I use old movies to fall asleep...
Gayle and others on this thread,
I used to have moderate-to-severe insomnia, when I was between 25 to 33 years old. Then I was working in a tense, unfriendly research think tank. At that time I used to take over-the-counter sleeping pills, and some perscribed pills, much to my regret. I would never advise anyone to take sleeping pills.
What I did to cure insomnia, permanently, are two things:
1. I cut back on coffee. Now I split in half "half-and-half Maxwell house coffee" with decafeinated coffee (these are instant coffees) and have two or three cups of these in the morning, all before 8:30am. From 8:30am on, I drink decaf coffee. For dinner and in the evenings I only drink decaf, no-calorie Coke (one of few vices I allow myself). Ideally, I recommend no caffeinated coffee at all, but I need a bit of caffeine to get started.
In my 20's had this old flame, a naturalist and environmentalist (we're still close firends). But when I was twisting and turning in bed, she would turn around to me, shake her head, and say "Look at you, all that caffeine in your body! You need to clean all that out of you!". That wisdom I still hold dear.
2. I go to bed early, around 8:00pm-8:30pm -- and I put on a dull, generally non-violent movie (DVD or VHS), a movie that can get me to sleep. Over the years I have built up a large box of movies I know and trust will put me to sleep. These are usually epic movies (e.g. "The Ten Commandments"); boring sci-fi movies ("Star Trek -- the Movie"); or old black-and-white crime mysteries ("The Big Sleep"; "The Maltese Falcon", "The Naked City"). I also fall asleep to the "Ocean 11, 12, 13" movies -- since they are non-violent and harmless. Here thrillers are no good -- only movies that dull one's mind.
My favorites to get to sleep are the old Colombo TV movies, now on DVD. I just press the "play all" button, and after 5 or 10 minutes I am knocked out. I have to get up in the middle of the night for a constitutional, but I just replay the same DVD from the start, and off to sleep I go. Nobody can take a Columbo TV movie seriously. I also find that "DVD commentaries", the background commentaries by movie directors and producers, often put me to sleep.
Every since I have been doing this, when I was 36 years old, I have never had any problems. Note however I have a pleasant work environment and a very active church life. There are shortcomings to falling asleep to movies. First, one must have the ability to fall asleep with movies, like I can (and some I take it don't). Second, one's significant other must be able to tolerate the movies, and fall to sleep with them (a daunting challenge). But having said that, this approach is drug free, and works for me.
I also find that an hour's exercize session before supper helps a lot. During my eight-month teaching period, I unfortunately cut my session back from six a week to three a week -- and I find that I am slightly restless at night. Now, in the spring and summer, I exercize about an hour a day and walk briskly for about 4 miles a day (I don't drive). I am completing my first week of STS, and I am out like a light. Since people on Cathe's forum are exercize fanatics, I take it this suggestion is already being followed.
Finally, I realize that for some people, the reason for insomnia has to do with overwork, a tense work environment, or some other problem --whereby worries can keep people up. For this type of insomnia, I recommend finding ways of improving one's spiritual outlook and improving one's work or social environment -- though I realize that these days this may be difficult to do.
As for me, I generally sleep from 8:30pm-4:30am with no problems. I feel for the insomniacs out there, and pray for you.
-- David
I went to bed around 9:45pm, which is just a bit earlier than normal since school's been out, but you'd think I'd at least sleep till 2 or 3 before getting up. Some haven't even gone to bed yet!
