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Sleep: The How-To Thread

escargot

escargot

Disciple of Marduk
Joined
Aug 24, 2001
Messages
43,401
Location
HM The Tower of London
Here's some more sleep weirdness, literally of my own making.
Long story short, I accidentally trained myself to chill out at the sight of leopardskin.

Light wakes me up so I have trouble sleeping beyond sunrise. I've tried wearing sleep masks, with varying results. They work if they stay on but you can still see light at the edges, and they're flimsy and they fall off and go missing.

Spotted some outsized ones online that someone'd made. The penny dropped: BIG sleep masks are needed because a. they're sturdier and will stay on and b. they'll block out more light.
Also, I've read that the very skin around the eyes may be sensitive to light; so the more of it you can cover, the better the effect.

Dragged out the Singer and rustled some up, and wow, they really do work. Slept MUCH better.

Then I tried making 'luxury' ones in a shiny quilted leopardskin fabric. They were even better and looked UNBELIEVABLY kitsch.

So at night I pick up the leopardskin mask and admire the lovely pattern for a second or two and smile, then put it on and feel how sumptuous it is, then settle down and zzz...

The strangest thing has happened. When I'm out or at work if I see someone in a coat or scarf or carrying a bag with a similar leopard design, I suddenly feel relaxed and chilled. It happens so quickly I don't even realise I've seen it for a second or two.
It seems I have conditioned myself to become calm when I see leopardskin fabric.

Not sure the effect would work if it was a REAL leopard but you don't see many of those in my job. More's the pity.
 
Sleep tips. Good sleep hygiene we dont seem to have a dedicated thread.

I've recently purchased one of the soft headbands with headphones in and pipe in binaural music. Sleepsoundlite is the app I use and it does relax and cut out outside noise. Not sure really how effective binaural is but sleepsoundslite is gentle and has a nice loop-cycle.

Suppose it could live in chat but I'm guessing it could bring up lots of aspects of sleep.
 
I am currently reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker in order to get some help to improve my quality and length of sleep, a modern day common problem I suspect.

It is recommended from what I have read so far. A few things that struck me was the half life of caffeine, apparently between 6 - 8 hours. I switched to decaff coffe, and the author claims that decaff can contain between 10% - 30% caffeine content of 'normal' coffee. That's quite a lot if you think that you can quaff it with gay abandon.

I also didn't realise that chocolate contains caffeine.

Another claim is that blue light from mobile phones and tablets later in the day can harm your potential to have a good nights sleep.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Sleep tips. Good sleep hygiene we dont seem to have a dedicated thread.

I've recently purchased one of the soft headbands with headphones in and pipe in binaural music. Sleepsoundlite is the app I use and it does relax and cut out outside noise. Not sure really how effective binaural is but sleepsoundslite is gentle and has a nice loop-cycle.

Suppose it could live in chat but I'm guessing it could bring up lots of aspects of sleep.
Click to expand...

Could I ask the make and if the sounds bleeds?
I'm looking for one of these but don't want to disturb my wife (even though she snores like a pig with a chainsaw!)
 
dream_decoder said:
Could I ask the make and if the sounds bleeds?
I'm looking for one of these but don't want to disturb my wife (even though she snores like a pig with a chainsaw!)
Click to expand...

I can't really recommend it as it's shoddily put together. Great idea. There are others.
 
If I'm having trouble sleeping, I create an alter-ego- usually me as a footballer, famous writer, musician, whatever- and interview myself, making up a whole life story.

Either my fictional selves are really dull or the effort in thinking all of this tires me out, but whichever it is, it sends me to sleep very quickly.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Sleep - The How-To Thread
Click to expand...

Never been much good at it, if anyone finds out how, could they let me know?

I'm alright once I get to sleep but it's the time of falling asleep (sometimes when the dawn chorus is erupting) and the pattern of being a night-owl that is very hard to shake.

I managed it years ago, and also when living in Nepal for a couple of months (bed by 9, asleep by 11, up by 7am) as everything was dark by 5pm in winter, no TV (or even electric supply, often) but left to my own devices I am really bad at maintaining any kind of night-day separation.
 
I listen to podcasts or (gently talking) radio, either the voices blur into each other and I drift off, or I've got something to keep me occupied as I lie awake. Radio 4 is good for this, as are things like Unexplained or dark histories.
 
Couple of VAT’s couple of co codamol, sleep like a baby!
But never on a work night; too sluggish in the morning.
 
Some sort of physical exercise is the key for me. Not like full-on gym work out, just fresh air and some physical activity. If I have been working cerebrally all day (on the computer or writing) then I find that I'm not tired at 22.00. My brain is fried but my body is not tired at all. I'll then stay awake watching TV until about 01.00, head to bed and then toss and turn until about 03.00.

But if I have physically done something, then I am tired around 22.00. Having the bedroom window open when possible makes the room just the right temp (we sleep better in the cold than in the warm). So if I have worked with my body then I have a quick shower before bedtime to get warm and relaxed, under the duvet by 23.00 and it's Goodnight Vienna.

I recently did lots of heavy DIY stuff around the house and in the garden. Every day I was yawning by 21.00 and looking forward to bedtime.
 
escargot said:
My sleep problem has always been how light wakes me up. I'm awake at the first sign of dawn. Solution: a sturdy sleep mask. Works a treat.
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Yes. This is me. Definitely don't need an alarm clock in summer. Just at the moment I don't mind it so much - I can be really productive in the early hours, but when I'm working it's an utter nightmare.

Sleep mask, for me - and occasionally, silicon earplugs.

Also, I cannot tolerate an untidy or cluttered bedroom. I'm not exactly sure why that is - after all, you can't see it in the dark - but I think its to do with the initial process of going to bed in as relaxed a state as possible. My bedroom at home is like a zen retreat - I love it. When I'm working away - in hotels or digs - my first mission is to tidy as much of the extraneous clutter as I can to somewhere I can't see it.
 
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James_H said:
I listen to podcasts or (gently talking) radio, either the voices blur into each other and I drift off, or I've got something to keep me occupied as I lie awake. Radio 4 is good for this, as are things like Unexplained or dark histories.
Click to expand...
Yes, I like to go to bed with Ritula Shah. I set the timer switch as I hardly ever make it to the end.

If I am still awake I find that doing some sort of mildly absorbing mental task helps. Such as counting backwards from 100 in 3s. It is enough to stop my brain from thinking over stuff but not so hard as to need actual alertness to perform.
 
asmr on you tube for me now! Combined with a good book. (I start both things approx one hour before my intended bedtime.

No coffee past about one in the afternoon, and no food past about half seven.

Works for me!
 
Here's what I've learned over the years -

- Falling asleep isn't always the issue if I'm waking in the early hours.
Sometimes this is from worry over real problems. My way of dealing with this is to remind myself that this is a habit, not a way of working out how to deal with things. It's the monkey-mind. I don't have to listen to it.

Or the waking might be from excess caffeine. Cutting down on that helps me sleep through.

There's also the peeing issue. If you're waking up 3-4-5+ times a night you need to see the doctor. You might have detrusor instability.
This means your bladder contracts randomly in your sleep and wakes you up. It doesn't mean you're incontinent or have bladder cancer etc, it's just a condition that people get for unknown reasons. The treatment is a a course of tablets that work perfectly.

- 'Sleep hygiene' is important. I developed a routine of having NO diversions at night. (Shut up at the back.)

No looking at computers or phones, no TV or radio, not even a book. There was a bottle of water in case I was thirsty in the night so no getting up to make drinks and if I got up for the loo it was straight back to bed.

No nipping downstairs to see if the cats were OK and ending up feeding them or popping outside to look at the stars...
Back to bed, light out, silence, total boredom.

- As I've mentioned, a sleep mask works well. I put one on when I lie down now and it's instantly midnight. I sleep much longer in the mornings because my eyes think it's still dark.
My current masks are made to my own design. They cover most of my face because I've read that the skin around the eyes is sensitive to light. Dunno if that's true but I'm fooled.

All the above measures work for me but they take time to get used to. The trick is to persevere; your body needs sleep.

Once I set a routine that worked for me, I relaxed it after a while and still slept well. I go back to it if necessary.

So now I put on a podcast or YouTube video to listen to, put on my sleep mask and fall asleep in about a minute and a half.
If I wake up for t'loo it's straight back to bed, and if I'm feeling wakeful it's the podcast and mask again.

Personally I've found that waking in the early hours is a sure sign of worry about something. I remind myself about the monkey mind, turn over, break wind and settle down again. If I don't sleep I stick with the plan and basically bore myself back to sleep.
 
Min Bannister said:
Yes, I like to go to bed with Ritula Shah. I set the timer switch as I hardly ever make it to the end.

If I am still awake I find that doing some sort of mildly absorbing mental task helps. Such as counting backwards from 100 in 3s. It is enough to stop my brain from thinking over stuff but not so hard as to need actual alertness to perform.
Click to expand...

I had a Paul McKenna 'I Can Make You Sleep' CD which involves counting, can't remember if it was forwards or backwards.
There's also one called 'I Can Make You Thin' in which he encourages you to envision yourself as sylph-like and gorgeous. It too might have counting.
Picked up both from car boot sales, tried them just to hear what he said. I think the Thin one is for compulsive eaters.
Listening to them was soothing and they did help me sleep.
 
I've mentioned this on here before. It's expensive but it really does work.

https://www.thisworks.com/sleep/sleep-category/deep-sleep-pillow-spray.html

Screen Shot 2020-06-02 at 12.51.43.png
 
David Plankton said:
I've mentioned this on here before. It's expensive but it really does work.

https://www.thisworks.com/sleep/sleep-category/deep-sleep-pillow-spray.html
Click to expand...
Oh I got a tester of that once. I tried it and it and it really didn't work. Nice scent though.
escargot said:
I had a Paul McKenna 'I Can Make You Sleep' CD which involves counting, can't remember if it was forwards or backwards.
There's also one called 'I Can Make You Thin' in which he encourages you to envision yourself as sylph-like and gorgeous. It too might have counting.
Click to expand...
I really do think there is something soporific about counting. After all the classical way to fall asleep is to count sheep. When I do that I have to make each sheep bounce in the air as it is counted otherwise I get confused,
 
The go-to method round here when you can't get to sleep is the alphabet game. You pick a reasonably neutral, not-too-hard-not-too-easy subject like Biscuits or Birds and work through the alphabet trying to think of something for each letter. It's totally like what Min Bannister suggests - enough to stop your brain ruminating about other things, but not enough to require proper alertness. Sounds too simple but usually works a treat :)
 
Min Bannister said:
Oh I got a tester of that once. I tried it and it and it really didn't work. Nice scent though.

I really do think there is something soporific about counting. After all the classical way to fall asleep is to count sheep. When I do that I have to make each sheep bounce in the air as it is counted otherwise I get confused,
Click to expand...

Here's something REALLY soporific; a man's voice talking about anything, anything at all.
I reckon the McKenna CDs worked because he's a bloke droning on.
 
Friend of mine suffers intermittent, chronic insomnia. He tried to self-medicate with whisky, then tried to trim some leather on his boots. Cut the top of his thumb off. A lot of the time, lying in bed listening to the radio/podcast until you eventually drift away through exhaustion or boredom is not such a bad idea.
 
Can remember reading sleep advice in some tabloid years ago.

No late night boozing, cut down the caffeine, don't eat a heavy supper, all the usual.
Guess what the TOP tip was?
 
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Stop watching the news - or at least limit your exposure to just a few minutes per day.
Wall-to-wall coverage of plagues, rioting, Cold War style international tension, climate change, financial catastrophe etc. would keep Rip Van Winkle tossing and turning all night.
 
Eponastill said:
The go-to method round here when you can't get to sleep is the alphabet game. You pick a reasonably neutral, not-too-hard-not-too-easy subject like Biscuits or Birds and work through the alphabet trying to think of something for each letter. It's totally like what Min Bannister suggests - enough to stop your brain ruminating about other things, but not enough to require proper alertness. Sounds too simple but usually works a treat :)
Click to expand...

I do this!

Though it's not a guarantee, and I've started to run out of subjects...
 
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