Why is Insomnia cool?

[Hawez]

This is something I will never understand. Everyone claims to have Insomnia. If you have one bad night of sleeping, or even a few days. Its NOT insomnia.

Maybe its just the people that are around me but somehow I doubt it. Its like everyone saw Fight Club and suddenly they wanted to be Insomniacs too. What the fuck is cool about not being able to sleep???

I know it sounds a little weird for me to say, no one else has it and I do. Buts that's what I feel like. Of course other people have tones of trouble sleeping, millions in fact. However when some fucker tells me they haven't slept in three days and there nothing but chipper, look great, and are full of energy it makes me want to scream WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU LYING ABOUT SLEEP???????

The last few weeks for me have really been terrible. I can sleep, but I constantly wake up. Not because of dreams or anything, my body for some reason is just saying get up. Sometimes I'm so tired I feel like I could pass out standing up. But as soon as I lay down, I just lay there feeling like shit. Not sleeping.

Ive never had sleep problems last this long before. Its really starting to take its toll on me. I look like a freaking crack addict, my eyes are always blood shot. Fuck me.

[Thetis ♦]

I don't think of insomnia as 'cool,' but I am most certainly am not 'everyone' either. In any case, what other people think of it isn't going to do much for you. But I have had sleeping problems in the past, and I could offer some suggestions on trying to cope with it.

If you've recently experienced some changes like medicinal, hormonal, or emotional events in your life, that could be why you're suddenly waking up at night. I had a friend in the past that was like that due to medicine was on--he had to change around medications to prevent it from happening again.

I've had many sleepless nights, like the time I had a big event the next day, and I was too nervous to sleep. Do things that tire you out, like exercise, long warm showers to relax yourself, sex--try to avoid ingesting or eating stimulants like coffee, tea, or chocolate. If you're drinking a lot of liquids, that could be causing you to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

If the problem doesn't resolve itself, I suggest seeing a doctor to perhaps get further advice where to go from here. Or last resort, sleeping pills. Very last resort. Those things are habit-forming. >.<

[Legna]

Insomnia is a type of illness, if I'm not mistaken....It is never cool. I only have a sleepless night once in a while, but it is neither something pleasant nor to be bragged about. Those people you mentioned who claimed to have insomnia definitely NOT really having it. They just have some minor body clock messed up or some excitement or other crap like that, but not the real insomnia.

You might need to see a doctor in case it might be due to other health reason.

[dragontail]

i couldn't sleep well for a week until yesterday( i woke up after 2 hourse of sleeping),...but that was because i was in stress and overworked my body...
insomnia is not "Cool" at all...my uncle has it and he is in much pain because of it...the only thing that can get him to sleep are sleeping pills ....and they have a side effect if used too much...

So whoever thinks that it is cool,.....you don't know anything about illness or insomnia... because you don't know how people feel who really have sicknesses..

[shadowfox]

I totally agree that if someone claims to have insomnia but is happy and has energy to spare, there're lying! I know no amount of coffee can do that to a person. I had a friend who did have insomnia and bad. Sometimes he couldn't go to class and when he did he ended up going back to bed to try to get some sleep.
i would be careful of using sleeping pills, they do have the side effect of being addicting. Hope you get better dude!

[Rokiro]

It's one of those subconscious cries for attention people make all too often, though I won't say that's in every case. Some people are just genuinely naïve about what insomnia really means, and they think that a few nights without sleep means they suffer from it.

It's a widespread claim. That sort of thing is irritating, yes, but there's not really all that much you can do about it.

[Casey ♦]

You may be stressed out or may not be doing enough. When i didn't have a job, I couldn't sleep very well. Try to do something reguarily and try taking some Melatonin Plus. It helps you form good sleeping patterns. It helped me out and they aren't habit-forming so try going to GNC and doing that.

[SirWaWa]

not unless u want to stay up it's not cool
develop a routine and stick to it

[burin077]

Insomnia cool? I beg to differ, I have had it since I started college and I absolutely hate it. (This is going on 6 years now, I finished college and have a full-time job.)

I have a routine set up for when I go to bed, I hit the lights to sleep at 10:30 PM and wake up at 5:45 AM to get ready for work. The bad part, between those sleep times, I wake up at least 3 separate times, which cuts into the quality of sleep that I get.

It's even worse when I wake up JUST BEFORE my alarm goes off, because then even when I want to go back to sleep, I'll end up getting knocked awake by it like 2 minutes later.

I may get energy during the day, but that's because of my coffee addiction, and that only helps me get through work.

I find insomnia even more painful when you're sick, because it severely cuts into your attempts to recover. You need sleep to recover quicker, and when you're waking up every other hour, you don't get the rest your body needs and then you're sick for longer periods of time.

But I ramble at this point...

I believe the only reason people even find insomnia "cool" is because they themselves aren't actually insomniacs, but in fact have different sleep schedules than they're used to, and just blame it on insomnia for some reason. So they may have pulled an all-nighter at one time and completely screwed it up, now they attempt to pass it off as a "cool" reason to have insomnia, and be able to stay up at times when others are going to bed.

It doesn't really make people any different than others, I have a few friends that work 3rd shift at their jobs, working from 5:00 PM to 3:00 AM. We joke about them being nightcrawlers a lot.

Forget people's view on insomnia, to some they may like to pass it off as some sort of blessing, but it's a double-edged sword at best. Sure you can have a different sleep schedule than others, but it doesn't make you any more different than anyone else. In fact, I pity those that attempt to say that insomnia is awesome, because they're going to hate it when they realize it's going to clash with their lifestyles later.

- Burin

PS - I have been seeing my doctor about my insomnia as well, he believes in my case it may be due to a restriction in my breathing pattern when sleeping.

[fireball]

It could be stress related or lack of motivation, like Casey said, but what you could do is try to do some exercise before you go a bed or if not do something you enjoy doing for awhile, something that motivates you or something.

If something is troubling you try not to think of those things and just keep yourself occupied to take your mind of it.

If it keeps up then talk to a doctor about it, they might be able to offer some advice.

[Kira]

I sometimes wake up at night and I'm tired throughout the day, but I wouldn't call it insomnia.
And who the hell said that it's cool?

If someone can't sleep and already feels the after-effect from not being able, then he/she should see a doctor. It could be that something's wrong with his/her health, physically or mentally.
But maybe it's just a phase and it's going to be better soon...

[burin077]

UPDATE: Apparently my doctor has said I may have a mild case of sleep apnea. It is a disorder that has the afflicted slightly stop breathing during sleep cycles. At the moment I have been told to adjust my pillow to keep my head tilted up so that I keep my breathing regulated, and if things do not improve, I may need to visit a sleep study office for further treatment.

Apparently sleep apnea can cause a type of insomnia due to breathing restrictions...fun.

Not.

- Burin

[dragon_orb]

ok i know this is an old thread, but i like to say i have an insomnia and it is not cool, trust me..
do you know the feeling of wanting to sleep but you can't? and all the the passing hours that you should be sleeping you keep thinking of unnecessary things? it is fucking annoying! HELL! im typing this now at 2:40 in the morning and i sti;; couldn' sleep so fuck it!

[Rei]

I second Casey's suggestion of Melatonin and Kira's suggestion of seeing a doctor. Also, not consuming stimulants is sound advice. The good thing about Melatonin is that it doesn't become habit-forming because your body/brain doesn't realize it's a foreign substance, so you don't build a tolerance/resistance to it. I don't use it any more, but it did help when I quit Ambien. That's a long story with only one point to it: in no way was that addiction as bad as Lyme Disease.

Anyway, Sleep Apnea is pretty common. As soon as I saw you describing it, burin, I figured it was Sleep Apnea. I know a number of people with it. This is why seeing a doctor is such good advice.

Anyway, I can perhaps shed some light 'to the origin of people incorrectly thinking they have insomnia: the sleep med commercials. They suggest people who (IIRC) "are up 20 minutes later than intended 2 times a week" are insomniacs that need to immediately start taking heavy-duty sleep meds, which is total bullshit. "20 minutes later than intended 2 times a week" is normal - that's not insomnia by any means, and it certainly doesn't warrant taking the strongest stuff available. They're obviously aiming for the Ferrer Effect, and its consequence will show through when/if people-actually-in-need go ignored because the reply to "I need help; I'm an insomniac" becomes "don't sweat it, Bro; being up 20 minutes later than intended 2 times a week won't harm you any."

[Thetis ♦]

Whoo, serious sleep problems. I've just been getting really tired at night with aches and pains. And for a while, the fatigue was making me sleep easier. But then the pain got worse. It got so bad that I can't seem to fall asleep for a while, and now in the mornings, I am woken up by pain. I also wake up several times a night and struggle to get back to sleep. I ended up taking a sleep aid the other night because it just got really bad. I am exhausted at night, but because my stomach hurts enough, I end up tossing and turning for a few hours.

Sigh.