Sleep Help for Anyone with Bipolar Disorder

Here are some helpful tips if you are having trouble sleeping.

1. Keep away from upsetting people. Sometimes this is easier than you think.

2. THINK of how something will affect your sleep way before you do it. If I stay at karaoke until midnight I will have trouble sleeping. Period. It's a trade off and it's not always fair! Oh well.

3. Take a sleep aid only when really needed. Benedryl, Vicodin, Klonopin, Ativan, Valium, etc. etc all have their place- but if you have to take one of these every night- you have a problem and need to talk to your doctor. I often write that I'm worried I'm dependent on sleep meds. It's so easy to do things that will affect sleep and then just think- oh, I can just take my sleep meds.

4. Turn off the tv and other media products- iPads, phones, etc. etc. . Meditate. Read or listen to a podcast.  This can really, really calm down the mind. The more light you have at night- the more stimulated you will be. Also, watching Netflix on demand at 11:00 PM is not a good idea!

5. Drink decaf when possible. I got used to the taste and like it a bit better now. A regular coffee has 250mg of caffeine as compared to 5 mg for decaf. That is a huge difference!

Just a few suggestions. They are all common sense- but so hard. I struggle with them constantly, but I won't stop. I want to sleep normally.

Julie

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