I seem to wake up and cant get back to sleep when im nervous about something (ie last week was my first day of college, i woke up in the night and couldnt go back to sleep).
Here is what worked for me: Every night, right before I would hit the sack I began to do three things: drink a mug of warm ovalteen. Ovalteen has triptiphan (I doubt my spelling is right) and triptiphan is the same stuff in turkey that makes people drowsy. Then afterwards I would brush my teeth, wash my face, then hit the sack. At first it didn't really do anything, but after I kept up the schedule my body began to subconsciously understand that ovalteen + teeth brushing + face wash = sleep. Now I am out light a light as soon I start microwaving my mug of milk. haha. It seriously works. At least try setting up a routine for yourself before you turn to medication. In fact I would avoid medication at all cost.
I agree with you there. Some of that stuff becomes addicting and you cant seem to ever get off of it. Seems like you found a nice routine that works for you. Nice suggestion!
I got through today, managed to get an hours sleep after my first gig. Got to the second gig feeling drowsy but got through it with a couple of beers and a shot or 2, then went out and got more drunk! Im now back at home with a dark rum and orange, feeling like I could go out and party some more! I have had about 5 hours sleep in 2 days and I am not on drugs! Seriously, when I get home, I go online and thats it, probably wont get to sleep until its light, but 2 days off. My routine changes from day to day, gigs, networking etc.
I have huge sleep problems too. I sleep around 6-9am, wake up around 12pm and stay up until 6-9am again. I depend on caffeine heavily -- starbucks, energy drinks, espresso. It's kind of bad for me. I'm just 19 too. Oh, and a few weeks ago. I didn't sleep for 3 days straight & everything seemed surreal. Of course I wasn't doing computer-related stuff but still. Crappy insomnia. Medicine doesn't work for me. (Ambien/Ambien controlled release)
I think the only one that I have heard that might work and is narcotic free is Lunesta. Never tried it myself, so I cant say if it really works from personal experience.
Im still awake and thinking of searching for a php script similar to youtube, buying a domain name and launching a new website for insonmiacs! Probably a bad idea, coz Im now very drunk!
I have the same problem, I try to go to sleep like at 4am, so i say fine if I dont want to sleep then I will stay up and sleep tomorrow but after like 40 min somehow I fall asleep, but usually I try to go to sleep at 2am and it takes me 2 hours to figure out that I am not sleepy lol.
I find that alot of it has to do with clearing your mind. When I try to go to sleep with a lot on my mind, its usually very hard to concentrate on sleep. But if I have a clear mind, then sleep comes pretty quick.