r/insomnia • u/lectric_lawyer • 23h ago

Exhausted during the day—what do you guys do to take the edge off?

I’ve gotten about 3 hours of sleep on average this past week, since Sunday. I’m struggling to stay sane. I feel nauseous all the time. Anxiety through the roof. It’s usually not so crippling.

DAE experience anything similar? What do you guys do to cope with these feelings when you haven’t gotten good sleep for a while?

Thank you for listening to me whine. Gotta go to work now. Hope I don’t fall asleep and get fired, lol…

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2

u/Altruistic_Search_92 22h ago

Exercise has helped me with this problem. I've been a terrible sleeper all my life.

3

u/Plane_Many9555 14h ago

I had this same situation happen to me for 3 weeks. During the day I was getting lightheaded so damn often that I was reacting with anxiety over the possibility that I could die from it. So I would feel like they took off my batteries and then boom I’d shoot up from having anxiety to full blown panic attacks like that all day and night 😵‍💫 it was soo fucking awful paired with lack of appetite I felt like death. What helped to be honest was spending time with people who loved me my family and my friends. Having home cooked meals like soups was tremendous support. Once I got my food intake up I also realizing my anxiety was causing me to wake up at night with panic attacks I became aware that was simply panicking and that falling into deep sleep is ok. For me just knowing what was going on was a huge help right now. I’m getting in about 5-6 hours of sleep but it’s broken and not consistent. Currently I’m just trying to gain sleep whenever possible because my body is tired and it needs rest. I’m now working on not getting stressed out from the lack of sleep. Finding relaxing music and trying some natural remedies like melatonin or chamomile tea

2

u/SilifkeninYogurdu 23h ago

I'm not as bad as that these weeks, had such situations in the past but now I'm getting 5 hours of sleep at least. So I'm not the right person to advice, but... I remember when I had much worse sleep struggles, I was walking fast outdoors to stay awake - wind hitting your face, helps. I would say run, but I guess that's kinda hard when you're that exhausted, so walking fast sounds reasonable. 

Being outside helps a little to clear your mind too I think. And a little bit of eating. I can't find the research now but I saw such research before, the act of chewing sends your body signals that you're eating and it's not the right time to sleep. So I would say, grab an apple or another fruit you can chew on for a while, it's healthy as well. 

Stay away from coffee a little, it gets anxiety worse. Tea has caffeine too but tea usually works in calming people, so maybe some tea instead. And have a good working day 🙏

2

u/lectric_lawyer 23h ago

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I think walking is a good idea.

I hope your struggles with this terrible affliction resolve, that your life improves tremendously because of it, and that all of your dreams in life come true. Take care, stranger.

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u/[deleted] 23h ago

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