My gifted 12 year old son has had trouble sleeping recently. He's off any electronics by 8:00 and has a bed time of 9:30.

Sometimes it's 90 minutes before he falls asleep. I ask him why he can't go to sleep and he says he doesn't know...he just starts thinking about a lot of different things.

Any advice on helping him get to sleep faster?

Thanks for any help!

BBB

90 minutes isn't that long. I got melotonin for my son when he was 7 and taking 3 or 4 hours. You could try making devices off at 7 and bed at 8.30 with a book. What time does he get up?

I had very bad insomnia at around that age. Sometimes I couldn't fall asleep until dawn.

At least for me it didn't have an easy fix, but some things helped.

Part of the reason why I couldn't sleep was that I stressed a lot about not sleeping, and that prevented me from relaxing. Then my grandfather, who was a doctor and had insomnia too, told me not to worry about sleeping. He said that as long as I stayed in bed I would be resting, even if I couldn't sleep.

After that, I spent the night reading, and I came to cherish those sleepless nights. At that point, I began sleeping again.

So, I would recommend trying not to stress about it and giving it time.

Also, a very boring book makes wonders. I discovered this after attempting to read the two-volume biograpy of a writer aged 12. Every time I took it, I would fall asleep in less than 15 minutes.

You are not alone, advice on sleep has been sought several times over the years.
This situation is in the rear-view mirror for my family...
Have you scoured the forum for old threads on this topic?
Some of the old tips and advice may be helpful... and may also invite additional responses.
Here is a brief roundup, of just a few old threads:
- Sleep! A favorite topic! (Jan 2008)
- Sleep Aid Recommendations? (Feb 2014)
- Sleep issues - need help (June 2014)
- Caught reading past bedtime (Aug 2014)
- Introduction (Feb 2015)

This was a huge problem last year for my GS who was 12. He's now 13, and is sleeping better. He even brought it up at school during his advisory period last fall and the other kids suggested all kinds of things, including Melatonin.

We made sure he got enough exercise and also tried to keep his bedtime consistent, even on weekends. We also let him read in bed. Boring books, as Isabel said above, are the best kind.

It has improved greatly since last year at this time.

For our DS, I think it might have been partly hormonal. He's on the early side for puberty.

He was never a great sleeper, even as a baby. Some people just don't need as much sleep. Is your DS struggling during the day? If not, it may not be a problem for him, other than the tediousness, tediosity (?) of being in bed but not able to sleep.