The FastDay Forum

Its 5:15 am in the UK and I have been to sleep yet. I'm thinking of just pulling an all nighter (staying awake the night through) instead of trying to go to sleep now. The problem is that our family sleep patterns are out of whack, having two autistic spectrum sons and a computer obsessed hubby, who don't sleep till 2am most mornings means that if I don't go to sleep now, I won't get any till 2am Saturday morning.

Is it my age (not near the menopause yet), an over-active worrying mind or the fasting? I have heard of people suffering on the nights of a fast, but this is the second night after the fast.

Hi Julie

I feel for you. Not sleeping is a pain. I am the opposite to you. My body clock is all out after we changed the clock and these dark nights. I fall asleep at about 8pm then wake up about 3.30am and unable to get back to sleep again. Frustrating!

Hope you catch up on your sleep very soon.

Lesley

For me it is often the fasting; but can be any other type of stress or anxiety sometimes. Then there is the age, the hormones and the thyroid. Have you ever tried deep breathing or yoga when you can't sleep? The pose that works best for me is legs up the wall while deep breathing. Put a pillow under your spine and even a blanket over yourself this time of year. If you are in bed alone you can lay on the bed and put your legs up the headboard. I have done it if I was up all night, hubbys gone for work, the kids on the bus and I've STILL not been able to sleep.

I have sometimes even fallen asleep that way, so it really works pretty well for me. I started out doing it for only 5 or 10 minutes and eventually worked up to watching a whole TV show or cat-napping there for 45 min to an hour. After a few minutes you can bend your legs and put your feet on the wall. Even do it against the sofa instead of the wall and rest your legs on the sofa while you watch some TV. This is a really good pose for inflammation, arthritis, insomnia and many other ailments. Google it with images and you can see a lot of modifications, too. http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/690

If you are peri-menopausal, that can affect your sleep patterns as can alcohol. Also you should not use a computer for 3 hours before you go to sleep. This really does work for me BTW. Milky drink before bed? Or a drink with a magnesium supplement in it like this one https://www.highernature.co.uk/ShowProd ... oRuto2WTu8
I have also tried Ho Shou Wu. http://www.lionheartherbs.com/herbs-a-z/ho-shou-wu/. This is also a good tonic for stress.

Sympathies Julie and everybody else posting this after 4 hour sleep, and before a busy day accompanying a children's author to a school for the day ...