My cats have imprisoned me and I've done nothing as planned. Oops?

Liese, does white noise help you relax? I've heard some people swear by it.

The pitch blackness thing has never worked for my sleep unless I'm physically exhausted. Having a TV on (even silently) or reading by lamp are much more likely to put me out.

Have folks seen this? From The Onion's AV Club, Crushes on fictional characters

Willow, Fred and Kaylee all make appearances.

The response to this one is easy: Kaylee Frye from Firefly. You can have Inara. Just fine by me. Zoe? Go for it. Both are strong, smart women and certainly worthy of crushdom. But Jewel Staite’s performance renders Kaylee earthy yet innocent, leaving the ship’s mechanic in a place where I could plausibly trick oneself into believing I’d have a shot with her, should all the stars in the ’verse align correctly. She’s someone you could bring home to your parents, and they would have no idea about the things she enjoyed doing in the engine room. Approachable, sensual, and with a heart as open as the galaxy itself, Kaylee stands as the acme of my character crushes.

Those are pretty much the rules for sleep I was given. I ended up cutting out pretty much anything stronger than a green tea, and even then, not after two. My psychologist and specialist differed on toughing it out in bed, though. One said if you can't sleep after an hour, get up, change your context, and try again in half an hour. In that tune, consider things to change your body temperature, including a shower. Doc, on the other hand, said wait it out in bed. I usually move where I'm trying to sleep that night, period. I don't like the shower myself, for purely psychological reasons. I associate them with waking up.

Hospital is dicking me around and then un-dicking, and then redoing. I will leave AMA if that's what it takes to get me to work tomorrow. They're so fucking inconsistent. Ballistic.

Yikes, ita, I can't believe you're still there.

As for sleep hygeine, I often find that listening to podcasts helps me sleep: or at least it gives me soemthing to do while I'm lying there staring at the ceiling.

Yep, people already listed all the sleep hygiene things I follow.

In addition, I suggest a ritual: no, no goats (unless that helps.) Something you do every night to signal your brain it's time for bed.

It'll vary from person to person. I try to segue from work brain to sleepy brain: I write my list of things I gotta get done tomorrow and circle the top 3 gottas, then I try to change locale -- maybe do my nails on the couch while reading a magazine, or wash my face really well and crawl in bed with a magazine. No books, they will keep me up.

One tip on hot baths/showers. You should finish the water experience no more than two hours before bedtime, no less than three. Less than two and the energizing you get may exceed the relaxation. More than three and most of the relaxation wears off.

I've killed the caffeine entirely, and honestly I think that might have been part of the start of the issues. I had bad caffeine withdrawal for about a week while I puzzled over what could possibly be wrong with me. And during that time, got my sleep schedule all wonky.

I'm doing most of that stuff, except the electronics which I will start tonight. But I think the getting up regularly part will be a bigger thing. I think I'm going to do that, at about 4:30 when I haven't slept yet, and then I fall asleep finally, and am asleep through about 10:30-11:30 on afternoon work days. So I think I just have to get up as if it was a morning work day every day, and just be exhausted those couple of days and hopefully get turned back around.

I seriously don't need any more nights of reading Dance Moms recaps on tvgasm.

I think I might try the change the context version, because I just get angrier and angrier lying there. I think I might be fighting two separate problems: one, the general anxiety that gets my head rolling - this is the kind of insomnia that gets me up at 2 in the morning to make hotel reservations...for a trip in November. And two, actual sleep issues, which I think I can solve with some of the methods you guys are talking about.

Both my sleep people thought showers were good near bedtime, because of the effect on your temperature, FWIW. Or even during a wakeup, if you're suffering from those.

Finally got the right meds cocktail. Yeah, almost twelve hours later. Maybe I can sleep? Which reminds me, Liese, both people said no napping.

Podcasts are better for me to fall asleep to than music, but I feel guilty for missing info. But I should put that back in my toolbox.