#sleeping help

[thatonecreatorbitch]

Sleeping Tips (Nightmares Edition)

How to prevent Nightmares

Consisting a planned sleeping rountine may help. This means going to bed around the same resting period and time frame every night.

If you have nightmares which impact you negatively and not only disturb your sleep, you should reach out to talk about it with a family, friend or trusted individual.

Write or draw your nightmare.

It is suggested to use a night light. Not only will it give a calmer setting but it also is reassuring to wake up and not be met with darkness. It is proven that they bring comfort, lighting up a room to show there is nothing there. 

You may feel more secure with a comfort object, especially if you have an emotional attachment or liking for it, such as a specific blanket, pillow, plushie or etc.

Using lavendar essential oil is most commonly used for relaxation and sleep. Begin diffusing the lavendar oils an hour or so before turning in for the night.

Lofi music, instrumental music, calming tones, ASMR or relaxing noises in general are benificial

Don’t eat right before bed or have caffine

Colder enviornments are more likely to trigger a nightmare

Make sure not to view any scary or distrubing content, especially before bed if you have issues with nightmares

This final stradigey is optional because it has a different affect for everyone. You can leave your door open. It’ll remind you, you aren’t alone if you live with someone. However, some do have fears of leaving doors and closets open and in those cases, it is helpful to close them. 

Nightmare’s Disorder

If the conflict is far too extreme, reach out to a mental health professional. There is even a certain thing called “Nightmare’s disorder.” Nightmares are usually not looked into all too much due to the fact dreams aren’t real and it isn’t viewed as a actual conflict. However, your mental health and well-being is important and expiriencing as such should be recognized. 

Nightmare’s disorder can be triggered by many factors including stress, anxiety, a recent tramatic/disturbing event, problems at school/work, major changes in life, death or poor health (mentally or physically) of a loved one or commonly witnessing horrific content. 

Just some final words of advice

I hope this is helpful! The website I used to study from is below in MLA formating! Remember, “it is okay to not be okay.” A very good, kind, and amazing friend told me that once and I totally agree. 

You are loved and you are worth it. Keep pushing on!! There are so many out there who care about you deeply, even if it may not seem like it at the time. 

I don’t know where this specific quote came from and I do not take credit for it but “At your absolute best you won’t be good enough for the wrong people. But at your worst, you’ll still be worth it to the right ones. Remember that. Keep holding on.”

It’s gonna be okay and you got this. I wish you luck with your nightmares if you have them and good luck on daily life in general. You are important. Have a great day/night.

MLA formated Citation:

        Olson, Eric J, and Daniel K. “Nightmare Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 6 July 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nightmare-disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353520. 

Feel free to reblog with more tips or ideas and overall share! My next post will be about Insomnia.

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[loungelaughlove]

Tips and Tricks To Get To Sleep With ADHD

Hello Ladies!

Imagine. It’s bedtime. You make sure to be in bed by at least 11:30 PM because this time you’re finally going to sleep at a decent time. With your head on the pillow and your eyes to the ceiling a thought manifests itself at random. Then your brain switches to another and as quickly as it switches to that thought it's on to the next.

Thoughts about what you did and didn’t do, what you need to do next, the neighbor, why your spouse said goodnight like that, and why is the neighbor sneezing so much it’s already been 6 times.. they didn’t even cover their mouth.

You may stay with these thoughts racing whatever they maybe or if you're like me you may hop on your phone and fall down a wormhole of your social media of choice. Before you know it, you hear the faint sound of birds chirping, first one then the whole flock ringing in your ear. Suddenly glowing through your blinds the orange and purple hue of the sky adjusting to the sunrise. It’s morning. A wave of disappointment and guilt washes over your chest heavy like sand its morning.

It's not unusual for those of us with ADHD to struggle with sleeping well due to restlessness and racing thoughts. I know this is the case for me and even more so if I have something I’m worried about.

Though it's not unusual that doesn’t mean we have to suffer. So here I’ll share a few things that have worked for me in the past and recently. Hopefully it’ll help you fall asleep sooner rather than later.

********************************************************************

Get Out Of Bed

Now It sounds counterproductive because obviously we are trying to go to sleep right? "You may have heard of the saying you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it drink", well the same can apply here. You can put your body in bed but you can’t force it sleep and honestly you shouldn’t. When we’re going to bed we want to have a positive specific association. Ideally (according to my therapist) bed should only be used for sleep and sex (if you're active or just active with yourself). If you’re always having a negative experience in bed in attempts to get some sleep your brain will start believing no good will come from being in bed thus making it more difficult to drift to dreamland. It’s like you’ll being believing you’re in for trouble at bed time so why bother. So get out of bed move around, read a boring book, meditate until you begin to feel tired again.

Cluttered Mind? Write Down Your Thoughts!

I learned this trick some time ago and didn’t try again until a recent talk session with my therapist. I was surprised it actually helped. Racing thoughts are common for the ADHD mind and those with anxiety and if you have both sheesh! All your thoughts, ideas, worries, good or bad whatever is going on inside that beautiful noggin of yours write it down! Doesn’t matter how it looks or sounds just get it out, preferably on paper. I suggest paper because it’ll cut down on the screen time if let’s say like me you resort to your phone or you don’t have access to pen and paper. We all know how easy it is for us to verge off from emptying our thoughts to filling them back up by going into that social media worm hole. The lights on our phones are designed to keep us up, awake and alert so it’s best to avoid it at all cost unless you have a blue light setting.

Listen To A Guided Meditation Or Sleep Sounds

From personal experience I find that for nights when sleep is hard to come listening to sleep related guided mediations do the trick. Generally you aren’t suppose to sleep during mediations but I believe this is the exception. Just imagine a soothing voice emerging from the darkness just low enough for you to hear helping you fall asleep by telling you exactly what you have to do to achieve it. It’s kinda like your mom or dad reading you a story and lulling you to sleep. Best feeling ever honestly. Before you know it its morning and you're wondering how you managed to fall asleep. Another great alternative for this is sleep sounds! The kind of sounds you may expect in a relaxing ASMR video. I recommend relax melodies for these alternatives.

Try A More Natural Approach like.. Tea

Natural remedies. Chamomile tea. Sleepy time tea. This is a tip I learned from my grandma as a child. Whenever I’ve felt restless or overtired to the point where I couldn’t sleep I would always be given Chamomile tea with a little dash of sugar and a generous amount of milk. Now chamomile won’t knock you out cold ( I haven’t experienced that, though.. there was that one time I double up on sleepy time tea and fell out.. 10/10 do not recommend because I think it was too much lol..) but it does settle the body in way that gets you ready for sleep. I do want to say that before you drink any herbal teas to help you get some rest please consult with your doctor to make sure it’s okay for you to drink it. I’m not a doctor by any means just a slightly dysfunctional woman trying sleep and hopefully be able to help you sleep too.

Get In Touch With Yourself (Literally)

When all odds fail, get in touch with yourself intimately. Orgasms are proven to be helpful for female form in a plethora of ways. It can help with pain from menstruation, lift your mood (dopamine anybody ?) and even *drumroll please* help you fall asleep. For me this has been a go to for a long time and is most effective for me. It puts me out immediately at least 9.5 out of 10 times. If you have the drive or the energy/desire and the space to perform for yourself have at it.

Sleep Somewhere Else For The Night

Sometimes our sleep issues maybe environment related. Maybe you don’t sleep alone and another party is disrupting your sleep. Maybe you have a partner that farts at night and leaves the room smelling like sulfur (oddly specific I know). Whatever it is it maybe best to place yourself in a different environment. If you have another room, bed, couch or sleeping area where you know you can be comfortable move there for the night. Make it cozy for you. Bring your blankets, pillows, sleep aides whatever.. Make it a sleepover just for you.

If you’re still having issues trying to sleep please make an appointment with your doctor to see if there is a deeper issue going on if the basic tips and tricks just aren't cutting it.

(This has been a specialized content post plus sampler, I hope you enjoyed! Look out for more freebies!)

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[sshibe]

i am too scared to sleep tonight shibe, what should i do until morning?

i’m sorry you’re feeling this way anon. i’ve felt this way a few times myself. it’s very scary to feel like that you’re not safe enough to close your eyes. but i promise that right now, you are very much safe with me. i hope i can get this feeling across to you, even if we’re on opposite sides of the world. 

if you don’t mind, i can share some things i do when i start to feel this way. i will list them all under this read more for you. (keep in mind i am a very auditory/visual person when it comes to calming myself down, so these will mostly pertain to people who are like me)

my instant response to nervous feelings is usually to grab my headphones and open up youtube, and usually settle in to listen to some sounds. the feeling of being safe is strongly connected to the relationship we have with our current surroundings. by listening to sounds that you find relaxing or safe, your brain should recognise them, and start to make you feel calmer. it’s a very strange concept right? but our emotions are very strange things! so it’s only natural that they can be swayed by other strange things.

my favourite things to listen to are long (usually hour long) rain and soft thunder noises, particularly when they sound like they’re happening outside. there’s nothing better to me than sleeping indoors while a huge rainstorm is happening outside! so therefore this is one of my favourite videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpxJJFcWM8s )and there are many more in the related section as well).

i also enjoy ASMR! despite what the internet at large jokes about when it comes to this, it’s a pretty relaxing thing for me, because i am such a visual/auditory person. ASMR does not happen for everyone though, so don’t be downhearted if you look at these below videos and think... “why are they spending so much time setting this up?”, cause it’s not something that everyone experiences. but i really enjoy listening to people drawing, and watching people put tiny stuff together. i’ll list some of my favourite channels:

rrcherrypie (now ‘Nameless’ for reasons)

bonobos25 (same stuff as cherrypie)

madoka kinoshita (drawing/painting sounds)

RelaxingASMR (lots of different things, they also have a shiba dog!)

i also suggest reading a book, a comic, or some fanfiction (if you’re into that), until your eyes start to get tired. if you’re not reading on a phone, make sure you have a decent source of light, otherwise you’ll just end up hurting your eyes! but why this is a good thing, is that it’ll make your eyes tired, but it’ll also wear out your brain, and help wind you down. make sure what you read is nice and lighthearted though, otherwise you might get some interesting dreams...

i don’t suggest playing video games, or watching someone play a video game, or even fast-paced stuff of any kind, since that’ll wake you up! and we want you to feel safe and relaxed. 

sensory wise, while i’m lying in bed, i like to roll my pillow over to the cold side, maybe giving it a few hard pats to soften it up. and then i like to make sure my entire body is covered by a blanket. it makes me feel more secure. like a Huge Strong Burrito holding me in their arms. if it’s not too cold, i also put on a fan, partly for the background noise, but to also keep my body at a good temperature. it’s important to make sure you’re not too hot or not too cold. 

and finally, always remember to breathe. take a deep, smooth breath through your nose that you can feel right up to the tip of your toes, hold it in for 7 seconds, and then let it out slowly through your mouth for 7 seconds (in for 7, out for 7). tightening and relaxing your muscles while you’re breathing is also a good idea. try to tighten specific muscles as you breathe for 7, and then relax them as you breathe out for 7. do this for all over your body, as many times as you need.

i think i’ve spoken enough! i know you came to me asking what you should do until morning, but i think i’ve answered it in a way. you should try and relax your body and mind, and if you fall asleep, then that’s great! right now, wherever you are, i promise you are safe. try and think about what i’ve said, and let that be the only thing on your mind. whatever your mind is telling you, let it fall to the back of your mind, and just let the soft musings of this sheeb take you to a good, relaxing place. 

sweet dreams and sleep well anon