The witching hour

[37fatheroftwo]

I wake up at 4am every morning now and it is 'driving me mad'! My friend called it the witching hour and he's spot on. All you do is lay there and stress out about stuff -real or not. Then by the time you get up for work you're a nervous wreck.

I am suffering from stress and anxiety and just started on a course of Sertraline and am having a tough time of it. Work and life is causing my stress and I worry too much. I am getting the full side effects of the tabs as in shivers, coldness and increased anxiety. I am sure it's just a matter of time for tablets to kick in. I am on 25mg and supposed to increase to 50mg after a week. But I am too scared to increase the dosage as I am scared of the enhanced effects.

I just want to sleep! What do other people do when they lay awake at night? Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks all.

[Daniele_T]

When you go to bed and just before you close your eyes to sleep..bang your head on the pillow the number of times for the hour you want to wake.
7 hits for 7 o'clock.

An old remedy but believe in it.

[PanchoGoz]

Hahaha yes me and my sister do the headbanging too!

Remember during this hour - your thoughts can go two ways on a forked path. Down one way, you think of normal benign things. Food, work, people...maybe happy memories or fantasies. Down the other way, you stew inwardly about terrible things, why do I feel like this, what must I do to fix myself, I hate this, I can't stop thinking about this why can't I stop thinking about this. And then you try to stop thinking about it which makes it worse.

Down the happy path again...when you think these thoughts you feel happy, calm, neutral, however you normally feel. Down the path of stewing and rumination, you feel awful, anxious, depressed. These pathways of the mind are much more pronounced at night when you are exhausted. Your thoughts seem all encompassing and your emotions are irrational.

It makes sense to think of the normal happy things, as you would normally do. You don't need to go down that endless path of rumination as it won't get you anywhere, it just goes on and on looking for non existant answers. You won't solve anything, however much you think. Instead, think of happy things and let your mind wonder in that direction. The more you angle your mind towards benign things like that, you train it up to forget that negetive path.

Other things: Try to not fall asleep! Instead of trying to fall asleep. Your brain does the opposite of what you say because it's too tired to follow your instructions.

I find it's good, if stuck in that useless thought path to look at my phone screen in bed to cut it off there and begin a new, more helpful thought.

[37fatheroftwo]

Some sensible words. I like the banging the head on the pillow method too. I would like to be able to get back to sleep once I wake up. Does anyone try music or anything?

[Daniele_T]

I also tell myself to just stay down and can often get an hour or two in after..

If you're physically waking up..being a bloke n all. Then you're pretty much awake and that's that.
If the old boy hasn't woken then be happy, you can get back to sleep pretty easy if you believe you can.

I know that's not easy always but the words above are a good step.

[Anfield 15]

I know the feeling well , just a few short years ago I could go to bed , read a few pages of a book and be out like a light till alarm went off , then it crept in going to bed laying awake for hours say from 11 til 2 a.m nod off then wake at 4-4:30
Then woosh the day ahead starts playing on your mind then other thoughts come in and so it spirals .next thing exhausted you drop off at 5 ish and then BANG! Alarm goes off at 6:30 how mad are you at yourself then ! And swear you will go to bed at 10 and sleep the very next night so your body can rest .
what happens then ?? Just the same as the night before

I drink 2 cups of camomile tea late on , I go to bed when I,m tired this could be 11-1130 now and not 10- 10-30 . I use my phone with head phones and listen to the honest guys on you tube , some good sleep talk down videos .
Or I will watch comedy / listen to . Gervais and pilkington have some funny yet boring discussions .
We ve just got a puppy so when she gets older and bigger I plan to step up walking with her on a night to use up excess adrenaline and hopefully release endorphins known to promote sleep .
After 2 years on mirtazapine which really helped especially with sleep , I want to do it holistically if that's possible and the battle goes on .
Don't despair as I did just try things some are rubbish some help

[Ange1]

I also know the feeling well. Some nights I would fall asleep at 12 and wake at 2 and others sleep until 4 or 5 at the latest. I constructed a place in my head that I added detail too almost every night. I would go there and imagine every detail. If I didn't fall asleep at least my mind wasn't getting all wound up. I would also do boring silly things like trying to remember all the names of so called celebs in a reality tv show or visualizing the Keep Calm symbol with go to sleep on it and saying it over and over. Trying to do your accounts in your head also helps lol. Trying to add sums and dates has a knack of switching the brain off! I did try music and relaxation stuff but it didn't help for me. I'm better off doing something with my brain than just listening as my mind tends to shout louder than the music x:) x