I’ve struggled with insomnia since my teens, but for the last year or so, I’ve mainly had it under control, thanks to improving my diet and taking melatonin on a nightly basis.
This last week, even taking two melatonin pills before bed hasn’t helped me fall asleep – my mind is so busy processing the crazy things that are going on in my life and to those around me, that I lay awake in bed for hours.
I thought I’d walk you through the chain of events that occur on one of these nights…
8 pm: take a melatonin pill…
9 pm: move to the bedroom to get comfy in bed while watching television with my husband
9:30 pm: realize he is never turning off the How It’s Made marathon, so open up the iPad to play on Pinterest and StumbleUpon
10:oo pm: Husband goes to sleep and I turn off the TV, put down the iPad and attempt to fall asleep
10:03 pm: Start thinking about everything I need to do to our family room in order to pass our master inspection
10:08 pm: Calculate days we have left before our Master permit expires
10:15 pm: Take pictures of my shelties laying on the bed in the dark with my iPhone camera because they look so cute
10:30 pm: Wonder if my in-laws are going to like the activities I have planned for when they visit us next month
10:45 pm: Open the Shutterfly app on my iPhone to look at the photos from when I visited my in-laws in 2010 and we played in snow
11:00 pm: Wonder if my friend is ever going to meet a nice guy. Secretly scheme to fix her up with husband’s coworker
11:30 pm: Remember that husband’s coworker has a girlfriend now
11:45 pm: Tweet about how tired I am
11:50 pm: Wonder if Jason Segel used a crotch-double in Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Midnight: Get up and go pee
12:03 am: Receive text message from a friend saying she was just pulled over by a cop. Freak out, then she says it’s okay, just a ticket
12:30 am: Promise myself that I am going to paint my nails tomorrow
12:45 am: Wonder what my husband’s first girlfriend looked like
1 am: Get up to let the cat in because I can hear him crying at the front door
1:15 am: Get pissed off because I realize my husband will be out of town when kiddo takes her overnight camping trip with her class, leaving me alone for 24 hours
2 am: Try to decide if I should just get up and work on a post for my blog, or just stay in bed and think about a post for tomorrow
2:15 am: take another melatonin pill, even though I know I won’t be able to wake up at 7 am the next morning
Sometime around 3 am: zzzzzzzzzz
Aww – I have nights like this. Actually, for me, I can fall asleep, but if I happen to wake up during the night – I’m up for the long haul. I’ve posted a few times about all the random stuff that floats thru my mind on nights like that.
Oh that sucks. I have never tried melatonin before is it a prescription? I have troubles falling asleep too. I usually end up staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning for a few days, and then on the 4th day I’m so exhausted, I fall asleep really early and sleep all night. It’s a vicious cycle.
Melatonin is actually just a natural supplement that I get in the vitamin section. 🙂 it *usually* works wonders!
Oh I hate nights like that!!! Sometimes my brain turns on and I can’t turn it back off!!
Oh, this makes me remember one day I told my ex boss a series of things that kept me awake and that , to me, were rants and unimportant or maybe they were important but i could not sleep at all. Some are the same that are stated here by a great coincidence. Then, my then boss said: YOU THINK TOO MUCH! Oh, yes, indeed, that is true, I do, I worry a lot! I replied. Don’t think, don’t worry, everything is going to be okay. but of course night would follow up not able to sleep and i cut completely with coffee, dr pepper and slept like an angel. Worries? I don’t want to worry anymore, nor think, i want to dream;) I hope so.
Ugh, my brain doesn’t like to shut off at night either, If I just lay there trying to sleep I just can’t. I have to read until I can’t keep my eyes open then quickly shut the light off and that usually helps!
My brain goes a million miles a minute when I climb into bed! Ugh, I hate it. I have horrible insomnia too, some nights and there is nothing I can do about it, cuz nothing works. but I do agree with the melatonin, usually it works for me too, but not on nights like those!