JMowery1987 do you suffer from anxiety? Do you know what your resting pulse was when you could sleep? I bet it is a lot higher these days. Sounds like a standard anxiety response - preoccupied with your trading, can't sleep. etc. Try getting some serious exercise, don't eat at least for a few hours before sleep, avoid caffeine (pepsi, coffee, etc), actually avoid alcohol, get some multivitamins, especially some Vitamin B, watch your diet (healthy eating - plenty of fruits and veg). If this persists consult your physician. You need to resolve whatever it is that needs resolution in your head. Easier said than done of course. Apart from sleeping tablets (use only in the short term) try to avoid any other medication, unless you are diagnosed with a specific Anxiety disorder (unlikely from what you describe). But you need to get some serious sleep - perhaps a little weekend getaway is what you need - maybe with some cheeky babe - that will surely get your mind of things and make you very tired!!! HTH.
I too have horrendous sleeping habits. I am a natural night owl. Just can't sleep in the early eve. Combine this with being on the west coast and it doesn't make for a nice sleeping schedule. I get by on little sleep during the week but am a zombie by the close on Friday. Then I hibernate all weekend to catch up. Eventually you just adjust to this but it's not good. Few suggestions... cut out the caffeine. Jog or work out to tire your body out and read to tire your mind out. Some have even said to count backwards from 1000 by 7's to fall asleep. As far as bizarre trading dreams go try being chased through a forest by fractions. Yes, I mean fractions such as 1/4 and 3/8's with little arms and legs chasing you. Luckily I only had this dream once. Now I have better things to dream about. good luck, Red
Simple solution: Exercise, Workout You eating too much carbs, too much energy, what do you expect? Dead tired with 3000 calories of pizza you just stuffed in your face? Run around your block 50 times, then come back and tell me if you are still energetic.
Oh I used to suffer from axiety. I used to not be able to sleep at all, just constantly thinking about trading, hoping I'd do well. I'm over that step now because I know I'm consistent to a point and am confident I can do this. My sleeping problems have been longer than when i've been trading. I think it ist he caffeine though. Caffeine does mess me up, plus people say I'm a lot more relaxed without caffeine. Sometimes that stuff is really addicting though. I just had a vault and feel fine. Some days though when I go without caffeine, I'll just go crazy. My sister's husband LIVES on Mountain Dew. I mean, that is all he drinks, breakfast, lunch and dinner. He seems to be worse than I am, but he goes out and works it off all day because he is an electrician. I do work out here at the house lifting some weights. I just need to make some changes. Also, I used to play football in high school, but now don't play, so I've gained a little weight, and I used to play linebacker, and you know us linebackers have to be big, I'm 6'3" and around 256. Not horrible, but not amazing anymore. Just been so focused on trading... haven't really left the house much. Time to sign up for the YMCA again, thought I wouldn't need it because I'd be researching trading again, but I guess I can go hit the gym for 2 to 3 hours, too bad it's so far away from here, but gotta do what ya gotta do.
You need to work out <b>every single day</b> Has nothing to do with your previous buildup. DAys you don't workout you won't be able to sleep. Humans were not meant to be sitting at their computer 8 hours a day, Should be out hunting for ostriches and wooly mammoths. How many ostriches have you killed recently? NONE? Thought so.
Exercise, nutrition as already mentioned. Also try reading fiction books while in bed. In fact your regular reading material should be balanced and varied. I tend to have 5 books that I am in the middle of at any one time. One trading related, one general finance/derivative related, one fiction, one hobby related (woodworking, sport etc) and one general non-fiction (bio, nature, science etc). Variety is key when it comes to intellectual stimulation. Also, you need to have fun. Sport, hobby, friends, people. If it means hitting the town and going on a real bender once a week -then so bit it. When it comes to hobby I suggest woodworking or cooking -both have many surprising parallels with trading/speculation... Also, have you tried volunteering in your community? I volunteer at a local museum and also sit on a non-profit board. As well as "giving back" being its own reward it gives you something else to think about on a daily basis. If your life has balance, everything else (incl. sleep) will fall into place.
Exercise is a big factor imho... the body is meant to be active. The evolutionary process has maximized human fitness for working our muscles and running around on the plains, not sitting behind a desk. If you get enough solid exercise in each day, your body will take over at night and tell your chatterbox mind to put a sock in it. Regarding the chatterbox thing, calming your thoughts takes discipline and practice, like learning to swing a golf club or shoot free throws consistently. It's not something you can just fix in a finger snap, but taming the monkey mind is a skill anyone can progress in over time. Do a google search on Zazen. It sounds like you might also have some anxiety / attachment issues in regard to trading. It's easy to turn the markets into a psychological substitute for something else. If trading is your substitute for happiness / meaning / personal worth etc., you have a larger issue than insomnia. Your sleep, and your trading results, will probably be better served by taking a broader perspective on life. Start by considering tangential quality of life issues that can indirectly benefit your trading, and figure out a way to meaningfully broaden your horizons. Get into golf or snowboarding or martial arts, something with enough of a unique process to distract your mind from thinking about charts all the time, but enough of a mental connection to trading that you can see multi-disciplinary value in the pursuit. Of course, if trading is just an obsessive fantasy phase and your mind is looking for excuses to obsess over it, that's a different problem altogether. For a lot of folks, addiction to trading is like addiction to porn. A lot of peeps think trading is the best thing since sliced bread, keep their interest up with a Tony Robbins high for six months to a year or so, and then suddenly go cold turkey when the infatuation vanishes. If that's you, better to recognize it early, and decide whether you truly and seriously want to pursue trading--in which case pursuit of a balanced life is also required--or whether you are just jacking around. Sadly, the majority of ET'ers fall into the masturbation category. Better to know sooner rather than later. cheers
Try 12+ daily. I'm insane I'm always glued to the screen watching charts. Like I said, I'm into music production / remixing, but that still keeps me at the computer all night long. Plus, loneliness is a problem, my three best friends left for the airforce, nothing to do around here. No one around here respects trading. I really should move to NY. Either that, or I just love trading wayyyyy too much. I think I'd do well to be working at a prop shop in an office. Only bright trading offers it around here though.