Do you Have Trouble Sleeping?

[kyounge1956]

Exercise. I knew someone would say that. I HATE AND DETEST the very idea of exercise, running and running and going nowhere , like a hamster in a wheel! There has been a gym right across the street from my house since a few months after I moved here in 1997. I've never yet darkened their doorstep and I never, ever, will! I don't mind (in fact I rather enjoy) walking to get from here to there, but I absolutely refuse to walk (or worse yet run) from here to here, or put on a leotard and prance in the window for all to see! Aaaarrrggg!

I am not sure I understand.... maybe you should make it a bit more clear how you feel....

Oh dear, no. If I were to express my deepest feelings on the matter, I fear I might forget myself and say something unladylike.

 

[Rambler]

Sometimes, such as on a Sunday evening, no amount of exercise or abstinence from caffeine will help...for those days, Ambien provides relief. I'm just getting back from vacation, and I can tell you, I won't need the Ambien after ER, but if I expect to be at work tomorrow, I will need one tonight...

 

[kaudrey]

I am prone to sporadic insomnia, and here is what I would try (caveat: I exercise almost every day, but I won't suggest that):

1) Meditation
2) Keep a pen and paper beside the bed - make lists; "to do" lists running through my head keep me up; if I write it, I can forget it
3) Bath before bed with soft music
4) Skip TV or reading right before bed
5) Herb Tea
6) Stretching before bed/light yoga - 5/10 minutes
7) Exedrin PM

Another thought - last month we bought a new mattress. The old one was about 10 years old. We are both actually sleeping quite a bit better just from that change.

Good luck!

 

[KM]

Well, here it is [-]quarter to[/-] three in the morning and I'm still wide awake. This is the second time this month I've been unable to go to sleep until the small hours. I've always had insomnia a few times each year, but I just checked my email for messages to my boss saying I would be late because I couldn't go to sleep, and there were six already this year, though it's only July. That's as many as in all of 2009, and there were more last year than in 2008 and as many as 2006 and 2007 combined. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to it, and I haven't changed any habits to speak of. I get very little exercise, but I never did in the past either. Likewise I drank black tea before going to bed, but I do the same pretty much every night, and usually don't have any problem sleeping. It could be menopause-related, but what am I supposed to do about it if it is?

I wonder too if I am making it worse. I am such a night owl! I hate having to go to bed before I'm really sleepy, so Friday night is my night to stay up as late as I want to (which is often until four or five AM Saturday), and then I sleep as late as I want to. I wonder if this is throwing my internal clock off even more than it's thrown off by having to go to bed before I'm sleepy the other nights. I have always griped about being a night owl in a morning lark's world, and always been told "you'll get used to it", but I never have and I seem to be getting even more night-owlish the older I get. Well, now I am rambling. Time to go back to bed, turn off the alarm clock, and try to go to sleep.

Menopause will certainly contribute, but imo I highlighted your problem above. I do think some people have more sensitive internal clocks than others - but I suspect every weekend you are throwing off your internal clock by staying up extremely late and then sleeping in really late the next day. By Monday, your body does not want to go to bed at a decent hour or wake up before the day is half over.

I used to get myself in this cycle when I was on vacation. By the 4th or 5th day/night - I found I would be up all night, because I was sleeping in later every day. I finally started forcing myself to get up in the morning by a certain time - regardless of when I went to bed. At a bare minimum, you should make yourself get up Sat and Sun by 7, 8, 9am? No matter how late you stay up. And no naps during the day. It will help limit you late you stay up the next night.

I do think some people are more susceptible to this than others. My son has the exact same issue - says he can't go to sleep at night, so it is hard to get up in the morning. But that is generally after he has stayed up until 3am and slept until noon for 2 days. If he gets in a pattern of going to bed and getting up regularly, he is fine. Problem is - he doesn't "like" it.

 

[Nords]

Getting some exercise and cutting out caffeine after 6pm won't hurt, though.

Just caffeine?!? Heck, I don't know about the rest of you guys (and here I'm referring specifically to the male gender) but if I want to sleep through the night then after 6 PM I pretty much have to cut out all liquids, medical or otherwise.

Sometimes, such as on a Sunday evening, no amount of exercise or abstinence from caffeine will help...for those days, Ambien provides relief. I'm just getting back from vacation, and I can tell you, I won't need the Ambien after ER, but if I expect to be at work tomorrow, I will need one tonight...

I never paid much attention to Ambien until a fellow camper mixed one with several glasses of scotch. He had a very ugly night, and thus the rest of us as well.

 

[Kroeran]

sometimes failure to resolve a problem can be due to being fixed in your behaviors and beliefs, so I would say job one is to be open to all the ideas presented here and be flexible enough to try them out and see if any work.

failure to sleep properly can be a slippery slope leading to reduced immune strength and then all the fun that comes from that

for myself, I would be in big trouble with sleep if I did not have a TV in my room, which switches off automatically about 20 minutes after I am lights out.

in spite of the fact that watching television puts my wife to sleep, she refuses to have a TV in her bedroom, I think due to a belief that it is improper somehow, and she pays a price for that in cronic lost sleep.

I also strongly recommend separate bedrooms if there is an issue with sleep.

 

[Moscyn]

Kroeran, I agree with you on separate bedrooms if there is an issue with sleep. No point have 2 people with sleepless nights. Thankfully, after many years of separate bedrooms, somehow, DH and I can now share a room and sleep soundly again - I think the issues are with me as I bring too much thoughts and daily baggage to my sleep hours which makes me rather agitated and affected to sleep well. I do have those odd nights when I can't sleep but those are fewer than before. It's great to share a room again - not I truly have a spare room!

 

[haha]

I cannot really predict how well I will sleep, although I think Nords' statement about going easy on liqs after 6 or so is a good start. I used to get somewhat dehydrated during the day when I was out, and come home and drink a quart or so of water, pop, whatever. Then I would always have to pee about half way through the night.

Yesterday I went dancing twice- couple hours around noon, and 3 hours during the evening, but I kept drinking water all the time, so I didn't come home thirsty. I fell asleep on the couch about 10:30 and didn't wake up until 5:45. I peed, then I came back, put my mask on and slept almost until 10. I think both the excercise (lindy) and the fluid management helped me sleep better.

Ha

 

[Kroeran]

another trick I read was to keep a night light for the mid-sleep trip to the bathroom - turning on a light fries your melatonin making your body think its dawn

also, keep light levels as low as possible late evening (or after sunset) which stimulates melatonin levels and sleepiness