Sleep? What's that?

[NeuroTypical]

So, over the last several months, my ability to sleep has degraded.  Last night was a new low - lay there in bed, bored, until 4:30 AM, then barely slept for maybe 90 minutes total.   Had the pulseOx test, "40% abnormal" they said.  It's 2 weeks until the sleep study.

Looking for suggestions on stuff folks do to aid sleep, while I'm waiting for my sleep study.   All suggestions welcome.  

[Larry Cotrell]

I studied up on this for a while last night as I have also been having a hard time falling asleep lately.

One thing that I had read said to eat a handful of almonds. This didn't work for me but it's worth a try because a lot of people said it works really well.

There is another method where you breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for seven, and breathe out for eight. You inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This also didn't work for me but some people say they can fall asleep in under a minute this way.

After trying both of these things last night I tried to count sheep, about one per second. I gave up at 2,000 because the sheepfold was getting overcrowded. So, I don't recommend counting sheep. 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Larry Cotrell

[zil]

38 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

So, over the last several months, my ability to sleep has degraded.  Last night was a new low - lay there in bed, bored, until 4:30 AM, then barely slept for maybe 90 minutes total.   Had the pulseOx test, "40% abnormal" they said.  It's 2 weeks until the sleep study.

Looking for suggestions on stuff folks do to aid sleep, while I'm waiting for my sleep study.   All suggestions welcome.  

I listen to specific music, which repeats at random all night - most of it is Gregorian chants (and unless you're weird, those will put you to sleep).  When I don't do this, I don't stay asleep as well either.

I never tried it, but there is that joke about reading Isaiah...

I find that if I actually concentrate on trying to sleep, that helps - that is, I focus on breathing like I'm asleep, keep my eyes closed, sometimes work my way through muscles deliberately tensing and relaxing them - but I do NOT let my mind think about anything else (that's what keeps me awake, thinking).

In aid of the previous, I sometimes pretend like I'm a character in a story who is exhausted or injured and about to fall asleep (yes, I'm weird).

I've seen lots of things which talk about not using electronics within a certain amount of time before bed (something about the frequency of the light? waves they put off, I think).  I find it helps to shut off the TV, computer, etc. half an hour before bed.

I've heard similar things about exercise and eating (can't remember how long before bed you're not supposed to exercise / eat).

Oh, there's that perfect Sunday-afternoon sleep-inducer: Bob Ross.  Just get audio recordings of his shows (at least some are available on YouTube) and let them play quietly in the background.

Edited September 7, 2016 by zil

[Sunday21]

Listen to a chat show in a foreign language, French for me, Spanish for you?

No screens an hour before bed

no work an hour before bed

walk for 1/2 an hour then hot bath

read a book not on a screen before bed

hope some of this helps!

[Anddenex]

It is not uncommon for me to not be able to sleep, similar to what you have described and other times, no sleep at all. The best advice for me, and I am sorry this really isn't helpful as to "how" to fall asleep, was that if you haven't fallen asleep after 15 minutes your mind is still too alert to sleep. If so, get up and do something productive until you feel a little more tired. I still would loose out on sleep, but it is much better than lying in bed waiting for the sandman to come. 

If my mind is tired, I will quote scriptures, usually the articles of faith. Sometimes I get through them all and I am still alert (then I know I just need to get up and do something because I am not falling asleep anytime soon). Other nights, well, I don't get past 7 or 8 and then I am out waking up thinking, "Nice, that worked."

I have tried counting sheep.  Never worked for me. I have tried counting down from 100 to 0, doesn't work (my mind becomes way to alert trying to think upon the next downward number). 

My wife likes to picture sand dunes and blue sky, only thinking upon two objects, not much color and she says this helps her. 

Oh, and let's not forget, if you drink 24oz of Moutain Dew before bed, you will be out like Mike Tyson's opponents (younger years), no really you will. 

[Sunday21]

Mountain Dew? Doesn't this have caffeine? My sister swears by NyQuil. 

Edited September 8, 2016 by Sunday21

[SilentOne]

8 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Mountain Dew? Doesn't this have caffeine? My siste swears by NyQuil. 

I think that was the joke. Notice the little devil.

[Sunday21]

5 minutes ago, SilentOne said:

I think that was the joke. Notice the little devil.

Ahhh! Thank you for explaining!

[Anddenex]

10 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Mountain Dew? Doesn't this have caffeine? My siste swears by NyQuil. 

I thought my devil emoticon at the end would signify I was being sarcastic. MT Dew will keep you up.

[Guest MormonGator]

37 minutes ago, Anddenex said:

I thought my devil emoticon at the end would signify I was being sarcastic. MT Dew will keep you up.

 I don't know how old you are but do you remember Jolt cola? in college we'd drink that to pull all nighters. 

[Sunday21]

48 minutes ago, Anddenex said:

I thought my devil emoticon at the end would signify I was being sarcastic. MT Dew will keep you up.

Sorry 9 pm here. All day slaving over a hot spreadsheet. Falling asleep.?

[Anddenex]

1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

 I don't know how old you are but do you remember Jolt cola? in college we'd drink that to pull all nighters. 

I am old enough to remember Jolt Cola from middle school I believe

[Guest MormonGator]

4 minutes ago, Anddenex said:

I am old enough to remember Jolt Cola from middle school I believe

Jeez dude, you are getting old. 

(totally kidding, I remember it from back then too! We used to play Doom all night totally hopped on that stuff)

[zil]

3 hours ago, Larry Cotrell said:

...counting sheep. 

Hmm.  I'd need the light on (obviously), and I'd need a Sharpie to mark the ones I'd already counted so I didn't accidentally count one twice...  I might need a magnifying glass.  Do you have a larger version of that?

[zil]

Meanwhile, it seems we've forgotten a good one: prayer.  (Not that I recommend you fall asleep during your prayers, but rather that you pray for help falling asleep and staying that way.)

We've also forgotten at least one bad one: You could ask wife or children to bash you over the head with a brick.  (Depending on the day, they might be willing...)

[Guest MormonGator]

6 minutes ago, zil said:

\We've also forgotten at least one bad one: You could ask wife or children to bash you over the head with a brick.  

Uh, forum? If you don't hear from me for a few days please contact the authorities in Florida!!!! 

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Larry Cotrell said:

I studied up on this for a while last night as I have also been having a hard time falling asleep lately.

One thing that I had read said to eat a handful of almonds. This didn't work for me but it's worth a try because a lot of people said it works really well.

There is another method where you breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for seven, and breathe out for eight. You inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. This also didn't work for me but some people say they can fall asleep in under a minute this way.

After trying both of these things last night I tried to count sheep, about one per second. I gave up at 2,000 because the sheepfold was getting overcrowded. So, I don't recommend counting sheep. 

Do I have to count them from that angle?

[Guest]

15 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

So, over the last several months, my ability to sleep has degraded.  Last night was a new low - lay there in bed, bored, until 4:30 AM, then barely slept for maybe 90 minutes total.   Had the pulseOx test, "40% abnormal" they said.  It's 2 weeks until the sleep study.

Looking for suggestions on stuff folks do to aid sleep, while I'm waiting for my sleep study.   All suggestions welcome.  

Have you had your thyroid levels checked?  If your levels are near the "low end of normal", then you are actually below normal.  There is a story behind that... if you're interested.

Also, people think that because caffeine has such a short half-life in the body that after a day or two, you're completely done.  Not quite true.  Caffeine imposes a lingering effect even after it's completely out of your system.  There's a story behind that too... if you're interested.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Guest

[classylady]

It's 8 am. I've been awake since 4 am. I fell asleep around 2 am. Two hours of sleep is not enough! There are some nights, like last night, when my brain won't slow down. I worry. I stress. Then I worry and stress some more about life. Then I worry and stress about not getting enough sleep. It's a never-ending cycle.

[Jane_Doe]

13 minutes ago, classylady said:

It's 8 am. I've been awake since 4 am. I fell asleep around 2 am. Two hours of sleep is not enough! There are some nights, like last night, when my brain won't slow down. I worry. I stress. Then I worry and stress some more about life. Then I worry and stress about not getting enough sleep. It's a never-ending cycle.

I've had to learn to separate myself from the stress via "clocking off".  I can worry about work from time X to Y, and then I've done my job and it's time for me to clock off of worrying.  Same with family and social life.  And between 9 PM and 11 PM it's my job to not worry about anything and unwind.  And then until 7 AM my job is to still not worry and sleep.  And my phone's job from 9 PM to 7 AM is to not exist.

And then at 7 AM the sky will be falling just as well without me having worried about it overnight.  And since I got some sleep, I can at least work on a tiny bit of hold-up-the-falling-sky-duty.  

Edited September 8, 2016 by Jane_Doe

[NeuroTypical]

Thanks all - lots of good advice and things to try here.  Some of it I already do and it works sometimes.   Yesterday I did two additional things - no caffeine after 1pm, and took an OTC melatonin pill. Got a full 7 hours - hooray!  

I'm big on the music on repeat too.  One song in particular.

 

[zil]

IMO, you should study up on how caffeine works - what it does to the brain and how your brain fights back against its efforts (there are YouTube videos with cool animations).  It has been my experience that consistently getting a good night's sleep will do far, far more for your overall health and wakefulness than any amount of caffeine ever dreamed of.  Then you can toss the caffeine altogether (except maybe in your headache pills).

[zil]

26 minutes ago, classylady said:

It's 8 am. I've been awake since 4 am. I fell asleep around 2 am. Two hours of sleep is not enough! There are some nights, like last night, when my brain won't slow down. I worry. I stress. Then I worry and stress some more about life. Then I worry and stress about not getting enough sleep. It's a never-ending cycle.

Don't know if it'll work for you, but they say 10 minutes of writing (on paper, with a pen/pencil) all your worries will calm the emotion-center of the brain greatly.  You could try it before bed.  (The paper can then be trashed or filed or whatever you want - it's just supposed to be a stream-of-consciousness thing dumping out all your feelings and worries onto the paper.)

[classylady]

34 minutes ago, classylady said:

It's 8 am. I've been awake since 4 am. I fell asleep around 2 am. Two hours of sleep is not enough! There are some nights, like last night, when my brain won't slow down. I worry. I stress. Then I worry and stress some more about life. Then I worry and stress about not getting enough sleep. It's a never-ending cycle.

 

And, my husband, who is sleeping peacefully next to me has no idea that I am feeling irritated at his ability to sleep. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

Have you had your thyroid levels checked?  If your levels are near the "low end of normal", then you are actually below normal.  There is a story behind that... if you're interested.

Also, people think that because caffeine has such a short half-life in the body that after a day or two, you're completely done.  Not quite true.  Caffeine imposes a lingering effect even after it's completely out of your system.  There's a story behind that too... if you're interested.

I have wondered about this thyroid thing. I am exhausted all the time and have other classic symptoms of hypothyroid, even on medication... so since I'm on the "low end of normal" my dosage hasn't been increased in years  and years. 

Also, I eliminated soda when I started having ulcer problems several months ago, and I feel better in so many ways without my daily diet Dr. Pepper fix. 

As far as sleep... my husband is the one with horrible insomnia, and I have a high need for sleep. 95% of the time I'm out when I hit the pillow and sleep pretty soundly through the night. He has told me how lonely it is when I and everyone else is fast asleep and he's wide awake. I've tried staying awake with him later, but I fail miserably. I wish I knew how to help him sleep.