Fatigue strikes again.

[Elfwing]

It's midnight, my alarm goes off in five hours, and I can't sleep.

I used to let my sleep cycle run its own course. I'd go to bed at midnight, get up at ten, the next night I'd feel tired at two, then wake up at ten, then maybe 3AM-1PM, and so on... it would reset itself and run past people, or it would go completely haywire and I'd need several naps a day.

Early in May I decided, while it was making me get up at 3AM, that I'd try getting up solidly at 5AM for a month. Usually this would only go a week until I crumbled, but this time it went pretty well. I started on the 10th, and it's the 31st and I'm finally running into problems.

I should probably mention here that I used to have nasty fatigue problems, which was why I let my sleep cycle run its course (it helps that I'm home all day, let me tell you). Trying to maintain a constant sleep cycle was a battle - I just couldn't stay awake during the day, taking naps would relieve me but ruin my sleep cycle even more, and in the end I just kicked self discipline in the pants and slept when I felt like it because it was the only way I could function. Battling it made me even more tired.

Most of all, when I felt sleepy during the day, I couldn't do anything. My hobbies are writing and art - and I can't focus when I'm tired.

When I started the 30 day trial, though, my fatigue problems had almost completely gone. I'm guessing this is because I started drinking a lot of fruit juice, whereas before I didn't eat many fruits and vegetables (my reason for this is because I dislike the taste/texture of almost every "green" food out there, not to mention it's hardly filling). I'm guessing this is why maintaining the 30 day trial was easier.

But now I'm beginning to sleep in more, and my sleep cycle's pushing me back to my sleep-nomad ways. The last few nights I haven't been able to sleep past midnight, even if I got up at 5. Or I'd need a nap in the middle of the day, and I couldn't write or draw, and it really hurts not to be able to, to be able to do nothing but hold on and count the hours until I get to sleep again. Even if I exercised, went for a walk - if I was lucky, the temporary boost would last ten minutes. If not, I could barely do it.

And, I'm stuck right now.

I can let my sleep cycle run its course, and have disruption to my creative cycle (I usually write and draw at a set time during the day), but still be ABLE to do these things, but at the same time possibly have a lot less interaction with my family.

Or I can continue trying to battle this and possibly shoot my creativity to hell and make my days miserable. I was fatigued for years, and it was agony, and I'm - quite honestly - terrified of having to do this all over again. When I've tried to fight in the past I've always lost (or, back when I was at school, suffered the consequences - I slept throughout class all day and felt absolutely miserable), so I can't tell how long I won't be able to do much as a result of being tired.

Has anybody else ever had to deal with this, or have any advice? Insomnia "cures", quite frankly, don't work - I've done everything from hypnotherapy to going to the doc's to warm milk at night and chamomile tea, and it doesn't do a dang thing.

Help?

[Dreamline]

You had marginal success with a diet change. I suggest you further explore that aspect.

I like to suggest trying what may be your ideal diet by reading Eat Right 4 Your Type, by Peter D'Adamo, which is based on blood type. Once you have eliminated all of the "avoid" foods from your diet, see if your sleep patterns regulate. Another aspect, aside from the obvious caffeine, aspartame (Nutrasweet) can have marked effects on different brain systems as well as monosodium glutamate, which is disguised by other names in many processed products. So you may want to avoid all sodas and processed foods in your experiment. But MSG and aspartates take awhile to completely clear from your system so it may be a few week long experiment.

If you are game.

Jennifer

[Deergirl]

I was about to suggest the same as Dreamline. Since you did have some success with a diet change, why not explore this further? A lot of physical problems like fatigue and insomnia are diet related in quite some cases.

Try to experiment and read some book on food and diet. If you don't like greens and fruits, try smoothies. You don't have to "eat" them than and you don't have the texture of them. I have the same thing with certain fruits, bananas for example, but I do "eat" them when I put them in a smoothie.

Good luck with it!

[dave marshall]

Hi,

what is happening in your life, diets will not help unless you change something within yourself that is causing the insomnia.

Insomnia can be cured naturaly without drugs but you will have to change some habits/stress. There is always a cause for the insomnia and that cause always has a cure,

Dave

[Creative]

Hi, how are you doing now? I would say diet can make such a positive effect on your health. I have managed to control lupus totally through diet and yoga. I came of all meds last year and feel amazing.

It may be worth having some bloods done. Fatigue can be due to low iron- maybe you should just see what is going on and then tailor a diet to help you? From personal experience I used Blackstrap Molasses as a vegan source of iron and other nutrients and it helped boost my pitiful ferritin levels really quickly.

[Dreamline]

Preservatives and glutamates, as well as aspartates are known as excitotoxins in that they overstimulate certain receptors on organs and most notably parts of the brain. If they happen to overstimulate the receptors that control your circadian rhythyms, then you get insomnia or irregular sleep.

Just keep that in mind when choosing foods.

Jennifer

[Wolborg]

Am I getting this right – your problem is that you wake up too early, unable to go back to sleep, and, because of insufficient sleep, lack energy during the day?

This would mean you'll want work towards two goals: 1) to improve your ability to fall asleep after waking up; 2) to increase your energy during the waking time.

I still haven't found a good solution to the problem of waking up too early and not being able to fall asleep again. Here are some things that have been of some help:

1. Thinking right thoughts.
In the (admittedly few) cases when I can recall the latest dream, it's sometimes helpful when I concentrate on it and try to relive it in front of my mental eye as vividly as I can. That often helps me to fall asleep, even if it was a bad dream.
Then, occasionally it helps when I think of something pleasant, but in most cases it doesn't.

2. Relaxation.
The most basic relaxation exercise, found in many books, often helps. You lie on your back and think several times "My right hand feels warm", after which you do the same with your left hand, then arms, shoulders, and so on. And after you've made all your body feel warm, you make it feel heavy. I've done the exercise for so many years that now I can just induce the necessary feeling without any verbal instructions. This exercise often gets me sleepy enough so that I'm able to fall asleep. And when it doesn't, I know it's hopeless and get up for good.

3. Brainwave audios.
The computer program Neuro Programmer 2 has a brainwave session called Sleep Induction or something. When I've waken up too early and can't fall asleep, but really feel that I need to get more sleep, I listen to this and it always helps me to sleep an additional hour or two.

As to energy, I have made huge progress during the last ten years. It all started with doing the exercises from the book "The Way of Energy" every day. However, I stopped doing them years ago, and, as I'm writing this, I actually find myself wondering what have I done after that to increase my energy to the current level. It can't be just because I'm drinking lots and lots of water, can it? Well, one thing that has helped a lot is eating small meals every 3–5 hours instead of stuffing myself halfdead-full a couple of times a day. But something's still missing from the equation. I exercise occasionally, but far less than I ought to. Of course, the aforementioned Neuro Programmer 2 has terrific brainwave sessions that help me regenerate when I feel very tired. Tell you what, I'll give it some thought and get back to you when I come up with something useful.