this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
835 points (97.8% liked)
Funny
12942 readers
1416 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Above 40 and get roughly 3-4 hours after being in bed 9. Exercise daily (and have been since age 20), am at a healthy weight, eat (relatively) right. Been seeing specialists and trying a dizzying array of things for 9 years, but I'm pretty sure this is just me now. Sometimes you just get dealt a bad hand.
๐ซ
Sleep issues suck ass, I'm sorry my friend. Sleep maintenance insomnia seems so much more challenging to treat than sleep onset insomnia
Thank you, sorry for you as well. I have no trouble getting to sleep, it's staying asleep that's the issue. Seems to ultimately stump everyone.
What wakes you?
My partner has an issue, where she is tired and falls asleep. But because something is worrying her, she wakes with thoughts ruminanting in her mind. This will go on night after night until she deals with the thing she is worrying about.
If this is happening to you, see what you can do to deal with the worrying situation.
I had severe insomnia (10-15hrs/week) in my teens and early 20's, I couldn't get to sleep, so maybe not applicable. But what finally cracked it for me was rock climbing, I'd go after work and climb until physical exhaustion, climbing is good because it forces you to think about the climb as well as exercise. I'd go home after and have a cool shower and a very light meal. I ate my big meals early in the day.
I am still a short sleeper, I only get 4-6hours (average 5:15) per night.
It's thinking through and planning random things for the most part. It could be a work-related issue, or a random thing I just realized I had an idea about how to do better than I had planned, or a specifically-worded challenging google search I need to do to troubleshoot something.
The thoughts themselves aren't usually high-stress, but my brain starts working on them regardless. Strategies to take my attention off of them might work for a time (counting, imagining a journey, etc), but even if I fall asleep I wake right back up soon enough. I suspect right now the main mental issue is symptoms of burnout, but I have physical eye dryness issues layered on it (all being separately worked on with different specialists - tried all the drops, treatments, strategies...).
I could go on and on, but thanks, exhausting myself during the day is not a bad idea all things considered. At least it may reduce my physical capacity to wake up.
Which time do you exercise? I feel being tired really helps, so exercising in evening might help.
Morning for me, because actually exercise for me compensates for the lack of sleep, "wakes" me up. But thanks, I'll try anything at this point.
If you live in a state where she can see you as a patient and time zones make sense, Meg Danforth at triangle cbt-i is by far the most capable sleep provider I have ever seen and specializes in treating insomnia, and I've seen a ton of sleep providers at this point (I have a circadian rhythm disorder but used to also have sleep onset insomnia). She may also be the best provider I've ever seen, in any speciality. Just looked up her new site (I used to see her through major hospital before she moved to her own private practice doing telehealth) and learned are only 150 cbti practitioners in the US certified by the board of behavioral sleep medicine, and she's one of them. She's also a grade A wonderful human.
Sending love, I hope you find a path to sleep that sucks less
This might be the most thoughtful and kindest reply I've received online. Thank you, I'll definitely look into her.