Not falling asleep til late

Post Reply New Topic

No matter what I do, exercise, eat right food.
Get up early, don't use electronics, I can never go to sleep.
I have no idea why I do this.
Anything that would help? BTW I've tried herb and prescribed medication.
Nothing has worked.

Valium or sleeping pills are the only thing that works for me and I can't always get them. I do have poor sleep hygiene but even when I do everything that's recommended it takes ages to get to sleep - my mind doesn't switch off

Same here; I've had late-onset insomnia my whole life, and nothing has ever worked to budge it. Ever since my childhood, I've just got used to going to school or work after four or less hours sleep, even none at all - it's just my "normal". It doesn't matter how sleep-deprived I get after days and days of it, I still get to sleep no earlier. Sleeping pills sometimes help a bit, but never for more than a few nights, and they turn me into a zombie the day after. None of the normal recommendations for sleep-hygiene, diet etc. have ever made the slightest difference - in fact, after nearly five decades of it, I find it hard to resist punching people who offer the same tired old advice all the time (of course, they are always people who sleep like logs themselves; I've never known a real insomniac dare to be so impertinent!)

On the other hand, when I don't have any commitments like a job to go to, I settle into a sleep pattern of around 4am to 12noon which gets me a decent 8 hours sleep and is perfectly stable for as long as I'm allowed to stick to it. I never know how much of this to put down to a natural body-clock which is out of sync; having a brain that won't STFU; or just revelling in the peace and quiet of the night-time. It's probably a combination of all three, but the fact that 4am-12noon can be so stable for long periods regardless of my stress levels, or the different environments that I've lived in, makes me think that there probably is something innately off with my brain's sense of timing.

Don't let the fact that I've not found anything put you off from trying different things, though. Sleep disorders are very poorly understood and can have a multitude of causes. One thing you haven't mentioned that may be worth trying is to split your sleep into several shorter periods; it doesn't work for me, but it is very effective for some people and used to be considered perfectly normal in past times.

Melatonin might help, but don't take more than 1mg though or you might get nasty side effects. Try it out and do some research on it.

I have ultraviolet light sensitivity ~ so daylight is overstimulating for me.

Only once it gets past 11 at night ~ am I able to start calming down enough to sleep from about 6 in the morning, until about 2 in the afternoon, give or take an hour or so, either way.

What are the nasty side effects ? I'm quite sensitive to drugs.

If you take only 1mg, you should have none. Over 3mg or 5mg people report feeling drowsy, having headaches, cognitive problems, weakness and dizziness.

For some reason, people think more is better but the body only needs 1mg with only some rare exceptions if your pineal gland is not working properly.

Thanks for reminding me about Melatonin, LoneLoyalWolf.

I heard about it previously a long time ago, but it wasn't available in the UK, not even licensed for prescription by a physician. I did try it a couple of times when a friend brought some back after a visit to the USA; I didn't notice a huge difference, but it wasn't really enough experience to know for sure, or to know how to dose myself properly.

You made me think to take another look, and I see that it can now be prescribed here, though the guidelines are very restrictive (primarily for insomnia in people over 55). However a bit more Googling shows that the National Autistic Society and the Sleep Council here in the UK are aware that there is a link between autism and low melatonin production, which is supported by clinical research [link to a paper], and that it is sometimes prescribed for autistic patients ([NAS link]). I had no idea that I was autistic when I tried it before, so I'll definitely be looking into it further now that I've seen the possible connection.

You could try Rozerem/Ramelteon if you haven't tried that yet. It has an effect on the Melatonin receptors.