Chasing the bus
I’ve done shift work for 20 yrs., so while not clinically insomniac, my sleep patterns are often wrecked, sometimes for months. My every night routine is melatonin (3mg), benadryl, lights out, and a book (I skip the benadryl if I have a drink). Not stressing about it is important too. One thing that’s actually helped is sleep tracking, on my phone and with my fitbit. Not 100% accurate, but it showed me I sleep more than I think when I just lay quietly with my eyes closed, which is important too, because the body needs the rest as much as the brain needs sleep.
Try essential oils aroma therapy. The stress relieving ones seem to work for me, and I was a skeptic.
No caffeine after 1pm for me, and only 2 cups coffee total. This is more because with training my adrenal response gets over-taxed, but it also helps me sleep more soundly. More caffeine often doesn't keep me from falling asleep, but I wake more easily and earlier when I over-indulge.
Electronic devices are bad.
I try to keep a regular schedule for sleeping. If my wife reads late and keeps me awake past that magic moment...it can be hopeless for hours without "help" (benadryl or alcohol).
Dark is good, noise free is better.
“You're either on the bus or off the bus.” ― Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Dark - check
No noise - check
Caffeine - not much of a problem, rarely in the evening other than maybe a glass of tea
Part of DH's problem is that he's a champion napper. He can power nap for 15 minutes, and he's good to go. So, if he falls asleep at night (which he does, easily) and sleeps for 15-30 minutes, if a noise or the dog or something wakes him up, he's napped and ready to go.
Update, he's taken 2mg of melatonin for the last two nights. He just said he went to sleep around 10:30 last night and woke up at 5:15. That's a serious victory for him. Yay!
Thanks for all the responses. I'm bookmarking this thread, so if he still has issues, he can try some of the other solutions.
Naps! I cannot nap anymore. It's part of the discipline I forgot. I must stay awake the whole allotted wake period if I hope to sleep through the allotted sleep period. Even when I change shifts/sleep periods, I must power through the transition, even if it's 30 hrs from waking to sleeping. If I can be disciplined, and make it, I get transitioned to the new time fairly well. It hurts for only one day, instead of many. That's what works for me.
I cannot sleep in total silence, it would drive me insane. I sleep with a fan running (white noise) and have for the past 25 to 30 years or so.
Last year I took a road trip to Indiana and ended up sleeping at an aunts in Ohio. There was nothing in her house that provided some kind of background noise and the silence was so deafening that I almost jumped head first out of her second story window. lol
Seriously though, it's weird.
I cannot sleep in total silence, it would drive me insane. I sleep with a fan running (white noise) and have for the past 25 to 30 years or so. Last year I took a road trip to Indiana and ended up sleeping at an aunts in Ohio. There was nothing in her house that provided some kind of background noise and the silence was so deafening that I almost jumped head first out of her second story window. lol Seriously though, it's weird.
I need noise also. What helps me are darkness and a local radio talk show. My wife doesn't mind as she sleeps fine with or without noise.
Super B****
Isn't running supposed to help you sleep better?! Seems like a lot of us haven't got that part down.
I'm in the "it takes forever to fall asleep, and if I wake up in the middle of the night (which I always do), I'll be up for an hour or two" camp. I did try melatonin, and pretty much every "natural" remedy out there -- none of it worked. Boo.
I came across this a couple of weeks ago, so I might give that a shot next. Can't hurt, I guess.
chasing the impossible
because i never shut up ... i blog
Sounds like heaven! I could sleep for days under those conditions! But mostly what I meant was random, disruptive noises. Constant, low, background noise is no serious impediment.
Yep, noise free for me. I can sleep with white noise if it's constant. If it cycles, like the fan in a hotel room heater, it will wake me up every cycle.
The melatonin is still working pretty well for DH.
The only physical activity that knocks me out for the count is swimming. Anything else from running up to and including drinking my brain just laughs at.
I suppose smoking the herb would lay me pretty flat but those days are long behind me. And besides, I do not need any reason to eat shit up more than I am now. lol
The only physical activity that knocks me out for the count is swimming. Anything else from running up to and including drinking my brain just laughs at. I suppose smoking the herb would lay me pretty flat but those days are long behind me. And besides, I do not need any reason to eat shit up more than I am now. lol
Funny you mention that -- on nights that I swim, I fall asleep much faster. Doesn't stop me from waking up repeatedly throughout the night, though!
It doesn't really help you lose weight either. Why the hell do we bother?
Dave
Nope, you could lose as much weight studying a new language with Rosetta Stone.
The only place that running has affected in that regard is burning the fat in my stupid ugly, ridiculous looking face. In fact my face is so shredded that when I smile people think I am making a muscle.