Uh-oh Sleeping problems because of overthinking

[skully]

I hate when this happens. It happens everytime I take exercise seriously. I think about it day and night. Can't stop thinking about it. Keep fantasizing about it. Last night I couldn't sleep AT ALL, because I was thinking about exercises. Wtf, eh?! I barely slept. I got maybe an hour or two sleep out of the 9 hours I was in bed TRYING TO sleep.

What can I do?

What can I have that will help me feel asleep?

I haven't been napping for long, and prefer not to get back into that anytime soon, or fatness will creep up again. I may nap today for an hour or so, and later on go for a relaxing gym class (body balance). Hopefully it will ease me out of thoughts and worries.

[skully]

Meditation.

If done correctly, it will teach you not to hang onto your thoughts...you will just have thoughts, then let them go, not turn them over and over in your mind until they spiral out of control.

http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php

Would body balance class help me? I'm heading over there now. I did weights today. I hope it's not considered a bad thing to do after weights in the same day? I did weight at 10 a.m...so?

[Boss Man]

1. A warm drink.

2. A small amount of Carbs.

3. Subliminal tapes.

4. Supplemental Glutamine. An Amino Acid found in Proteins.

5. Supplemental Tryptophan. An Amino Acid found in Proteins.

6. 5-HTP a supplement that helps with Tryptophan usage.

7. Supplemental GABA, (Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid), a Neurotransmitter that exerts effects on the Hypothalamus, the part of the Brain that controls sleep. Small amounts may help.

Be aware that some supplements may interefer wiht medication, so you may want do your own checks before proceeding with supplemental regime.

[skully]

Amatlack: I don't know if I can ever surrender myself to and in meditation. I am not sure I believe in it, honestly.

Boss Man: Thanks for the tips. What type of carbs would help or warm drinks? Definitely not ones with caffeine, eh? I prefer to stay away from supplements as much as possible.

[skully]

Amatlack: I don't know if I can ever surrender myself to and in meditation. I am not sure I believe in it, honestly.

Everyone's got to find their own thing, but I'm not sure what you mean by not believing in it. It's not a religion, but a way to train yourself not to be attached to every little thought that goes through your head...which seems to be exactly what you're looking for.

I don't believe in the concept of meditation. I don't know why. For me, it's peace of mind that I need. Not meditation in particular. I need to know things will be okay, but it;s hard to believe in that just like that.

[Boss Man]

A small amount of slow release ones, like Whole-grain, Veggies etc etc and Warm drinks, just things like Warm / Hot milk, Orange those sorts of things.

[Boss Man]

I'll take your word for that. I don't tend to have drinks like that.

[skully]

amatlack: Thanks for the links. I'll try to give meditation a shot, but it needs to be done in complete quietness, which I have to figure a place to do it. IT ain't home indeed!!

Bossman: Sure I can have those type of carbs. Before last night I was able to sleep through, with one awakening in the middle. Last night wasn't as good. Woke up a few times. Eh...Damn insomina.

[skully]

That's a sign of overtraining.

Unfortunately, I know. But that is only a part of it, really. Another major part I'm trying to change sleeping o'clock from 2-3 a.m. to 12:00 ( I wake up around 8-9 everyday for university).

I don't know how NOT to think about exercise. I tend to get very obsessive. With a lot of things, and exercise is one of them. Blah!!!!! I succcccccck!

[cassiegose]

That's a sign of overtraining.

Unfortunately, I know. But that is only a part of it, really. Another major part I'm trying to change sleeping o'clock from 2-3 a.m. to 12:00 ( I wake up around 8-9 everyday for university).

I don't know how NOT to think about exercise. I tend to get very obsessive. With a lot of things, and exercise is one of them. Blah!!!!! I succcccccck!

You dont suck. Not at all.You just worry alot about things that really don't need to be worried about. It can be hard to change your sleep patterns. You may need to just slowly start going to bed earlier each night until you can fall asleep at 12:00 instead of 2-3. You could try slowlly changing your sleeping patterns.. for instance for the next 3 nights try to go to sleep just a little earlier than usual... then try to go to sleep just a little earlier than that... and keep slowly adjusting your bedtime until you get to 12:00. One thing that makes it difficult is that I've found that when I'm really trying to fall asleep I have an even more difficult time doing so. I have found that reading text books before bed helps me to fall asleep AND its a great way to get some extra reading in.

[skully]

That's a sign of overtraining.

Unfortunately, I know. But that is only a part of it, really. Another major part I'm trying to change sleeping o'clock from 2-3 a.m. to 12:00 ( I wake up around 8-9 everyday for university).

I don't know how NOT to think about exercise. I tend to get very obsessive. With a lot of things, and exercise is one of them. Blah!!!!! I succcccccck!

You dont suck. Not at all.You just worry alot about things that really don't need to be worried about. It can be hard to change your sleep patterns. You may need to just slowly start going to bed earlier each night until you can fall asleep at 12:00 instead of 2-3. You could try slowlly changing your sleeping patterns.. for instance for the next 3 nights try to go to sleep just a little earlier than usual... then try to go to sleep just a little earlier than that... and keep slowly adjusting your bedtime until you get to 12:00. One thing that makes it difficult is that I've found that when I'm really trying to fall asleep I have an even more difficult time doing so. I have found that reading text books before bed helps me to fall asleep AND its a great way to get some extra reading in.

Yeah. I do worry a lot. Is there a worry-less pill, because I WOULD have it!!

you're right it's been probably too sudden to jump two hours later. I usually get this when uni starts. uni in life means one thing = stress + depression. Really. It's a major source of depression and stress. sleeping started getting worse when uni started to come close.

And you're right I should read. I USED TO LOOOOOOOVE TO read a few hours in a day, and at night before I sleep. I just got bored of it. And not in love with it as much as I used to be. It might be the books. Eh!! i used to read a 500-pages-book in two effing days! Now...I have a book that lay by bed-side for months! Maybe it's the book. I should switch to something else =P...but yeah reading DID make me sleepy! So 15 minutes of reading is added in bed-time schedule!

[cassiegose]

Yeah. I do worry a lot. Is there a worry-less pill, because I WOULD have it!!

you're right it's been probably too sudden to jump two hours later. I usually get this when uni starts. uni in life means one thing = stress + depression. Really. It's a major source of depression and stress. sleeping started getting worse when uni started to come close.

And you're right I should read. I USED TO LOOOOOOOVE TO read a few hours in a day, and at night before I sleep. I just got bored of it. And not in love with it as much as I used to be. It might be the books. Eh!! i used to read a 500-pages-book in two effing days! Now...I have a book that lay by bed-side for months! Maybe it's the book. I should switch to something else =P...but yeah reading DID make me sleepy! So 15 minutes of reading is added in bed-time schedule!

There probably is some kind of a worry-less pill out there however I think its best to find ways to help yourself to worry less instead of popping a pill to cover things up. I've had sleeping problems in the past due to overthinking/worrying. I'm glad to hear you say you're going to start reading because that really does help me. It kind of takes your mind elsewhere so you're not so focused on the other things that are swarming around your brain. I've found that stopping and taking 10-30 long slow breaths helps immensly in letting me relax. Untense those muscles, relax, and take some long slow breaths to just kind of slow everything down. You may also try writing the stuff down that is bothering you. This helps because its kind of like it gets stuff out of your head and on paper. In the past when I had trouble sleeping it was because I had all of these thoughts/worries/concerns swarming around in head and it was quite overwhelming. By writing them down I actually felt like I was taking each problem out of brain and putting it on paper so it would stop troubling thoughts. If it was something that i was really worried about it I would also write down what I was going to do to it so i was no longer worried about it because I had a solution. Does that make sense? I know you've tried this in the past but maybe you could also keep a journal by your bed and take a few minutes each night to write down things that you're worried about. If you want you can also just shoot me a message and I'll do best to help you work things out (assuming I'm around computer). Honestly I really think we need to figure out how to get you to stop worrying so much as its not doing you any good ya know? Then (getting back to the reading) after you write down your thoughts you could crack that book and do some reading to further help your mind relax. What do you think? I think the journaling is worth a shot.

As for the overtraining (I want to approach this one because I don't want you to worry about it. LOL!) I think your problem has more to do with your worrying and overthinking tendancies than overtraining. If youre doing more than 60-90 minutes of exercise per day then you could be overtraining, however i think the sleeping issues have to do with you trying to adjust your sleeping patterns and overthinking stuff.

You're doing awesome. Give yourself credit for the things you're accomplishing and the fact that you are making healthy changes to your life.

[skully]

There probably is some kind of a worry-less pill out there however I think its best to find ways to help yourself to worry less instead of popping a pill to cover things up. I've had sleeping problems in the past due to overthinking/worrying. I'm glad to hear you say you're going to start reading because that really does help me. It kind of takes your mind elsewhere so you're not so focused on the other things that are swarming around your brain. I've found that stopping and taking 10-30 long slow breaths helps immensly in letting me relax. Untense those muscles, relax, and take some long slow breaths to just kind of slow everything down. You may also try writing the stuff down that is bothering you. This helps because its kind of like it gets stuff out of your head and on paper. In the past when I had trouble sleeping it was because I had all of these thoughts/worries/concerns swarming around in head and it was quite overwhelming. By writing them down I actually felt like I was taking each problem out of brain and putting it on paper so it would stop troubling thoughts. If it was something that i was really worried about it I would also write down what I was going to do to it so i was no longer worried about it because I had a solution. Does that make sense? I know you've tried this in the past but maybe you could also keep a journal by your bed and take a few minutes each night to write down things that you're worried about. If you want you can also just shoot me a message and I'll do best to help you work things out (assuming I'm around computer). Honestly I really think we need to figure out how to get you to stop worrying so much as its not doing you any good ya know? Then (getting back to the reading) after you write down your thoughts you could crack that book and do some reading to further help your mind relax. What do you think? I think the journaling is worth a shot.

As for the overtraining (I want to approach this one because I don't want you to worry about it. LOL!) I think your problem has more to do with your worrying and overthinking tendancies than overtraining. If youre doing more than 60-90 minutes of exercise per day then you could be overtraining, however i think the sleeping issues have to do with you trying to adjust your sleeping patterns and overthinking stuff.

You're doing awesome. Give yourself credit for the things you're accomplishing and the fact that you are making healthy changes to your life.

Thanks Cassie. Maybe I should do something I once upon a time did like, like writing in a journal. I used to write all the time, things got bad, so I stopped because it reminded me about a lot of bad stuff.

But I could message you about the stuff I worry about and stuff. I need to figure out a lot of small and big things, u have no idea how much its driving me crazy. I don't have a lot of people to talk to (1 person only), and it's good to hear other perspectives too.

I agree on the overtraining part. It's just brain! Well, I may be doing a bit more than average now. Like today. Morning: weights (10 a.m), later afternoon (6ish) cardio bodycombat class, but I plan to have 2 days off, like tomorrow.

And the other day where I exercise twice is Sunday, also weights, and body balance (a mix tai chi, yoga,pilates...it's not intensive as a cardio exercise. It's rather stretching,

Yeah, I'm doing AWESOME. I inspired two people to come to the gym with me!!! And I feel a lot better and more energized. I may have not lose a lot of weight, or inch size anymore, but clothes looks MUCHHHHH better on me. I feel more confident in them, too!

[skully]

I always liked that old saying about worry being pointless.

I mean, why worry? If you can change something, change it. If you can't, there's no point in worrying about it anyway.

Lol, most of problems is worrying about what decision to make. The curse of being a Libra, =P

[Packard]

That's a sign of overtraining.

Unfortunately, I know. But that is only a part of it, really. Another major part I'm trying to change sleeping o'clock from 2-3 a.m. to 12:00 ( I wake up around 8-9 everyday for university).

I don't know how NOT to think about exercise. I tend to get very obsessive. With a lot of things, and exercise is one of them. Blah!!!!! I succcccccck!

grandfather used to have a shot of whisky each night to "help him sleep" (and one before each meal to "stimulate his appetitite"). The stuff is a miracle drug.

Watch TV before going to sleep. It is totally mindless and will help you to not-think. (I miss Jimmy Carter. Whenever he spoke on TV I'd fall asleep immediately. Maybe there are Jimmy Carter recordings?)