Question
I am a 17 year old female who up until a few months ago used to sleep well.
Then suddenly out of the blue, I began goingto bed later and later. The other
night I went to bed at 2 in he morning. When 9 roles around I can't wait to go
to bed but by the time I'm done taking off my makeup and brushing my teeth,
I can't go to bed. I have to find all these little things to do before I can even
consider goingto bed. I close my closet doors, i'll flip through a calendar
plotting events yet to come, I'll try out a new hairdo, plan my next days outfit,
paint my nails, anything that comes to mind really. And then when I do
actually get into bed, it takes me a long time to fall asleep. Thoughts bounce
around like crazy and it gets loud in there (I seems loud to me because often
when I wake up it is quiet compared to when I was sleeping), I will also have
muscle spasms in my legs that can make me kick or squirm. Sometimes it's
my arms or my wrists that twitch too. Write now I'm in bed as I'm writting this.
I have to get up at 5:30 and yet here it's 11:40 pm and I still haven't fallen
asleep. Please help me!!!
Answer
2 sleeping disorders come to mind one is your basic insomnia which all of us get one or even a few times in our lives, if you follow the steps below it should help. The next is a disorder very new but it involves the leg twitches and the arms which is restleg syndrome. For this you need to see a sleep specialist and possible need some medication. One is called requip to calm down the muscles, now restless leg syndrome is mainly if the twitching goes on and on if you just have twitching in arms or legs when you are just falling off to sleep this is normal. If you have the twitching that wakes you up constantly thru the night then you definitely need to see a neurologist. Im guessing that though your problem may be just the insomnia though understand im not an md. Try the tips below to for insomnia. Now if you are twitching thru the night it could be sleep seizures which I dont think that is what you are describing. but for now I would try to help the insomnia and see if the twitching stops. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders information then click on restless leg syndrome and insomnia, the tips are below , keep me posted, happy new year karel
You must reset your sleep clock. Do the following religiously for
4-6 weeks though many have seen changes in as little as 2 weeks.
You must go to bed and awaken the same time every day regardless
of how much or little sleep you got the night before. This starts to
reset your sleep clock. 3 hours before bedtime stay away from
tea, coffee, caffeine, caramel colored soda like, coke,pepsi, ginger ale,
or root beer, chocolate and exercise .All these make for restless sleep.
Make sure room is quiet and dark. When you go to bed if you start to
twist and turn or if you wake up in the middle of the night and cant
go back to sleep, twist and turn for only 20 minutes, then get up, go
into a different room and read a book or magazine only! No computer!
When you start to doze immediately go back into the bedroom.Do this as
many times as you awaken during the night.It will lesson.This retrains
the brain into thinking that the bedroom is for restful sleep only.
30 minutes before bedtime take a hot bath and immerse hands under the
water.Latest research states that the palms of the hand when immersed
in hot water send signals to the brain to relax. 15 minutes before bedtime\
drink a glass of warm milk. Milk when heated contains tryptophan, a
natural amino acid sleep inducer. Go to sleepnet.com click on disorders
insomnia for more tips. Feel free to email again , Karel
