Something simple that has helped me..

[[Ju...]]

I am one of those people who falls asleep easily, but wakes up at 2-2:30 wide awake with racing thoughts.  Someone I work with mentioned counting backward from 100 as a way to soothe the anxiety of waking up and having those racing thoughts.  It's not complicated so you're not thinking TOO hard, but slightly more complicated than counting upward from 1-100.  I can't believe after all of my problems with insomnia that this little trick helps so much, but it does.

When I find my mind racing and interrupting the counting, I go back up to the next multiple of 10 and start  down again.  Sometimes, I visualize the numbers in different fonts or colors too.  Sometimes I don't think the counting will work, because I'm almost down to 1, and the next thing you know, I'm out.

 

Hope this helps someone out there!

 

 

(1 mg klonopin for 2 mos, 2 mg for 2 mos, prescribed for insomnia...1 mo taper, benzo free since 7/5/11)

[[li...]]

thanks Julie, when I was reading your post I caught myself falling asleep.   It was a good point.  what I do is go back in time when I was really happy like my childhood and try to remember all those precious times.  Puts a smile on my face and relaxes me.  Linder

[[Ju...]]

Hee hee.. "you are getting verrrry sleeeepy..."

[[Bu...]]

Thanks Julie,

 

Got to 100...starting at 1000....he he.

 

Want to sleep, want to sleep.....

 

Sometimes I reverse psych myself and say.."I'm gonna stay up all night" and turn on the TV. Next thing I know, clunk.

 

Or I listen to my self hypnosis tapes I made.

 

Or I cry myself to sleep thinking about my dog's happy face and all the good times

we had.

 

Or I do a full body relaxation technique where i start at my scalp and work my way down relaxing every little muscle....I sometimes fall asleep in the middle somewhere.

 

Think I have insomnia problems? LOL...can't take drugs...see my Progress Log on advice I got on dangers of not enough sleep from my Doc....Wish he could have told me this when i was c/t the Neurotin..duh. "No just sit back and make $120/hr from my ins while I suffer" is my minds sarcastic conversation with him. he he.

 

ButterflyEffect (where is my warm cocoon?)

[[Li...]]

Julie, I do this too! But I start at 1000 and go backwards. A therapist suggested it to me five or six years ago, when I thought I'd tried every trick in the book. It works most of the time! I do the same thing, when I get sidetracked I back up and count again. I was going to post about this but had forgotten, so am glad you did. 

 

Libby

[[Ju...]]

Wow, I will have to try it from 1,000! Great suggestion!