dh has insomnia! HELP ME.

[Strong Mama]

Dh cant sleep. At all. Its been like this for WEEKS. No health issues going on at the moment, lots of stress and worry though. I think he is depressed, but he says no. He finally falls asleep at 5am. I am SO SO tired.(no extra places to sleep for me, etc) Please help me help him. We ve tried sleeping pills, he hates them, they make him have nightmares.

[Gitti]

He should try a hot glass of milk just before going to bed. Really hot, as hot as he can stand to drink it. And then he must meditate.

[U2can]

Valerian Root helps me; took about a week taking 1 every night, now I sleep very nicely. This was after 5+ years of battling insomnia. I also try to remember to take magnesium & 5 -htp (really helps with decreasing migraines for me).

[xenabyte]

Without going into more detail about the cause here are some general
Stress relievers, that might help, depending on the source of his insomnia:

Warm/hot bath with calming essential oils or epsom salts to detox
Light exercise early in the day
Take a Walk around the neighborhood/trail, near a body of water (neg. ions)
Talk to you about the reason for the stress and get a plan of action to help solve the cause(s)
Beer and sex works for some guys
Get a therapeutic spa type massage

Have him take a personal day off if he can from work, and do something he enjoys. If he's not working and that is causing the stress, maybe he needs help looking up 'help wanted' ads, or putting out resumes, etc?

If he's having nightmares about the stress causing issue, maybe he needs to talk with someone other than you (a buddy, sibling, professional, etc) to get some fresh prospective on it??

Guys are tough, they usually bottle up their emotions and it's hard for them to take the down time they might need to resolve the problem or de-stress enough to be able to sleep good again.

and good luck!

[embers]

My husband has insomnia, too.

Here is what helps him.

Limit or eliminate TV viewing. Movies, video games, etc earlier in the day (before dark).

Exercise. Taking an evening walk... some DDR... a bike ride, etc

And then plenty of wind-down time -

His includes:

Stopping activity at least an hour before he intends on going to bed.

Sex if I am available and interested in it. Though he does not talk about it really, I am sure that masturbation is a stand-in sometimes if I am not.

A HOT bath made with valarian root in the water, rosemary, sea salt, and epsom salt. He reads or just relaxes. Candles and lights off.

Taking valarian (caps or in tea) - chamomile tea is good, too. I second the hot milk idea, as well.


Giving himself time where he CAN stay up all night if he likes (a weekend day with no early activities the next day, etc) to honor his biorhythms and time to himself.

(My husband read and approved this message prior to posting! )

[newcastlemama]

The supplements GABA (500mg) and Melatonin can be used to help relax. Try GABA 500mg and 3mg Melatonin (up to 9 mg) to get to sleep. GABA can also be taken during the daytime to relax but make sure he knows how his body will react. You don't want to take one before you drive for example if they make you too relaxed. They should have this at a health food store or online at www.vitacost.com

Jen

[Strong Mama]

Thanks for all the replies. I am going to show this thread to dh in a bit. He is actually unemployed right now, so I know that is a big worry for him. I let him stay up whatever, he usually watches TV tho..ive told him that is making it worse, but he wont read!: Anyway, I am going to try these other suggestions, and let you know, thanks mamas!

[embers]

Comic books? My husband reads them in the bath... Dilbert, Far Side, Japanese Manga, whatever....

[mammom]

I, too, recommend the valerian root and the magnesium. I had insomnia for about a year, then off and on for another year a while back and valerian really helped me. I was getting the cheap kind you can get at a place like CVS or Walgreens and it worked okay. I just saw it at the healthfood store the other day and it was a lot more expensive - I am assuming better quality, but who knows...

The magnesium thing is important too - I have had trouble sleeping on and off the past few months and when I upped my magnesium intake, I noticed a HUGE difference. Bet then it sort of wore off and now I'm sort of back to where I was before I started taking it. I don't take it every day, and maybe I should to help with the rough nights. (That's another reason I was looking at the valerian root at the HFS the other day...)

Also, having been there, everything everyone else said helps too!

Good luck to you both!

Melissa

[mags]

Has he tried the hylands calms forte? I have insomnia quite often and I have used the hylands once and it seemed to help. It might sound corny, but if he is stressed, have him keep a little journal... write down all of his worries in it and close the book. It might help him, "set aside" some of his stress enough for him to relax and get a little bit of sleep.

[mavery]

Back in the old days, before I knew much about more natural alternatives, I used to take antihistamine tablets for insomnia. Much milder than sleeping pills and less of a hangover, but they worked for me. (I used some generic "4-hour" antihistamine from walgreens).

The other advice is much healthier, but I wanted to add this just in case....

[doublemom]

I also hate sleeping pills. I think they are the last resort when other remedies have failed.

When I have problems with night sleep, the following two tips work for me:
I'm going to bed when I'm really tired.
I'm trying not to be rigid about how much I sleep.

More tips for insomnia I found on http://www.healthassist.net/conditions/insomnia.shtml

There are also some herbs than can help to relax and soothe: chamomilla, passion flower, Kava Kava. Vitamin B-complex is also good for stress, nervousness and overall health.

[fibre_artist]

Along with the tv and computer, lights that are over 40Watts can trick your brain into shifting circadian rhythms. So the more he lights up his eyeballs at 3am, the more his brain thinks it's daytime, and keeps him awake. DH gets switched around all the time... He has a light box to tell his brain it's morning to try and reset it again (also helps with SAD and just low seratonin levels because the light levels are bad this time of year).

I've had good experiences with meletonin, but I'm not sure it helps me get to sleep, as much as I sleep sounder when I get there.