[focusedone]

I had a year-long stretch averaging 4 hours of sleep daily that was extremely difficult.

Tried all of the regular remedies: diet, exercise, reading, prayer, habit changes. My doctor prescribed a medicine to help me calm down at night. That was the first thing that actually helped.

That kept going until I left a very stressful job and landed in a healthy environment with a different employer. I was able to stop the medicine after a couple of months.

All that to say, there are many methods that work for different people and situations. Don't discount speaking with a doctor or therapist, and don't continue through life with bad sleep. It's a really rough way to go.

If you can identify the thing(s) keeping you up at night, and if they're things in your control, consider making changes. Living without good sleep sucks. Do whatever it takes to get good sleep, even if it means big changes.

[naasking]

I was going to suggest that sleeping pills are a good way to re-establish good sleeping patterns. Set a strict sleep schedule, and then take the pills for a few days to a week in that schedule. Once you manage to sleep on this strict schedule for a few days your body's rhythms typically realign so you get sleepy on that schedule. Don't use the pills for extended periods though.

[bradlys]

tl;dr - no, there are no solutions. If you cannot fix the source of stress then you’re fucked.

I also agree with the sentiment. Anytime my stress levels rise - my sleep goes back to shit. Is there a solution? Nope!

If you cannot fix the source of stress then you need to learn to embrace the madness. Learn to just accept you’re not getting more than 5 hours of sleep a night and you’ll be better off for it - instead of sitting in bed for 8-10 hours everyday and majority of it wishing you were asleep. Embrace the 2am fall asleep crash and the 6am wake up hustle.

Truly is a nightmare to live through but that’s life.