Good natural sleep aid?

[Buckeye]

I actually had better sleep last night than I've had pretty much any night since early Feb when the tinnitus got louder, even compared to nights I took Ambien. But last night, I just took the usual 1.25mg melatonin. I still woke up at times and was awake well before my alarm, so I don't know how much sleep I got, but I could tell it was much better than the previous two nights. So, part of the reason for the better sleep might have just been that I needed the sleep more after the previous two nights of so little sleep.

I'm thinking about getting a Fitbit Charge 5 to track my sleep. Even if it's not that accurate for my sleep patterns, I could at least use it as a baseline for myself. It would have been interesting to compare the data from these last few nights.

I have the Charge 4 and I can (and do,at times) track sleep.

 

[KarenF]

I don't see that anybody has mentioned hormones. Progesterone helps me sleep. I also take Magnesium (Calm). You can get OTC Progesterone from www.plattwellness.com

 

[leeg]

I endorse audiobooks with earplugs. Only problem is finding something interesting, but not too interesting. Put the book on a 30 minute shut off timer.s

 

[GenXguy]

I don't see that anybody has mentioned hormones.

The hormone Melatonin was mentioned.

I endorse audiobooks with earplugs. Only problem is finding something interesting, but not too interesting. Put the book on a 30 minute shut off timer.s

How can you hear the audiobook well with earplugs in? That would be very muffled. I have something in my Calm app called sleep stories, which can help distract me from more stressful thoughts, but if I'm not feeling sleepy, they don't seem to be very effective... maybe better than just my white noise makers, but that's only for falling asleep, not keeping me from waking back up so much.

 

[Retired Expat]

Prescription meds and sleeping pills lose effectiveness, and then if you try to quit them when that happens, you will have bigger problems than you started with.

I have tinnitus, which is too loud to mask, but it still seems to help to have some white noise or environmental sounds playing. I could not sleep in absolute quiet since it doesn't really exist for me, anyway.

Meditation helps some people.

I've done a lot of research on the matter of waking up in the middle of the night and not getting back to sleep for a long time (if ever) before morning. Nothing has helped me much. One thing I haven't tried was CBD and THC, but I've heard they can make tinnitus worse, which would help keep me awake.

It's actually gotten worse for me lately since my tinnitus has suddenly worsened - now I'm even having trouble falling asleep, and recently went sleepless 3 out of 4 nights. I have a very limited supply of Ambiem, and I used them several times to get a little sleep, but I'm avoiding using them now because they are only intended for short term use as you can become dependent on them as they also lose effectiveness.

Not to change this thread into one about Tinnitus but I do find that wearing my hearing aids (which I hate snd often forget since my hearing is slightly diminished) really helps to reduce the Tinnitus.

As for sleep aid drugs virtually anything that works lingers and makes me stupid all the next day. I actually like to listen to the audio only of a film I have seen many times or audio sleep stories on youtube. Snooze with Sam and the like. Basically anything to distract from the thoughts that buzz around unchecked

 

[Murph]

ZzzQuil taken early in the evening works best for me.

 

[meleana]

I’ve tried everything and I have a hard time sleeping or staying asleep. Very restless.

 

[GenXguy]

Not to change this thread into one about Tinnitus but I do find that wearing my hearing aids (which I hate snd often forget since my hearing is slightly diminished) really helps to reduce the Tinnitus.

Is is reducing the tinnitus only while you are wearing them or even when you go to bed? I'm assuming you don't wear them to bed. I don't actually have any, but when this tinnitus problem suddenly worsened in early February, I have noticed I don't hear some things on TV as well when set at the same volume I usually had it before February. But I haven't noticed any change in hearing talking to people at work and such. So, I'm not too keen on getting hearing aids at this point.

I have had a couple decent nights of sleep in a row with no drugs, so I hope that means I'm adapting to the louder tinnitus.

 

[omni550]

Sleep in a completely dark room. I just read a study this week that says our sleep is affected by any light...so make sure to rid your sleeping area of night lights, radios/alarms with lit dials, etc.

omni

 

[GenXguy]

A weighted blanket helps some people. I have been using one for a few months, including on those sleepless nights, so it doesn't appear to help me.

 

[Vinnygret]

Perhaps valerian root.

It might help. It stinks like crazy though. I take Zzzquil plus melatonin gummies, but I have trouble falling asleep. I'd like to stop the Zzzquil (I use a generic version) because it's dipenhydramine, but whenever I try to eliminate it I can't sleep.

 

[belasea]

I just finished a sleep program for insomnia which has been incredible! It's called CBT-I which is cognitive behavioral sleep for insomnia. It's helped me more than anything without taking anything. The most important item they had us do first was to get up at the same time every single day to try to reset our circadian rhythm - no sleeping in. Since we can control when we get up, but not when we fall asleep necessarily. Try to get bright light once you wake up. Continue that wake up time everyday continuously, then we had a bedtime where were could not get into bed anytime before our bedtime and could only go to sleep when sleepy. So, can stay up past bedtime, but not go to sleep before. First we limited our time to sleep in bed so that it would become more efficient sleep without the long blocks of wake up time, then slowly add an earlier bedtime if needed. Do not do anything else in bed but sleep and sex. Do not worry in bed or you will only associate your bed with worry. Get up and do something enjoyable if you can't sleep after 20 min. Just sharing what I learned. Changing behaviors might be the most natural thing you could try.

 

[bmcgonig]

I've heard THC and CBD (or CBN) in a 1:1 to 1:5 ratio is good. I've read that Indica isn't as important in an edible. I haven't tried any at this point. That stuff is expensive and taxed 20% in my state, and I've read that it's not a good long term solution to be using every night, just like with sleep meds.



I wonder. I mentioned earlier that I didn't sleep 3 out of 4 consecutive nights late last week after stopping the Ambien, and I only slept 3 or so hours on the one night that I did sleep. But I was in bed trying to sleep about 8 hours each of those nights - so maybe it did me some good to at least be resting and attempting to sleep. I didn't feel nearly as bad the following days as I would have thought I might from so little sleep. Fortunately, I've slept a few hours each of the last 3 nights (still no Ambien)... still way too little, but it's something.



I thought the 5 mg and 10 mg others mentioned was high. I usually take 1.25 mg of melatonin latey, but I'm still not sure it helps. It might for helping me get to sleep, but it doesn't seems to have any overnight effect. I've read it could help with tinnitus, but I haven't noticed a change on 1.25 mg, anyway. No change in dreams/nightmares comes to mind.

It seems that no matter how little or how much I exercise and how much weight I lose, it doesn't make a difference with my sleeping, and the increase in tinnitus beginning early last month has just made my insomnia worse. Sadly, it's pretty loud and high pitched, so my ElectroFan and Marpac Dohm don't mask it.

Just FYI, as I have tinnitus as well, there’s an audiologist on YouTube named Ben Thompson who has just set up a company called Treble Health that deals solely with tinnitus. Obviously no cure but they seem very much in tune with how to help people as best they can with TRT I.e., tinnitus retraining therapy, and are pretty expert in different types of hearing aids that include noise maskers etc.

 

[bmcgonig]

Not to change this thread into one about Tinnitus but I do find that wearing my hearing aids (which I hate snd often forget since my hearing is slightly diminished) really helps to reduce the Tinnitus.



As for sleep aid drugs virtually anything that works lingers and makes me stupid all the next day. I actually like to listen to the audio only of a film I have seen many times or audio sleep stories on youtube. Snooze with Sam and the like. Basically anything to distract from the thoughts that buzz around unchecked

There’s a new Ambien called Intermezzo. It’s only 1.75 mg compared to 5 or 10 normally. You take it sublingually when you wake up at 3 AM or whatever. What I’ve been doing is cutting up a 10 mg into six pieces and taking one at 3 AM if I need it. It works really well but doesn’t leave me groggy. Basically gives me two hours or so extra sleep. I’ve been doing this on and off for years and it works without needing to increase the dose.

 

[folly]

I am very sensitive to sleep aids, the next day they make me slow and confused. I recommend mostly the supplements that give me a good quality of sleep. The ones that make me feel rested. My fav is L-theanine. It makes me feel like I awake in a fields of flowers. The best of moods. It also worked on my cat when he was freaking out and blaming the dog, after we moved him across county.
THC brownies or smoke.
I like aspirin, tylenol or advil. Usually when I awake in the middle of the night I have lots of muscle pain. The pain-killer either before bed or when I wake helps me sleep longer. A real bad night I might take a very small dose of benzodiazepine, I feel hung over the next day when I use it.
My spouse will use Tylenol PM or Advil PM. Sometimes he uses benzodiazepine. THC, mixed drink.
We both have tried other things. Nothing seems to work night after night. Mix it up.

 

[MRG]

Sleep in a completely dark room. I just read a study this week that says our sleep is affected by any light...so make sure to rid your sleeping area of night lights, radios/alarms with lit dials, etc.

omni

+1
That really helps. We live in a dark neighborhood and enjoy the natural darkness. It's kinda spooky when you can't see anything without artificial lights or the moon. We have a door and window without shades drawn in our dark bedroom and I can tell when the moon is out as it will interrupt my sleep.

 

[GenXguy]

THC

Tried - not a good experience.

I've tried the THC edibles, with just THC and with TCH and CBD 1:1 ratio.

I've tried 5 mg and 10 mg in chocolate edible.

I thought there might be some temporary help initially. Since I usually would fall sleep ok when I first went to bed, I decided to wait and take it when I wake up in the middle of the night. I question whether it has ever really been effective, but I was falling asleep some a while after taking it, so I thought it might be helping some, at least for an hour or so after it took effect, but this morning was the worst experience of using it. I took 10 mg THC with 10 mg CBD, around 1:30 AM when I woke up, and I never did back to sleep, and I was not feeling well all through the morning lying in bed. I was feeling a lot of stress thinking about things, discomfort in my stomach, and feeling generally crappy. My Fitbit always shows my heart rate elevated about 20 bpm above normal about an hour after taking 10 g THC edible. Before, I had seen it go back down after a while, but this time, my heart rate never settled back down to normal. I'm reluctant to use it again, but if so, I'll probably just take 5 mg, which has had much less effect on my heart rate.

 

[bltkmt]

10mg is a fairly heavy dose.

 

[GenXguy]

10mg is a fairly heavy dose.

That seems to be the standard edible dose the way it's advertised and sold with some of these products. It will say 100 mg ten pack. And one of my bars is divided into 10 mg squares while the other is in 5 mg squares. But like I mentioned, I did try 5 mg of each also, and I didn't sleep much, so I don't know if that really helped at all, either. I might have slept some even if I hadn't taken it, and it was still very little sleep before I woke up. So overall, disappointing.

 

[GenXguy]

10mg is a fairly heavy dose.

I tried 5mg THC edible with no CBD on Sunday night at bedtime. Fitbit showed my heart rate was elevated roughly 10 bpm for some time after it got in my system. I didn't sleep for hours but eventually got about a 1/2 hour sleep. It looks like that stuff just isn't going to work for me. I've had much better luck with Ambien, but I don't want to take that regularly.

 

[GenXguy]

I have a Charge 5 and the sleep function is quite good.

I've had mine for a while now. It's pretty much worthless in tracking my sleep time. It thinks I'm sleeping a lot of time just because I'm lying still. I've had it report 6 or so hours of sleep when I haven't slept at all. It has some interesting features like tracking heart rate while sleeping and tossing/turning, but those will go away after my 6 months of free Premium service ends. I suppose for someone with a more typical sleeping pattern, it would be much more accurate in tracking sleep time, just not for me.

 

[Urchina]

Our doc recommended ashwagandha at bedtime. We have found that while it doesn't seem to make it easier to fall asleep, it seems to improve the quality and duration of sleep.

Here's a link to a study on the topic : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar... root extract is a,300 mg extract twice daily.

 

[dvalley]

I tend to need something to fall asleep on most days. I switch off between melatonin, 5HTP and this sleep aid because I don't like to keep taking the same thing all the time.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079HXLZGY - I only take 1/3 of the tablet and it knocks me out completely and keeps me asleep. The downside is I wake up a bit groggy but nothing a coffee can't fix.

I don't like the idea of taking anything but a couple of people have told me that it's age related around 40s through mid 50s. After that you start to go back to a normal/natural sleep -dunno how true that is.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Reading this thread makes me thankful that I am asleep in less than 5 minutes most nights. It’s been this way my entire life unless I am super stressed.

 

[GenXguy]

I tend to need something to fall asleep on most days.

Reading this thread makes me thankful that I am asleep in less than 5 minutes most nights.

Even with the increase in tinnitus earlier this year, my bigger problem is staying asleep and getting back to sleep if I wake up, not initially getting to sleep when I first go to bed, although that is sometimes a problem also.

It gets worse at mid-50's and beyond.