I just want to sleep all night...
 

... and right now I can't. I haven't had a good nights sleep in such a long time.

Every night I wake any time from 1am onwards and lay awake thinking about whatever problem is on my mind for anywhere between an hour and 4 hours.

My sponsor has gone away for 3 weeks so I can't talk to her about this.

Tonight when I go to bed (11pm now) I want to sort of have some kind of 'plan' as to what I am meant to do if I wake and run my problems through my head again.

What I tend to do is stew on things for the first hour, then realise I'm not going to get any sleep until I read my big book. I usually read the stories for as long as I can before my eyes hurt and I fall asleep. That is how I have dealt with this for the last however many months.

Obviously, I have problems like everyone else and obviously, I am not dealing with them how I am supposed to otherwise I wouldn't do this every night right? So please, please tell me what I should do. I know it's going to be a very obvious answer but right now, I can't seem to sit in silence long enough to get an answer from my God.

Are you eating well and taking supplements? Are you getting plenty of exercise. Exercise is one of the best antidotes for anxiety and sleeplessness. In addition it is important to have a well rounded diet and get plenty of B vitamins especially for rest. Too much sugar and caffeine can especially have negative sleep effects. If you are still an active nicotine addict then this is also something that is detrimental to good sleep.

I second the exercise as well. Its does wonders for you, not only in terms of helping normalize sleeping patterns but also a great vent for dealing with stress/depression generally.

At times I have the same problem as you...going to bed at say, 10 pm, waking up at 2 am, and then not being able to sleep again for another 3 hours or so. Like you, I have a tendency to focus on some problem and just lie there and things cycle through my mind. Since I've been sober, this happens to me a LOT less than when I was drinking, but it still can happen sometimes, particularly during stressful office times.

What I try and do nowadays is get up, even if its some unearthly hour like 2 or 3 am, and watch tv or hop onto the computer and browse the internet, etc. - anything to keep me from lying in bed and just stewing. I find it works.

Good luck!

Exercise and diet are important, so is comfort in bed, and regular hours can help too.

In the end tho, I'd see a doctor if I had an ongoing insomnia issue for a long time, or a counsellor if you feel this is an emotional or anxiety issue, Kiwi.

D

Thanks everyone.
I don't take supplements, have cut down on the exercise and probably aren't eating as well as I used to. I don't drink coffee. I tend to read my Big Book if I wake and that usually knocks me back out again. I'll have to look at getting some exercise back into my day and if that doesn't help, I think I need to see my Doctor. Thanks :)

If you are waking up worrying about problems, you havn't handed things over to your higher power. You are still trying to be the director, not the actor.
Hand your problems over to your higher power, and just pray he helps you make the right decisions, to take away your problems
Read the chapter again about how it works, and how we think life would be so much better if all the actors just did what we wanted them to.
Hope this helps.
Fred

Thank you. I am awake again tonight at 1:45am with the same problem in my head. I will look to read that again now.