lack of sleep

HAIII!!! Greetings! I’m struggling with the same problem lately, for the past week I’ve had sleep-state misperception, sometimes called paradoxical insomnia. It’s when someone feels like they were conscious or awake for much of the night, while their brain and body were actually getting periods of sleep. People can genuinely feel aware of their surroundings, hear noises, and remember being “awake,” even though objective sleep measurements can show that they were sleeping. But I’m sorry you’ve been struggling with sleep. I know how frustrating it can be when you’re exhausted but your brain just refuses to cooperate, especially when OCD is already taking up so much mental energy. A few things that have helped me personally are trying to keep roughly the same bedtime and wake-up time, having a little wind-down routine before bed, keeping the room comfortable and not too bright, and putting my phone away for a while before I actually try to sleep. Sometimes I also find calming music (such as rain sounds, piano, brown noise etc.) really helpful because it gives my brain something gentle to focus on instead of getting caught up in thoughts. And one thing I’ve had to learn is not to turn sleep itself into another thing I have to “check.” If I lie there thinking “Am I asleep yet? How many hours do I have left? Why am I not sleeping?” it just makes me more stressed. Sometimes letting the night be imperfect takes away some of that pressure. Another thing I suggest is to keep your room cool, like you don’t have to turn the AC on because you might accidentally fall asleep with it but you can open the window to get fresh night air. And sleep with less clothing to not sweat, especially in this heat. And another think that helped is to stay hydrated and drink cold water or ice water before going to bed. ANDDD most important is definitely hot showers, a 5 minute hot shower before getting into bed can make you fall asleep faster! I hope you get some good, genuinely restful sleep soon. ❤️ And if the lack of sleep has been going on for a while or is really affecting your day-to-day life, it might be worth mentioning it to a doctor or therapist too. You deserve support with that, especially while dealing with OCD on top of it. 🫂

My sleep got so bad I had to start taking trazadone everynight. I think it helped me start to get my sleeping back on schedule

As someone who has a crazy sleep schedule, I always make sure that whenever I do want to go to sleep I don't put on anything that will wake me up and get me energetic. :^) So I'd avoid putting loud music or any form of media, videos that'll get me excited or overly interested. Also I'm not really allowed to just take any medicine so my alternative is tea ! I drink Chamomile tea or any sort of relaxing hot tea before bed helps me a lot. + relaxing music in the background is helpful and I always make sure to cover up my bed with blankets, stuffed animals, a night light, and give it an overall peaceful environment. Another tip is to use the restroom, shower, eat, take your meds, etc before bed. As well as get ready and prepare your outfit, materials, and other things that might be needed for the next day. It gives less chances for you to abruptly wake up in the middle of night because you forgot to do something or you suddenly have the urge to go and other things like so. I hope your sleep improves soon..! <3