Yep, this happens to me a lot. A LOT. I often end up slumped on the couch, asleep yet really uncomfortable, and wake up in the wee hours and manage to drag myself to bed. My wife gave up trying to convince me to go to bed when I was clearly tired, and now just lets me fall asleep whenever and wherever. I know how the story ends, and yet I keep reliving it over and over again. How do I deal with it? Not well. In fact, not at all, since it keeps happening.
When Celtling was little she was not much of a sleeper. So I learned to keep myself ready to catch every wink. I would brush my teeth and change into jammies as soon as dinner was over, so that if she had a good night I could fall into bed immediately. And I still do that today.
Honestly, I think I’m often asleep before I hit the bed. And as I age I find myself asleep in my chair sometimes too, which is new (perhaps thyroid related?). There’s no question that I find socks on the floor beside the bed, a thing I would never consciously do, and have no memory of, but which happens 2-3 times per week.
So anyway, my suggestion is front-load the routine, so you can just walk straight into the sheets when you are ready. And consider the possibility that you are ready a good 45 minutes earlier than you currently are recognizing it.
Yup, just a couple weeks ago.
- up at 5 am (typical for us)
- arive at airport for international flight at 2pm
- flight departs at 5pm. Arrive Iceland noon our time, but it’s 6am local. Of course can’t check into hotel until 11 am local. At this point I can’t figure out what day it is. My phone and computer had not yet updated the date or time
- Fell asleep. For 2 hours. Still light out.
- I thought it was morning. I take a shower, and wake up my wife “Honey we need to get going” (we had a morning excursion).
- My wife thought I was crazy, but then she started questioning herself.
- Slate grey overcast so the sun was no help.
- I literally had to go ask someone if it was morning or night
A friend starts her hotel rental the prior night so she can stumble into bed at 7am. You have to tell the hotel that’s what you are doing, and assure them you aren’t a no-show. (Probably easier with on-line check-in) And of course you need to pay for an extra hotel night. But she’s done it a few times.
That’s something i definitely consciously do, and often remember doing.
If i don’t brush my teeth before bed, my teeth will feel fuzzy in the morning, and i worry about their health. But if i drop my clothes on the floor as i get ready for bed, i just pick them up and move them to the hamper in the morning. (Or to the “still clean enough to wear” pile.) No harm, no foul.
I can’t change into PJs until I’m ready to seclude myself in the bedroom. I have 4 cats and a mild cat allergy. The bedroom is my cat-free zone, and i need to keep the linens and what i wear in bed free of car dander. But it sounds like a solid strategy for a lot of people.
Agreed. If I’m too tired to go to bed, but I’m in a sufficiently comfortable chair, I sometimes fall asleep in the chair; though usually only until my back or neck start to complain. The process of dragging myself up and getting ready for bed, unfortunately, often wakes me back up.
— last night I was in a chair I would have fallen out of if I fell asleep. The cat got off my lap and I got up and went to bed. Without washing the dishes.
For the various people who suggested this: wouldn’t work for me. The problem is that I’m downstairs, probably having eaten something or let in a cat or turned off the outside water or been doing something on the desktop; and now I have to stand up and go upstairs. It’s the standing up that’s the issue, not whether I’ve already brushed my teeth. It isn’t even really the going upstairs. It’s the standing up.
Seriously though, try taking five deep breaths.
Yeah, I don’t really have a problem going to bed at night. For the most part I practice good sleep hygiene.
Where this really becomes an issue is the morning shower. On days at home I delay it as long as possible because I dread brushing my teeth.
IMO IME the trick is when you notice you’re yawning or attention is flagging, immediately drop whatever you’re doing, perform your minimum tasks in the dimmest light you can, and crawl in bed. That way lies instant easy sleep.
Forcing through the yawns / mental listlessness of incipient sleep resets your sleep clock & it’ll be 60-90 minutes before your brain is sleepy again. Same thing happens if you turn on bright lights and have a 20-minute multiple task checklist to prep for bed.
Kinda like surfing, you have to be ready to ride when the wave comes by; dither or dawdle and you’ve missed it.
I also wonder if screens or lights could be playing a role in this. I’ve found when I’m reading on something with blue light, I keep going far past the point when I feel like I could fall asleep. That happened to me last night so I’m trying to switch to a stitching project or reading on Kindle in night mode.
I’m very sensitive to lighting. Even a light bulb at regular strength can mess with my sleep readiness.
Having been long retired, this isn’t something I think about much. My sleeping pattern tends to be in the form of naps. The idea of going to sleep at night and waking up to cheery sunshine and singing birds is now uncommon to me. I just go to bed when I feel tired and watch a movie or TV show on my tablet. I inevitably fall asleep and then may wake up only a few hours later. I’ve been told that this is typical of Old Geezers.
In contrast, I am a seasoned professional Geezer.
I was responding to your statement here.
<scratches head>
Oh, I see how that was confusing.
I would say it’s a minor stumbling block in the PM but way more of an issue in the AM.
Even though I am aversive to brushing my teeth at night, the nighttime routine just kind of makes it happen. But that’s because when I’m winding down, I’m already in bed. I wind down in bed. So I am usually brushing my teeth, changing and doing that routine before I even start to wind down.
However, sometimes it’s so late at night, and I’m so tired, I don’t bother. I was referring more to those instances. If I get past a certain tired threshold than I can be in a situation like the OP.
My best defense to this is don’t allow myself to reach that threshold before going upstairs and doing the routine.
Exactly this. Which is why I go to bed so often without brushing my teeth.
I’ll take this opportunity to argue with those who say that electric toothbrushes are for those “too lazy to move a toothbrush back and forth”. No! My dentist recommended it, and my nice Braun electric with inductive charging probably does a much better job on my teeth than a manual brush. But, sadly, when I’m tired it’s still easier to just collapse into bed.
Without question electric toothbrushes can be a game changer. But they are much more sensory intense. I use a sonic toothbrush which is slightly less intense than a rotating one, but it’s still a lot.
??? He’s sitting down.
I’ll try the breaths.
Zopiclone. Half-dose.
I have gone through several brands of electric toothbrushes and hated them all. It always felt like my teeth were being assaulted. Even with “sensitive” brush heads.
Then I stumbled on the Rolls Royce/Holy Grail of manual toothbrushes:
“Soft” doesn’t mean wimpy and weak like a baby’s toothbrush, but firm, with many soft bristles very tightly packed. The bristles themselves aren’t pointy and needle-sharp like nylon bristles. They have 28K 90% 5-star amazon reviews.
Curaprox also makes an electric toothbrush and I thought the brush heads would be like their manual toothbrushes. But no. They were hard, rough, and abrasive like other electric toothbrushes.
If you belong to the school of “if it feels good and doesn’t hurt, then it can’t be doing me any good,” you probably wouldn’t like the Curaprox manual brush.
Along with the Curaprox, I use this Waterpik:
Waterpik Aquarius Countertop Water Flosser
This is huge. Blue light signals “dawn” to your brain. And banishes good sleep for hours. It doesn’t take much; even a blue-heavy bright CFL or LED in a bathroom for a few minutes will do it
Never watch a TV within a couple hours of intended bedtime. Many devices have a reduced-blue mode that’s for pre-bed screen time.
Try it; you might be amazed at the difference.
That’s a fantastic amnesiac for sleep. Fortunately, I almost never it need so my supply is probably expired.