Sleep: The How-To Thread

Erinaceus said:
I don't have trouble going to sleep but if I wake during the night it can take a long time to go back to sleep.
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That's often caused by caffeine. I didn't believe cutting it out could help but found that it certainly does.
 
I'm all right once asleep, but am having more and more trouble dropping off in the first place. It's these damn hot feet again! The rest of me can be freezing, all bundled up in the duvet, and I've got my feet stuck out of the side. And it's the soles of my feet that feel so hot, not the rest. I've done the wet socks, the gel cooling pads, nothing seems to help. But strangely it NEVER happens when I've been at work all evening, only when I go to bed at a normal time after a day of noodling about.
 
catseye said:
I'm all right once asleep, but am having more and more trouble dropping off in the first place. It's these damn hot feet again! The rest of me can be freezing, all bundled up in the duvet, and I've got my feet stuck out of the side. And it's the soles of my feet that feel so hot, not the rest. I've done the wet socks, the gel cooling pads, nothing seems to help. But strangely it NEVER happens when I've been at work all evening, only when I go to bed at a normal time after a day of noodling about.
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How does one noodle then?
 
I’ve resorted to Melatonin tablets with valerian and a few other “sleepy herbs”.
They did nothing for the first week but now seem to be having a beneficial effect.

I have also restarted nano-magnesium and nano-iron. If I can get that balance right I am hoping to start to sleep better.

Nursing Mrs T63 after her operation, walking dogs from 5ish in the morning and then travelling into London for a shift I am exhausted, which would make one believe sleep would come easy, but I am shattered by 19.30, drop into bed for a read and off to sleep by 20.00. By midnight I am wide awake and counting the minutes until I get up again. Podcasts no longer work, binaural beats have failed me, booze seems to accentuate the problem. I might have to get some hooky ketamine if all else fails.
 
Tempest63 said:
I’ve resorted to Melatonin tablets with valerian and a few other “sleepy herbs”.
They did nothing for the first week but now seem to be having a beneficial effect.

I have also restarted nano-magnesium and nano-iron. If I can get that balance right I am hoping to start to sleep better.

Nursing Mrs T63 after her operation, walking dogs from 5ish in the morning and then travelling into London for a shift I am exhausted, which would make one believe sleep would come easy, but I am shattered by 19.30, drop into bed for a read and off to sleep by 20.00. By midnight I am wide awake and counting the minutes until I get up again. Podcasts no longer work, binaural beats have failed me, booze seems to accentuate the problem. I might have to get some hooky ketamine if all else fails.
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How much melatonin are you taking? n/m i just looked it up, it's 1.95 mg. I was taking 10 mg and it stopped working after awhile. A friend mentioned trying 1 mg doses and it did work better. Don't ask me how. Magnesium Bisglycinate works best for sleep I've found. Also look for a gummy that has L-Theanine and/or Cammomile (sp?) that might help as well.

Also, I wonder if you should instead take it when you wake up at midnight?
 
I just read old magazines, usually Viz, chuck it on my duvet then retrieve later on off my bedroom floor. Those get me to sleep.
 
Aydee_Aitchdee said:
How much melatonin are you taking? I ask because I was taking 10 mg and it stopped working after awhile. A friend mentioned trying 1 mg doses and it did work better. Don't ask me how. Magnesium Bisglycinate works best for sleep I've found.

Also, I wonder if you should instead take it when you wake up at midnight?
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Too late tonight but definitely worth a try tomorrow night. Thanks for the tip.
 
Here's a BBC Radio 4 programme, Inside Health, about insomnia.

Can insomnia be fixed?
Inside Health
How did you sleep last night?
Perhaps you couldn't drift off, or maybe you woke in the middle of the night and then couldn't nod off again.

In this special edition of Inside Health we're talking all about insomnia.
It’s an issue that may affect many of us at some point in our lives – but for some it goes beyond a short period of not being able to sleep and becomes something more serious.

You’ve been getting in touch with your questions, and James is joined by a trio of experts ready to answer to them: Dr Allie Hare, president of the British Sleep Society and consultant physician in sleep medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital, Colin Espie, a professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University and Dr Faith Orchard, a lecturer in psychology at Sussex University.

We’re going to find out why we get insomnia, when to seek help and how much factors like ageing, menopause, needing the loo or shift work matter.
And we'll look at the latest advice and treatments. Can insomnia be fixed?
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Used to drink a lot of tea and coffee, would wake up in the night; cut down on the hot bevs and slept better. I've repeated this process several times down the years.

It's hard to part with the precious caffeine but worth it.

Here's an old post of mine about caffeine, from the Coffee Thread, 2015 -
#131

Caffeine isn't good for us in large quantities. I'd meant to give it up for a while, and then years ago during a family crisis I accidentally picked up decaf coffee at the supermarket. We were all feeling so bad that the lack of caffeine went unnoticed for weeks! After that I was sold on it.

However, on changing jobs recently I began drinking awesomely-strong commuter coffee. Big mugs of it, several times a day. It was nice but I paid for it in broken sleep.

So yesterday I cut out all caffeine. Gave me a nagging headache all afternoon and evening. Eventually took aspirins and it went away.

Had the sweetest night's sleep in months though. It's decaf all the way for me now!

A friend has terrible sleep patterns. He goes to bed as normal but is awake in the early hours and can't sleep, or he does drop off again and wake up repeatedly. He drinks mug after mug of strong coffee. I've told him to cut down and see how much better he sleeps. I bet he won't! It's a real addiction.
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The friend I mention died a year ago today, hmm. :thought:
 
I've been advised to use a gel cooling mat. But in the meantime I keep a small bottle of water in the freezer and bring it up to bed at bedtime to put my feet on.
 
escargot said:
Used to drink a lot of tea and coffee, would wake up in the night; cut down on the hot bevs and slept better. I've repeated this process several times down the years.

It's hard to part with the precious caffeine but worth it.

Here's an old post of mine about caffeine, from the Coffee Thread, 2015 -
#131



The friend I mention died a year ago today, hmm. :thought:
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Sorry about your friend sKaRGs. Not really anything I can say to cheer you up except this months Viz has a good puerile strip (for a change) .. 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe of Porn'. The lads go in, past the fur coats, Narnia's there except there's a large pile of their Uncle's 'bongo mags' so they don't explore any further but just sit there going PHWOOAR! YOU CAN SEE EVERTHING! at the mags. It made me laugh anyway.
 
The sleep problems, coupled with the ongoing IBD that doesn’t improve, whatever they poison me with has led me to the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP).
It is a Paleo diet but more stringent for the first thirty days. I am slowly easing into the diet, off booze, bread, dairy and nightshades, and will go in at the deep end on bank holiday Monday (6th May). I then have the week off to get accustomed to the diet and learn what to cook for the remainder of the month. After that I can start reintroducing foods to see what most affects me.
I responded well initially to the Ayurvedic diet but all of a sudden there were so many steps and processes to go through that it became unmanageable. The more improvement I made, the more complicated it seemed to become.
Anyway, I live in hope that AIP will work, I have always thought my IBD was somewhat diet related but the clever geezers in the white coats always mocked me for it.
 
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