Insomnia

ok, so I can't sleep lately...at all (Long story, gets to weed at the end)

Well, I've had times like this before...and the weird thing is, it happens when I'm the most active.

Example: Freshmen year, I used to go to school, then go play hockey for hours and hours (still do on occassion) and then I'd be wide awake all night, when you'd expect me to just crash after being so active...and nothing would make me sleep.

Sophomore year, I would wake up early for school, then go home and sit around and do a whole lot of nothing besides for maybe just chill and talk with friends...no problems sleeping

Well, now it's like 6 months later and I have a better (in other words, more time consuming job) and I go out and hang out more often seeing as I now have a car...so anyway, now with this more activity...I once again am having trouble sleeping.

Now here's where this relates to weed...

Have you ever noticed, that if you take sleeping aids and pills, you wake up and still feel groggy etc etc? Well that's the way I feel...even if I get 8 hours of sleep, I still feel dead for hours, sometimes the whole day, after waking up...and if I don't set an alarm, I sleep waaaaay too long...

But with weed, I notice that I wake up more easily, and when I wake up, I'm not ecstatic, but I'm not groggy. I feel tranquil and just calm, relaxed and happy...

So basically, what I need help with, is there something else that anyone else has had this experience with...and taken, a pill or something, that has helped them?

Because frankly, I don't have the money, nor a safe place to smoke a bowl before bed every night...so I need to know if anyone can reccomend an alternative?

I really don't believe in pills and such and modern medicine (It always seems when it fixes one of my problems, it creates another)...so if anyone knows of anything natural, that'd be even better.

Thanks.

 

I smoked a bowl every night for the first few weeks of school to go to sleep. It worked ok for a while, but now I am just awake and stoned (If it worked I would be asleep right now). It basically stopped working for me. What I think works best is using a sleeping pill like Ambien or Sonata to get on a schedule where you get to bed at roughly the same time every night and condition yourself not to do anything in your bed but sleep. You don't have to keep taking them, because eventually you will get on a schedule and your body will be conditioned to fall asleep at a certain time every night.


If you don't want to try that, there are melatonin suppliments that work well. Melatonin is the chemical your body secretes when it is ready to go to sleep so if you take one of those you are more likely to fall asleep fast and stay asleep all night. It's not a drug and it isn't habit forming so you can take it as often as you like.

IF you want to try a more holistic approach, try meditating before bed or doing yoga. Then, use the scent of lavender on something that you sleep with i.e. your pillow. Lavender is said to help with the release of melatonin to the brain.

I hope something that I said will help you or at least give you some ideas. Good luck!!

 

Yeah meditation has always helped me...the problem is though, I feel tired...but I cannot fall asleep regardless...so I'm too tired to do yoga or meditation haha

Umm...I'll try it though

Thanks

 

there is a tea i sometimes drink that puts you right to sleep. I'll ask the mom after school today what its called...

 

you might not like the idea but i also suggest finding ways to get to sleep without drugs. im slowly gettin g better, otherwise similar situation to you.

and try hte melatonin before you try any other drugs!

 

I had a similar problem with sleeping pills. Even if I got a full 8 hours sleep after taking them, I'd feel groggy and just generally out of it in the morning. My Dr. finally prescribed Sonata, and it helps a lot. Most prescription sleeping pills have an 8-10 hour half life (how long it stays in your system). Sonata only has a 4 hour half life, so I don't wake up in a fog.

 

Yeah I really wanna avoid all drugs if possible, except for smoking and then sleeping (not habitualy...I just mean when I have weed haha)

I'd like to meditate and try that first I think

 

if you want a safe place to smoke a bowl, take a shower in the morning, and smoke while you are in the shower...the soap and shampoo and stuff take away the nug smell... i used to do that, way back in the day...

 

You might want to try some melatonin. Melatonin is a tryptamine that occurs naturally in the body, but you can also buy it in drug stores. It's taken to improve sleep patterns and quality. It doesn't work for everyone but it works wonders for me. If you take 3mg-9mg you should sleep wonderful and wake up refreshed. At least that's how it works for me and most others who try it. It also induces lucid dreaming in some people, me included. If it doesn't work for you, hey, it only costs a few dollars. Worth a try, I'd say.

 

try counting your breaths, concentrating fully and absolutely on your counting.. just count to 10 then start over from 1 and repeat. don't let any other thought enter your mind, if one does simply dismiss it and continue counting. if you let your mind wander you'll always have trouble getting to sleep. a clear mind is the best remedy for insomnia.

edit - there are also several reasons why it's definitely not a good idea to smoke weed every night before going to bed. first of all, once you start relying on it to fall asleep, you're gonna have a hell of a hard time falling asleep when it's not available. Also when you smoke weed before going to sleep you will not slip into a natural and healthy sleeping cycle until AFTER the high wears off. That would mean you would need at least an extra 3 to 4 hours of sleep every night to stay healthy and maintain efficient cognitive functioning (especially short-term memory!). also, it's a waste of a high and an unnecessary expense that will become rather costly.

 

dont forget it makes lying in bed turn into being submerged in a warm and comfortable cloud hung up in the sky by strings of love playing melodies to send you to sleep

 

oh, but i personally found that the whole counting sheeps/other things thing doesnt work for me, i can imagine its the same for other people in the insomnia boat.

i find it helps to actually think a lot, but not think about anything but scenes that you might see in a dream. youll at some point drift into an actual dream and then after a short period, get into deep sleep and the cycle begins

 

you could also try taking valerian tablets, they should be availible in the pharmacy. I've used them before and they seem to work alright.

 

it's just a simple method of meditation, if you don't want to count, try something else. the trick is to clear your mind or at least focus fully and absolutely on one simple thought or stimulus. and yes stonerbill, concentrating on images can help a lot too. just make sure you don't start thinking with words, and also don't just start thinking of random images the key is concentration! for instance, imagine yourself in a beautiful place like outside a small secluded cottage deep within a forest. imagine yourself lying down on a soft patch of moss under a tree and listening, watching, smelling, feeling or even tasting everything around you. imagine you really are there, not lying in your bed. detail is important for keeping yourself interested and thus retaining concentration. your imagined world will slowly (or sometimes quickly) turn into a dreamworld and your consciousness will subside while your subconsciousness takes over... imagine the beauty is overwhelming and/or comforting, you can do nothing but sleep... sweet, ambrosial sleep... ahh.

this is only one example though. create your own world, one that you find beautiful.

hope this helps

 

perhaps its a matter of keeping thought to a single area of the brain as much as possible. counting is one area. visualisation another. words however require a large area of connection. visualising sheep and counting them never worked for me because as i was counting, id lose track of the number and the sheep would start becoming really comical lol

 

Just close your eyes. You'll fall asleep soon enough.

 

sleeping pills will make you sleep, but wont cure your insomnia. Unless you want to be taking pills every night (bad idea, with modern pharms), you need to work it out. Drug free, too. Don't depend on marijuana, or anything else. Usually insomnia is due to stress, so meditation or stress relief techniques might help. Also, use your bed only for sleeping. Dont do homework or watch tv in it, so you don't associate "bed" with "homework" "school stress" or "entertainment time".

 

it really doesnt work that way. unless your talking about like after over an hour of eyes closed

 

take 47 tylenol. u'll hit the hay harder than ruben studdard off a skyscraper, and if you get up you'll have a really wicked buzz.

oh, and u MIGHT just destroy ur liver. but that buzz...

 

Eat foods that are high in serotonin, like almonds or a glass of warm milk. I'm not an insomniac but I do have a hard time getting to sleep at night, this seems to help a bit.