Do you find sleeping hard? If so, what helps you?

[doot]

Some ppl find that having a cool room helps as well as blackout windows. Also some ppl use music to help them sleep.

Blackout windows are useful, I have two layers of material attached first to the window, and second to the inner window frame, and it completely blocks the light.

Music would absolutely not help me at all, but I personally find a fan really helps. Even if it's winter I turn it on to drown out ambient noise.

One other thing— and this is not medical advise obviously— while it doesn't help me to sleep, if I need to make sure I stay asleep instead of waking up after a few hours unable to sleep further, I take a cetirizine tablet. It's an over-the-counter non-drowsy antihistamine, it doesn't make me sleepy when I'm awake but it does keep me asleep reliably with the only downside being that I wake up slightly groggy.

 

[M_also_lonely]

Not anymore but back then, I used to listen to Osho. It helped tremendously.

 

[Rohini]

it happens every so often
Got 3 hours of sleep last night

I drink this organic bedtime tea, for when it gets out of hand. It's not magic, but it helps me relax enough to where I can fall asleep

 

[TheSkaFish]

I drink a lot of caffeine, probably more than I should, so that doesn't help.

But what does help is that I always sleep better on days when I exercise, or at the very least go for a walk, for an hour or more. Some days I don't even feel like going, but I do anyway, so that I'll get tired on time.

My sleep schedule is out of whack myself, it's something I'm trying to be more in control of.

 

[charlotte craig]

I tend to struggle to sleep I'm on medication that helps me that I was prescribed by my GP but it does nothing lol. Like, tonight I'll probably struggle to sleep

Be careful Roxiee, I once got onto sleeping pills and had to keep increasing dose until it was dangerously high and still not working. Now I use serotonin, a natural way, valerian etc.

 

[Galen]

I tend to struggle to sleep I'm on medication that helps me that I was prescribed by my GP but it does nothing lol. Like, tonight I'll probably struggle to sleep

I've gone through periods where my sleep patterns have been shot to pieces. On occasions I've managed only about 2-3 hrs (interrupted) at best.
In case you already havn't. it may be worthwhile looking into any sleep hygiene measures that may be helpful. Sleep medication, though helpful ideally should only be used for a short term basis.

I'll leave a link here anyway regarding sleep hygiene in case you or anyone else are interested.

Sleep Hygiene

Looking for ways to sleep better? Improving sleep hygiene can make your habits, routines, & environment more conducive to consistent and restorative sleep.

www.sleepfoundation.org

 

[Claudia1794]

Yes. Drugs help but I try to avoid unless it gets to more than a month of a couple days a week without sleep. At present I’m running on 2-5 hours everyday so I’m good.

 

[Galen]

When it comes to meds to help you sleep, be it Z-drugs or benzos with a predominately hypnotic effect, if possible then it's best to use them in short bursts so as to avoid tolerance an dependancy developing. After a while, they can even affect the quality of sleep delivered in negative way by suppressing deep sleep or REM which can compromise sleep's restorative effects. I still remember being at some lecture years back where some guy was talking about this. He went on to mention that during studies removing benzos from test subjects, they noted an increase in REM sleep indicating the body was trying to make up for lost time.

 

[mizera]

There's a new drug out for sleep called Quviviq. I might try to get some. I function so much better on 7+ hours than 5-6.

 

[dpet12569]

I used to have bad insomnia, but my condition was directly connected to bad habits, and not to any medical issue, so my solution won't necessarily work for everybody.

What worked for me was to set a VERY strict bedtime schedule with a set pattern of activity before going to bed (brush tee, get glass of water, etc). I would also make sure I got out of bed the same time every day, even the days I had off. I also had to make sure I had no alcohol after the evening meal and then not watch tv or use my phone (except for calls) for the las hour before bed time. I also got rid of all the blue light emitting gadgets in the bedroom and got an alarm clock that had red leds.

It took a few months, but my brain re-programed itself. I don't have to be as strict anymore. As long as I don't have more than one drink after the evening meal and I don't get too far off my pattern, I sleep fine. If I drink too much, or stay up too late, I'll get insomnia and it will take a couple of nights to reset the sleep pattern.

I did use melatonin to help, at first, but I did get off of it once I started to sleep regularly.

I have heard that prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to depression. It didn't get that bad for me, but I was very irritable and impatient. I also had no motivation to do much, and had a hard time having any fun. I didn't realize how bad I felt until I started seeping properly.

 

[VanillaCreme]

I tend to struggle to sleep I'm on medication that helps me that I was prescribed by my GP but it does nothing lol. Like, tonight I'll probably struggle to sleep

I don't know if this actually helps, but I've heard magnesium helps with sleep. I take it for pain management, but for the most part I can fall asleep just fine. I have an issue staying asleep for longer than a couple of hours sometimes, though.

 

[Lonely girl 28]

I have heard that prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to depression. It didn't get that bad for me, but I was very irritable and impatient. I also had no motivation to do much, and had a hard time having any fun. I didn't realize how bad I felt until I started seeping properly.

It can go either way: one can be depressed, either sleep too much or too little which can make one more depressed, etc. So some ppl benefit from a nightly dose of anti-depressant, anti-anxiety medicine to help them sleep.

And the other thing is medicine can take a bit to take effect.

(Side note: it's good to see one's GP or PCP if they're having trouble sleeping. There are a whole host of things that can happen. [Meant in general])

 

[Deosil]

Chamomile, Passion flower or Lavender. I take various herbal teas and tinctures to help me.

 

[charlotte craig]

I tend to struggle to sleep I'm on medication that helps me that I was prescribed by my GP but it does nothing lol. Like, tonight I'll probably struggle to sleep

hi Roxie, I used to have a lot of that problem too, found I was lacking in estrogen, and serotonin, now I make sure I get that and sleep is fine. it was also affecting all sorts of other things, very dry skin and so on, all ok now. hope you get a good nights sleep. merry christmas.

 

[charlotte craig]

Chamomile, Passion flower or Lavender. I take various herbal teas and tinctures to help me.

same here. valerian and passionflower and hops usually, but if you have enough estrogen you dont need that. estrogen makes serotonin, and all of these herbs are taken for their serotonin ingredient.

 

[Claudia1794]

Since I've been taking these nite nite meds I've been able to go to sleep and actually stay asleep for about 4 maybe 5 hours. That is until last night when I was up pacing and scratching my skin like I needed a fix looking for an old cotton ball stash. I hope tonight is not a repeat.

 

[Unsigned]

What helps me:

- Avoiding excessive drinking
- Getting up early - around 5:30 AM and doing this on the weekend too (maintaining similar hours 7 days a week)
- Being in an exercise regimen that has me wanting to sack out by 10:00 / 10:30 PM