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[katheb]

I have ADHD and the doc said it is the cause of my sleeping problem.

Mainly it is my brain does not know when to switch off.

A regular brain makes Melatonin when it's time for bed making you sleepy .

but in my case not so much.

I end up thinking a lot of random thoughts . it is worse when stressed out about something because you acctually have something to think about that doubles the effect.

The fix is to eat a tablet of melatonin 20 mins before bed however In my case I moved contry and don't have proof that I have ADHD so I need to get rediagnosed before I can start taking it [sleepless nights are annoying]

i find what helps is

1:Complete Darkness [or at least a constant light] [a TV with changing lights car passing by flashing its lights into the house wakes me up]
2:White noise [I ussually have my PC on at night] that keeps any other random sounds from waking you up in the middle of the night
3:Don't eat before bed at least 1 hour
4:Don't watch TV/ play PC/ about 30 minutes to an hour before bed.
5: Read slowly before bed
6: Try not to be too cold or hot when asleep.

Even when I do all this I still have difficulty sleeping.

on saturdays I don't put the alarm on I end up sleeping till 2Pm or more

but ask your doctor about melatonin it might help.

[Sappho]

For the past week and a half I've been visiting my family in the USA.  I'm sleeping on the sofa at my mom's house (there is a spare bed but it's an old spring mattress and really uncomfortable - the couch is more like my bed at home so I'm more comfortable here).  I have still been doing my usual thing of eating right up until I go to bed and watching an episode of something on my computer before shutting it down and going to sleep.  And I've actually been sleeping fine.

Part of it, I'm sure, is the six-hour time difference.  My body thinks it's much later than it is, so that makes it easier to sleep.  (I'm encouraging this by not changing my watch or computer time, so I have a constant reminder of what time it is back home.)  But I think a really big part of it is simple daylight.  As I said before, in Prague I live in a basement apartment without any real daylight to speak of.  Here, I'm sleeping on the sofa right in front of the window.  When the sun comes up in the morning, it hits me.  Even if it's overcast (as it is today), the natural daylight is still a hell of a lot brighter than the awful fluorescent lights in my flat (the awful kind with the long skinny bulb that you see in supermarkets).  I'm still not going to bed early, and I still lay awake for a while thinking and talking to myself before actually going to sleep, but it seems like once I finally decide I really want to sleep, I doze off without too much trouble.  I have been waking up a few times during the night but that's only because my mom's dog is really possessive of me now that I'm back and insists on sleeping *on top of* my legs to make sure I don't go anywhere in the night.  This makes my knees sore after a while and I wake up and have to change position.

So that clinches it for me.  When I get back, I'm going to start looking for a new apartment.  I've been considering it for a while, since this place has a mold and dust problem and we still don't even have heat (the basement was never designed to be lived in so there's no built-in heating and we have to use space heaters which are too expensive to turn on until it's really necessary).  I'm also having some troubles living with my current flatmate.  I'll miss living with him overall, but I've been feeling a lot happier during the time I've been here, and I don't normally enjoy visiting my family so that's really saying something.  The darkness in that place has obviously triggered seasonal depression a lot earlier than I would normally get it - I started having these problems like six months ago, and now I'm sure of the cause.

[Duke 2.0]

 Yeah, basements can be hell on a person. And seasonal depression is a hell of a thing to get early. Good to hear you so clearly decided on how to help yourself. Good luck with the apartment search!

[glopso]

This is not a normal sleep disorder. This is a signal for the coming, and you are our messenger. Soon you will have dreams of the world beyond, and you will tell us what you have seen. We will become a perfect society and finally win

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

THE GAME LOL

[The Merchant Of Menace]

You... You live in a cellar? O_o

[Sappho]

Yes, I'm afraid so.  My rent is Dirt Effin Cheap and I can't really afford a better place just now, but I'm going to start looking anyway.  I can't keep living like this.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Yeah, You might end up with cave adaptation or something... but seriously a cellar!? Who even rents out a blooming cellar? That must really suck.

[Duke 2.0]

Yeah, You might end up with cave adaptation or something... but seriously a cellar!? Who even rents out a blooming cellar? That must really suck.

Yo, living in one next to a guest bedroom down here. Granted we added carpets and walls and paints, but still a cellar. Not too sucky, depending on if you have windows or not, and how much ventelation you get.

[Sappho]

Yeah, this is a one-window-opening-into-the-bottom-of-a-ventilation-shaft type of basement.  I put in a carpet and painted my room, but there's not great air circulation and although my room gets lighter during the day, I never see the actual sun except at midday in the middle of summer.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

I don't think I could live without a window. Speshly since  I hardly ever leave the house.

[Ancre]

Hi ; I'm sorry I don't want to hijack the thread, but what is seasonal depression ?

[Sappho]

Many people suffer from clinical depression in the winter because the days are shorter, they aren't exposed to enough sunlight, and their brains don't produce enough seratonin (the chemical that makes you feel happy).  I get it really severely each year.  This year I was apparently getting it in the summer because of my living conditions.

I'm currently back home and I've thought it over and I think there's no sense rushing to get a new place too quickly, since it's winter now anyway and the days are incredibly short.  Also it's freaking cold out there and there's record amounts of snow outside (and this country has not discovered the "snow shovel" on a mass scale yet) and the idea of moving is pretty unpalatable.  I'll keep an eye on myself though, make sure I don't get worse, try not to be home too often, and keep looking for a new place (but hold out for a nice one rather than the first acceptable one I can find).

[nenjin]

Have you tried artificial light therapy? There are bunches of lights out there that try to simulate natural sunlight. They've been used for about a decade now to treat seasonal depression, so there's GOT to be a commercial model available at a reasonable price.

[Sappho]

I wouldn't know where to look for something like that in this country. And consumer electronics of all kinds tend to be around double the price here as they would be in the US or UK.  I'm not sure I could afford it.  I suppose it's worth looking around for something though.

[Korbac]

Nenjin's idea is fairly solid. We've recently had 'daytime simulating lights' installed in the dining room. While they have taken a bit of getting used to, the light they provide is very close to that of 'natural' light, so it could significantly help with your S.A.D, Sappho.