Sleep

[imoldernu]

A new article from CNN about sleep.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/16/health/sleep-myths-facts-study/index.html

Supposedly dispelling the myths and stating facts about sleep problems.

No comments from me, as I disagree with about 80% of what the experts say. Old age and the last ten years of 3 or 4 hours of sleep tells me "no".... Have tried every suggestion ever made, and medical sleep sessions with no success.

But... YMMV.

 

[ckelly78z]

During the w#rk week, I get 5-6 hours of sleep, and am usually up before the 5:00 am alarm, and high functioning until about 9-10:00 pm. On Sat/Sun, I stay up until midnight, and "sleep in" till 8 or 9 am. My theory is that my body is banking the extra sleep I lost from the previous week. No alcohol, or caffiene drinks before bed, and try not to eat a late supper. I must have a fan for white noise, and completely black bedroom.

 

[MRG]

My sleep has improved greatly on recent months. I've been reading "Why We Sleep" by Matt Walker on someone here's suggestion and it helps.

Specific things I've implemented:

- Sleep hygiene, turn off the phone, TV, computer... an hour prior to bed

- Sleep aids, melatonin is awesome

- Meditation before bed. I found a free app(Insight timer, there are others) with hundreds of guided meditations about sleep.

 

[sengsational]

I've read Walker's book twice and don't doubt his findings, conclusions and prescriptions. The article content does not say anything that conflicts with Walker that I could find except I don't recall Walker saying anything about too much sleep being a bad thing. All sleep drugs, including alcohol, makes you unconscious, but aren't making you get high quality sleep. He's really down on "sleep bravado", and I predict this thread will be full of people justifying only needing a short number of hours of sleep. Then they sit down in the recliner in the afternoon and they're out in 2 minutes, haha!

 

[Bir48die]

Have had insomnia for 20 years. For a period I drank too much to be able to sleep. Twelve years ago after my wife died I went to a doctor and they had me do all the “sleep hygiene” things to no avail. Then she prescribed something that was supposed to knock everyone out. Couldn’t “click off” into sleep. Have been on low dose Ambien for the remainder of the time. It’s a life saver.

I will say I have just spent three nights with my wife at my stepdaughters home. Stuffy room and a full sized mattress on the floor shared with my wife. No amount of drugs could help me sleep. Now I know how Navy Seals feel after 72 hours of sleep deprivation.

 

[Teacher Terry]

As my mom aged she could not sleep longer than 6 hours. Before that she could. Luckily I can still sleep 8-10 hours.

 

[MRG]

I did the whole doc I can't sleep thing, here's some experience. Trazodone was ok in light doses to help fall asleep, however it doesn't make you stay asleep.

Ambien works well until it doesn't. At that point you are in between a rock and a hard place. I spent 3 months on a recliner at night never getting any more than a short nap. Other benzodiazepines have the same issues.

Cannibis can help if you are doing the right strains, preferably an indica. Many folks use edibles at night as they metabolize slower that combustion. I was talking with a lady, 80 years old, whose son didn't want her taking cannabis. She was insistent on stay away from mom's edibles.

 

[6miths]

Been very fortunate to never had any issues with sleep. Sometimes had trouble falling asleep if mind full of things school or work related but doesn't happen now that RE. Probably can't stay down for the 12+ hour sleep marathons that I once could do but of course those were related to staying up for 36+ hours straight so haven't really needed the long nap.

 

[Out of Steam]

I've always been a long sleeper, and average 8 1/2 hours given the opportunity.

It's fairly hard to manage that much sleep with a conventional day job and a substantial commute. The choices are basically tending to oversleep, not getting enough sleep, or going to bed unsociably early.

Making up for lack of sleep on weekends is an annoyance, and doesn't work all that well.

 

[H2ODude]

No real issues w sleep outside of some periods of heavy stress. One thing I'm fanatic about is getting rid of extraneous electronic lights. I know there's distinct reason why red seems to be OK (bedside clock has red digits, doesn't bother me) but especially the blue and green seem to disturb me. Guest room at DD used to double as their office and was FULL of these lights. At night I had to drape clothing over all of it.

 

[Dawg52]

I can't get the sleep I used to. Wake up at 3-4 in the morning and struggle to doze off again. I sometimes try melatonin or Advil PM and they help a little. But rarely get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep.

 

[W2R]

I suspect that at different times in our lives, we may need less sleep than we needed previously.

 

[mystang52]

Lifelong insomniac; I can even recall sleeping problems as a little kid. Insomnia comes in spurts for me. Occasional Ambien works wonders with no after-effects. Even when I sleep well, though, I very very rarely go more than 7 hours. I define a good night's sleep as 6 + hours of deep sleep. That deep sleep, as opposed to a longer but fitful stretch, has me refreshed when I wake up.

 

[rick55]

In my opinion, ambien is a dangerous medication. My wife was taking it during a stressful time in her life and it made things worse.

I seem to have decent results taking a magnesium supplement. I also take vitamin D on a daily basis.

 

[Dtail]

I can't get the sleep I used to. Wake up at 3-4 in the morning and struggle to doze off again. I sometimes try melatonin or Advil PM and they help a little. But rarely get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep.

Same here.

 

[sengsational]

Ambien, and pretty much every other sleep drug is considered by Walker to be just knocking you out as opposed to allowing you to get good sleep. He says something like, if someone hit you over the head with a bat, and you were unconscious for 8 hours, would you consider that a good night's rest? I think he's basing this on monitoring sleep brain waves and how those readings correlate to how people feel and perform afterwards. His book is full of interesting studies on sleep.

 

[mystang52]

Re: Ambien I've read, over the years, the horror stories about it. Frankly, I have never had a bad reaction to it. I only take it on occasion - if I have insomnia 3 straight nights, I'll take it just on the 3rd night. I get a deep sleep, and as I wrote before I'll wake up with no after-effects. True story: I finished the Marine Corps Marathon after a night's sleep with Ambien.

 

[Nick12]

Warm shower before going to bed. Last meal 4 hours before sleep. Drink lots of cold water prior to sleep. Sleep 6-7 hours then wake up at 0445 daily regardless of time zone.

 

[sengsational]

The shower is a good idea. According to experts, restorative sleep only happens when the body temperature drops. By adding moisture to your skin, the evaporation effect makes it easier to drop your body temperature.


My latest, rather sad finding, is that according to my most recent "toy" that measures sleep (Oura), even a small amount of alcohol decimates my deep sleep and causes more wakeful spells (my biggest sleep problem). Before, I never thought that 2 beers made a difference in how I felt the next day, or if the incidence of wakeful spells was higher. But I never had written anything down before. Now I've been writing stuff down and getting the data from the ring, and I'm starting to be more convinced of the negative impact of alcohol, which really sucks, because I do enjoy a beer while cooking and eating.

 

[ckelly78z]

Making up for lack of sleep on weekends is an annoyance, and doesn't work all that well.

I find that I view it as a reward for making it through the week. I still only sleep until 9 am at the latest....earlier if I have things to do, and sunny weather.

 

[Moemg]

We have a friend . She is very nice but she talks non stop . We were at her house last week for a little over two hours when we got home I went right to bed and slept from 9:30 to 9 am . I was thinking of recording her and selling it as a sleep aid .Safer than Ambien !

 

[timo2]

The one item that has helped me that this study covers is 'if you can't sleep, get out of bed and do something else'. When I do go back to bed, I sleep much better than if I had just laid in bed letting the hamsters run.

 

[lizh]

For the folks who are fans of Walker's book, he did a 3 part interview on Peter Attia's podcast called The Drive. The 3part conversation is about 6 hours long total. They dive deep into the science.