# Do You Count Sheep When You Can't Sleep?



## SeaBreeze (Jan 16, 2016)

I like to put a small transistor type radio under my pillow whether I feel sleepy or not.  I tune it in to talk shows and see if anything interests me.  If it's later, I'll check on the CoasttoCoast station, sometimes they have good alternative medicine shows, or talk about conspiracies, dreams, etc.

Sometimes I'll shut it off and be quiet to fall asleep, but many times I fall asleep with it still on.  My cat is not fond of the radio it seems, he doesn't snuggle by my pillow when it's on.

If I think I'll have trouble sleeping before bed, I might take a Melatonin or herbal sleep capsule.  But I try not to use those, already being someone who dreams in great detail and color, I don't always want something that will intensify my dreams, especially for the occasional nightmare.

I have trouble just laying there while my husband is off in dreamland, and the pets are snoring away.  What do you do when you can't sleep?


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## fureverywhere (Jan 16, 2016)

I read...until the same paragraph doesn't make sense...sometimes hubby will have to take the book out of my hands and tuck them down. I feel it sometimes. But I am gooone.


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## jujube (Jan 16, 2016)

I have three books that I have been writing....in my head.....for years.   Sometimes when I can't go to sleep, I lie there and work on my "head books".


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## Pappy (Jan 17, 2016)

Most nights I listen to the radio until I fall asleep. I use a ear plug with a six foot cord and use it nights I can't sleep. I listen to Coast to Coast also, SB.


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## AprilT (Jan 17, 2016)

Some nights if I'm having trouble, I will place a few drops of lavender oil where I can inhale the scent and sometimes I'll even start counting down from 100, I've yet to make it past the 80's.  If it's one of those nights where nothing is going to work, I just get out of bed and find something to do till I'm exhausted to the point I can't feel my face.  LOL.


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## Yaya (Jan 17, 2016)

I use a fan and sometimes also pretend I am sleeping on a train or in a hammock buy an ocean with a breeze .


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## chic (Jan 18, 2016)

I breathe, slowly and deeply. Works every time if done correctly. You can take a Taurine capsule if sleeplessness is a problem for you. This works for me too.


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## Butterfly (Jan 18, 2016)

I have a guided imagery CD by Belleruth Naperstak that I'll put on low and listen to with headphones if I'm having trouble.


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## Karen99 (Jan 18, 2016)

I imagine floating on a cloud...but no counting sheep.


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## Cookie (Jan 18, 2016)

If I can't sleep I take some melatonin and focus on by breathing when I lie down, which seems to work very well.  But I go to bed quite late these days and am pretty tired by then too, so no trouble sleeping.


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## Don M. (Jan 18, 2016)

I sip a shot of flavored Vodka about 9 PM, then hit the computer for any new news, and to play a little Online Poker.  Usually, by 10:30, I can barely keep my eyes open, so I hit the sack...and the next thing I know, it's 7AM.  A little alcohol is generally regarded as a good thing for most people, and a glass of wine, or, in my case, a sip of Vodka, is the best sleep "medicine" I've ever found.


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## AprilT (Jan 18, 2016)

chic said:


> I breathe, slowly and deeply. Works every time if done correctly. You can take a Taurine capsule if sleeplessness is a problem for you. This works for me too.




Yep, I should have added with the counting or without, I also do the deep breathing, it really does work wonders.


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## SeaBreeze (Apr 8, 2016)

Bought a bottle of Lavender Oil at the health food store a couple of days ago.  I put a few drops on a couple of pieces of cotton (larger than a cotton ball) and put one under my pillowcase and one under my husband's.  We both have been taking a 1mg Source Naturals sublingual Melatonin tablet.  Both been sleeping like babies.  No...not crying ever three hours and wetting the bed layful:, just sleeping peacefully and waking up refreshed.  fftobed:


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## NancyNGA (Apr 9, 2016)

For some reason I'm able to fall asleep almost instantly anywhere, any time, for the past year or so. All I have to do is take the phone off the hook.  So I don't really have a schedule anymore, but I've gotten used to it and it's much more efficient---more alert and energetic with fewer hours sleep. 

The only time I ever couldn't go to sleep was when something happened during the day that I couldn't stop thinking about. I used to turn on the TV loud enough so that I couldn't think over it.  Now I would just get up, have a cup of coffee, and try again later.   I'm retired. I think worrying about whether you get enough sleep or not just makes it worse.


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## boozercruiser (Apr 9, 2016)

I count Beer Bottles! nthego:


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## vickyNightowl (Apr 9, 2016)

A nice glass of Baileys helps.

Lavender eh? I shaLl try it.

Boozer,just counting?


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## Wrigley's (Apr 9, 2016)

I've had trouble sleeping for almost 40 years! I tried everything, saw a doctor too, but medication just knocked me out and made me dull and drowsy all day. Like Nancy, I stopped worrying about it a few years ago. 

During the day, when I'm not working, if I sit, I sleep ....usually for an hour or 3. I only go to bed when I think I should - typically around 3am - but if I'm still awake at 5am, I get up and find stuff to do. If I do fall to sleep in the bed I'll sleep for 5 or 6 hours.

I'm accustomed to it.


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## Guitarist (Apr 9, 2016)

chic said:


> I breathe, slowly and deeply. Works every time if done correctly. You can take a Taurine capsule if sleeplessness is a problem for you. This works for me too.



This is the second thing I've read online about taurine for sleep.  Since all the cat-professionals say cats must have taurine in their diets, I wonder if that is one reason they sleep so much?

When I can't sleep I groom a horse in my head.  I start right behind the ears, and have never yet gotten past the withers (base of neck).  

Or I take a couple of Tylenol, not P.M.

I tried counting sheep once, but keeping track of the numbers kept me awake!


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## SeaBreeze (Apr 10, 2016)

I have an old bottle of Schiff Melatonin Plus with Theanine, haven't taken one of those in a long time, may try it again soon.


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## Wrigley's (Apr 10, 2016)

That cartoon with the sheep = me.  What works for me when I have to MAKE myself sleep is a bowl of hot oatmeal. A stuffed turkey would do it too, but the oatmeal's a lot easier. 'specially "Quick Oats"


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## Wrigley's (Apr 10, 2016)

I had ..."sleep _in_ a bowl of hot oatmeal." LOL

edited.


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## NancyNGA (Apr 10, 2016)

Wrigley's said:


> I had ..."sleep _in_ a bowl of hot oatmeal." LOL



I bet that would work, too.


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## fureverywhere (Apr 10, 2016)

I will read the most morbid crap. "102 Minutes in the World Trade Center"...rock star deaths, but I guess it makes me grateful I'm deep under the covers with two warm pups.


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## ndynt (Apr 10, 2016)

Self hypnosis usually.  Though there are times when even that does not help.


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## kaufen (Apr 15, 2016)

I think of a name or movie title or anything for every letter in the alphabet...eventally I get really tired and fall asleep


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## Cole Slaw (Apr 26, 2016)

I smoke a joint and it's sleepy time!


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## WheatenLover (Apr 26, 2016)

I fall asleep reading my Kindle. Without that, I am an insomniac, so I make sure I don't mislay that one item.


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