I’ve always had a lot of trouble falling asleep, for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I was always the last one to fall asleep during a sleepover. As I get older I usually fall asleep faster now, because I am too exhausted from long days without a nap in between. But for this still usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour. And this is what I would classify as a “regular night”.
I do however have my irregular nights, when my insomnia is at an extreme level. Right now I am at that stage again. As soon as my head reaches the pillow, my brain goes in overdrive. I start getting all these ideas of things I want to do in life, start thinking about all the things I have to do the following day, or what I should have done since yesterday and also what I want to do next weekend. A million of thought swirl through my mind and I am unable to stop my train of thoughts. This results in me, lying in bed for hours, not sleeping, trying to force myself to sleep and finally falling asleep when it’s almost time to wake up. I am really an evening person and just seem to be able to function a lot more as soon as the sun goes down.
Since society is used to having things normally done in the morning, that doesn’t work out well for a brain like mine that likes to work in the dark. Sadly it’s me against the world, so nothing much I can change about that. Which is why I am forced to force myself to sleep with some external help: melatonin pills. These pills were advised to me by my own personal psychologist. And by “my own personal psychologist” I mean this friend of mine that happens to be a psychologist, in Amsterdam, that gives me free advice. 😀 lol
Melatonin pills are non-subscription sleeping pills. You can get them at any local pharmacy over the counter. They are also not addictive. Read more about melatonin pills here.
I have to take a minimum of two 3mg pills, because one doesn’t have any effect on me. They do however cause me a lot of (weird) vivid dream. Interesting, but weird. But there’s nothing harmful about these pills. And travelers note this: melatonin pills are a great solution to quickly overcome jetlags.
Another thing that I use now a days to help me get any normal night rest is this soothing body moisturizer and spray for your pillows. I got these from a friend who was in the USA for a long period of time and was also suffering from sleep deprivation. She bought it and uses it herself, and highly recommended it to me. She brought it for me when she came back to Suriname.
The scent is very soothing and you may not fall in an immediate deep sleep dreaming, but as soon as you do you fall asleep, you are sleeping deep and awake very well rested. Even if you slept for a short period of time. There’s no lethargic feeling afterwards. Which makes it great to still go to work normally. And another con to this spray/cream: it doesn’t smell! 😉
On my extreme insomniac nights, like I’m having these days I usually have to combine my both sleeping enhancement methods: 2 pills, the spray on my pillow and my body moistened. Wait, that’s 3 methods.
