Another sleepless night (not in Seattle)

It's beginning to sound like a case of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the Nrothern territories will do that to you. In Scandenavia I have seen special Sun Cafe's, it's like a web cafe, but where you go to bask in artificially produced sun light - this isn't a tanning salon, it's proper light.

They also have a scheme to use giant reflectors to cast sunlight onto a town, I forget the name of it, because the terrain and low sun mean the town is in constant shadow. It's interesting how people are affected (afflicted?) by such conditions.

For me, the crucial thing when trying to get to sleep is:

Don't think forward, force yourself to think back if you cannot clear your mind. Usually go further back than the previous day, otherwise you get hung up on recent events. Event analysis is what you do during sleep anyway, where as thinking forward activates the imagination centres.

If you can't get off, get up. Do a few hundred star jumps, run on the spot, do something energetic. Plonking yourself infront of the PC/TV is just going from one restless monotony to another, and will do nothing for the anxiety.

Do some stretches or exercises immediately before you get into bed. I've always found it easier to get to sleep if I get into bed huffing and puffing. It seems to centre the mind, and provides focus.

If you know you're going to get into bed with something on your mind, don't let yourself get into bed and try and clear your mind. I always find that in doing so the subconcious always sparks off a reminder and then you're stuck. Force yourself to think about anything else.

Never clock watch - EVER. If you have to get up and stomp around, avoid looking at the clock. If you have LED clocks or anything that can be seen in the dark, remove it. In seeing the time you become anxious, and crave getting to sleep. Avoid this at all costs, you just get your blood pressure up and worry / try too hard to fall asleep.
If you take a "kay sarar sarar" attitude, if it happens, it'll happen sooner.

Interestingly, cmonex's method doesn't work for me, never has. Meditative thought always prompts my subconcious into drawing things that it wants analysing, immediately sparking me to come too again.

oh so this is considered meditative activity? i didn't know... i never do so called meditative things intentionally..

hmm maybe you're not doing it the right way then, but obviously i'm not an expert

Yes, I agree with the SAD diagnosis. I *was* an avid outdoor winter nut when I was healthy. Snowmobiling, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, skating, curling, I took to them all from an early age.

Winter was never long enough for me when I had all those things to do. I was outside every chance I had, even at -40c.

Now, well, being so limited all the physical stuff is out. I'm not one to wander around in a mall or stores. Even if I was that would get old (and expensive) really quick.

I already feel better with the increased daylight we're getting. Once we start daylight savings time I know most of this will be behind me for a few months.

Lol, then I'll be complaining I'm too stupid to get sleep even when I can because I want to be outdoors all the time.

I've already covered up the LED clocks as I know watching them is a terrible thing to do. They just create more anxiety about not falling asleep.

I need to train my male cat *not* to run into the room in the middle of the night screaming his foolish head off. He's one of those weirdos that insists I come downstairs in the early hours, so I can watch him eat. My female cats don't indulge in any such nonsense. When I go to bed they leave me alone or curl up with me.

Strange thing is there's no racing of my mind. I don't analyize the past day or think much about the coming day. I'm pretty well OK with "kay sara" for the majority of things.

I do *know* my eating habits need improvement. I don't eat any junk food (chips, twinkies) but I eat better and a bigger variety in the summer months. The summer and better eating go hand in hand. It's no big deal to hit the store or a restaurant on a sunny warm day. It's more headache than enjoyment to venture out at -40c to get a carton of milk.

I will say last night went OK. I nodded off about 7pm my time and woke up at 4am my time feeling pretty good. I don't recall if I was up during that period. Lol, I probably posted here and don't remember it.

If I can hang on till about 10pm my time I'll be ready for a good sleep.