Insomnia. What seems to help?

Hello @gloriajean and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect

Thank you for adding to our discussion about insomnia, a rather troubling disorder. From what you posted it appears that you are able to get to sleep but you are not able to maintain sleep. Is that correct?

Here is a link to some information from Mayo Clinic's website regarding staying asleep, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/expert-answers/insomnia/faq-20057824

You mentioned having brain surgery a year ago. Did you have this same type of sleep problem before the brain surgery?

hello to all you sleepless ones - including me! I'm new to the group but my problem is not being tired enough to fall asleep. Bight and alert at 2 a.m. I've always not needed 8 hrs of sleep - 5/6 hrs. was always enough. But now it's about 3 hrs. I can't go to bed and turn my mind off! Reading in bed doesn't work and trying mindfulness.is a no go. I'm 71 yr old and OK other than I had brain surgery last August for successful removal of benign tumor - yeah! I'm retired and have lots of interests - maybe too many 'cause can't stop my mind from thinking!

hello to all you sleepless ones - including me! I'm new to the group but my problem is not being tired enough to fall asleep. Bight and alert at 2 a.m. I've always not needed 8 hrs of sleep - 5/6 hrs. was always enough. But now it's about 3 hrs. I can't go to bed and turn my mind off! Reading in bed doesn't work and trying mindfulness.is a no go. I'm 71 yr old and OK other than I had brain surgery last August for successful removal of benign tumor - yeah! I'm retired and have lots of interests - maybe too many 'cause can't stop my mind from thinking!

@gloriajean I had similar problems, my mind was always racing and prevented me from being able to sleep. Somehow that has gotten a lot better but now when I wake up (for a bathroom call), if it's around 4:00 A.M. or later I can't get back to sleep for generally a couple of hours. Of course no sooner do I fall asleep but it's time to get up! This leaves me exhausted too frequently. I try to go to water aerobics class that begin at 9:00 but many mornings I am dizzy and really out of it from lack of sleep so I have to go back to bed for a while and get another hour or so of sleep. It's so frustrating.
JK

maryshipley I use to but forgot about it so thanks for the reminder I also have music on my kindle that is good.

I do a meditation that teaches how to calm the mind. I do this 30 minutes before bedtime. Last night I was able to back to sleep. This meditation was on the calm app. There are many of them. Anything thing calming the mind, anxiety ect...