[Desiderata]

Wannabeskinny hit on all the most effective points that doctors will emphasize for sleep hygiene. I just wanted to call attention to her list and to reiterate the importance of light -- as she said, getting a dose of bright light as soon as you can in the AM, and minimizing screen time at night (blue spectrum light inhibits the body's natural melatonin production.) If screens are an unavoidable must at night, try installing f.lux on your computer like souvenirdarling (it's free). Also make sure your bedroom is dark as can be.

Alcohol might help for a one-off bad night, but it's a terrible idea if you've messed up your circadian rhythm and are dealing with a more chronic issue.

If you do try melatonin, do some reading first. Other countries regulate it much more than here because it's some powerful stuff. Also, more is not better -- 1mg is much better to start with than 5mg.

Edit - this is more for souvenirdarling -- I have long-term sleep issues that I'm constantly re-managing, and this year, staying asleep suddenly became much more of a challenge. Besides buckling down on all the sleep hygiene stuff, I've really been helped by adding in a nightly dose of magnesium. Seems to help a bit.

I also usually recommend l-theanine, which is wonderful stuff. It doesn't induce sleep but does very effectively promote relaxation. No dependency or long-term use concerns (like there are with melatonin).

[Pattience]

Some other things that help.

Make sure that your bedroom is flooded with sunlight in the morning. It can wake you up and get you out of bed if you are in fact somewhat ready to get up. If your bedroom is not the room that gets the sun, try sleeping in the sunniest room for a while. Try to sleep where the sun's heat will hit you and maybe force you out of bed.

For a long time, i used to listen to the radio to get to sleep. It has to be talking radio, the sort that you get on public radio. Not music. How this works is that your body is relaxed while your mind is interested externally and is not in your own thoughts. This relaxes your mind. You will drift off when its time for you to sleep. You will still have to do other work in getting to sleep earlier if you are not sufficiently tired from having been asleep all day but the radio stops keeping you awake with a busy mind.

Then to train yourself off the radio, learn some meditation techniques and practice them diligently at different times of the day but especially in bed when its time to go to sleep. I don't meditate anymore but i often just the meditation technique of letting thoughts go to get me off to sleep and to slow down a busy or troubled mind.

[souvenirdarling]

@Desiderata - Thanks for the recommendation!

[sacha]

Are you pregnant?

[sacha]

Okay I saw your other threads in chicks in control... You need to get to a doctor/therapist asap before this gets much worse and needless to say this is a side effect of mental health problems. I wish you a good recovery, hugs.