV on helps, which is really counter to everything I was told to avoid when having insomnia.

Stupid insomnia, indeed. I hope that you're doing much better this week, Gatechen.

[sffan.livejournal.com]

Tell yourself a really boring story?

[maystone.livejournal.com]

I? Tell a boring story? Well I never! Oh, OK . . . maybe once or twice :) Heh.

[hawkmoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah--brain worms!

Sometimes I do the counting thing, or vary it by counting backwards from 100. Not that it always works. Or I try a mantra-like thing, getting really comfortable (not so easy at our stage in life, I know), regulating my breathing, then silently repeating, "Go to sleep," as non-forcefully as I can think it (sort in time with my breathing).

[maystone.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm way too stubborn to tell myself to do anything. I've tried the counting backwards, but that rarely works, either. Sometimes, though, counting sheep does - but I have to really individualize the sheep, make them all look different, jump differently, all that. I think it's the concentration that does it. Sometimes, though, I start obsessing about the sheep, and then it all goes to hell :)

[malterre.livejournal.com]

Nope, I get something similar accompanied by flashes of white and purple and a sort of bizzare "thump thump" sound and everything becomes reverberated.

But I don't get insominia at the rate that you do...yowza

[maystone.livejournal.com]

Is the "thump, thump" the sound of the blood pulsing in your veins? I get that, too, at times. Are you having a migraine of some kind when you get those flashes?

[malterre.livejournal.com]

I usually just feel light-headed and need to get to sleep.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

The phrase "Brain Worms" always makes me think of this. Yes, that's Joe Walsh doing improv. That'll make you smile through the pain.

http://www.eaglesfans.com/visuals/tvstuff/joeimprov/improv3.rm

[maystone.livejournal.com]

Aww, damn, the download keeps failing. I'm smiling just thinking about the possibilities of that improv, though, so thanks :)

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

I watched it just before I sent you the link so I know it can work. Keep trying.

[maystone.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure it's on my end. We're on satellite, and it's windy as hell out there tonight. I'll probably have better luck with it tomorrow.

[cajoje.livejournal.com]

I can't be the only one who suffers this noxious form of insomnia, can I?

Why do you think I drink? It's the only thing that makes my brain SHUT THE FUCK UP.

[maystone.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, I hit the bottle, too, when it's available.

[inalasahl]

My brain will not shut down long enough for my body to take over.
This is such a curious statement to me. It never occurred to me that other people try to stop thinking before they go to sleep. I like having the time to plan my day, mentally rehearse conversations that I need to have, remember more than the two lines of that song that's been going through my head all day, whatever. I actively try to sort through whatever thoughts are swirling through my head and try to concentrate on them.

[maystone.livejournal.com]

Aha, but if you're prone to insomnia as I am, that's the road to doom. I can't turn it off and go to sleep; I'll be up all night going over things I need to do, things I want to do, things I should have done, etc., etc. I need to get that out of the way before I climb into bed or I might as well not even lie down.