One bad night’s sleep may increase levels of Alzheimer’s protein

Sleepiness is the feeling you experience right before you actually fall asleep; the overwhelming relaxation that drags you into the unconscious. Tiredness is being too exhausted to feel or express emotion. You're awake, but mentally absent, and incapable of completing any productive task. It's one of the most frustrating feelings in the world to be unable to do something as simple as sleep. I'm extremely jealous of the people, like my roommate in college, who can seemingly will themselves into sleep within 5 minutes of laying their head down.

My insomnia was especially difficult to deal with while I was in school because it made me prone to stupid mistakes on exams. I would often misread or glaze over important details, especially on any trick or multiple choice questions, and in more than one class those little mistakes cost me grade points. It also often didn't matter how much I would study as my memory retention was horrible. Anyone who's read a book whilst tired can attest how difficult it is to not only process the words on the page, but to remember them for later.

My chronic insomnia is "primary" meaning it persists in the absence of other factors. I'm not depressed. I get enough sun exposure. I take my supplements. I have a comfy mattress. I practice good sleep hygiene. I use blue light filters and don't use my phone/computer before bed. I exercise every day. I eat well and not before bed. I don't have breathing issues. Nothing helps. It's just the hand I was dealt genetically.

Furthermore, exercising to the point of exhaustion is reckless and I've injured myself over the years doing exactly that because I don't get enough sleep for my body to recover properly.

I can run and stay aerobically fit and I played high level soccer for many years when I was younger without too much issue, but activities like weightlifting are a struggle for me. Benchlifting when you're sleep deprived is pointless so I have to fill in on my off days.

That all helps control it most of the time. But it doesn't help on those really stressed out nights when I can't seem to break the thought loop long enough to get into a meditative state.

I've tried the writing trick, but for me, my thoughts run way faster than my pen can. I often find myself coming to after half an hour of staring at a single paragraph and realizing that I've just been looping the whole time with out writing anything.

I'm hoping I'll eventually get good enough at meditating that I'll be able to break those loops, but in the mean time I tend to just try to keep stress low enough that I don't get caught in them in the first place. Life just doesn't always play along.

What's the secret to this amazing life?