I am not asking for medical advice, merely OTC or non-medicinal stratagem
I am tired…always. I tend not to be able to sleep through the night. I fall asleep quickly, but wake up after a few hours and cannot fall asleep again. I usually fall asleep with the TV on, but with a timer set so it turns off within 10-20 minutes of me falling asleep, so that isn’t the problem. I have very dense curtains so my bedroom is very dark. The cat is sometimes shut out of the bedroom, so that isn’t the problem. There are no noises/activities outside that disturb me. I drink caffinated beverages, but only before noon or 1PM, I rarely drink alcohol, if I do, it is a beer with dinner. I try not to nap during the day, and usually succeed (thought not today). I have tried OTC sleeping pills, but I wake up groggy and usually early. My alarm clock goes off at 5:30 and I am awake before it goes off 5-7 days a week. I go to bed between 10 and 10:30 most nights.
I know you’re not specifically asking for medical advice, but it is possible (as the google ads surmise) that you’re suffering from apnea. This, of course, could only be confirmed or ruled out, and treated by, a real doctor.
Are you especially anxious? How do you feel when you wake up? Are you waking in the midst of a dream?
Depression sometimes has waking too early as a symptom. Sleep apnea is also a condition that leads to being tired throughout the day. Discounting those two things, some things I’ve learned that can help you sleep soundly:
Don’t use your bed for anything other than sleeping. If you watch TV or read in bed, then your body isn’t conditioned to sleep in bed.
A warm bath and/or glass of warm milk before bed can help. As can keeping the lights low and noise down in the hours before bedtime. Even artificial light can fool your circadian rhythms. A normal bedtime routine helps a lot.
Excercise, even walking, during the day, can help.
I hadn’t really considered lighting before bed, but I usually have 1-3 60w bulbs and tv and/or computer on. Or currently 1 60w bulb and a christmas tree.
I try to only sleep in bed, sometimes I lay (or lie?) around not sleeping in bed, but I don’t do much reading or tv watching in bed (10-20 minutes as I am falling asleep). I am torn between getting up and doing something when I wake up and laying in bed hoping to fall back asleep since I have seen studies that say both are bad.
If I am waking during a dream, I don’t remember the dream, in fact, I don’t remember having any dreams for quite a while. I have discussed apnea with my Dr. and she doesn’t think its very likely and nobody has ever told me I stop breathing in my sleep.
So melatonin, eh? I was expecting to find internet sites about how it’ll cure everything from hangnails to foot fungus, but it seems legit…
It can wake people up when they are just falling asleep and be very disruptive to sleep cycles. My husband is getting checked out for it (after some kind Doper introduced me to the condition).
Progressive relaxation and meditation have turned me from a sleeper like you into a great sleeper, xbuckeye. I usually fell asleep no problem, but then I would wake up at 4 am and lie there and worry about every little thing I could think of. I trained my body how to relax (I think we would be shocked at how few North Americans have the first clue about how to actually relax), and now it relaxes when I want it to. A couple of conscious breaths and I’m out again. I don’t even meditate any more, but the benefits of learning to relax have stayed with me.
I think that would be me - I remember that exchange from a few months ago.
I’m guessing that xbuckeye would realize if he (?) had twitchies (I’m very aware of mine) but perhaps not. This would seem to make falling asleep itself a bit difficult though. However, it’s definitely something to look into - hey, xbuckeye, you need to consult a bed partner!
On having the TV on when you’re falling asleep: From what I remember of the Ferber sleep book back in the nightmarish days of my son’s sleepless times, people learn to rely on some situations to fall asleep. Could be a specific pillow, could be rocking to sleep, could be specific sounds, whatever. If the TV at bedtime (and absence thereof at 4 AM) is a contributor, you could either try to learn to fall asleep without the TV, or turn it on when you wake up too early. I’m in much that same boat - I pretty much need the TV on when I’m going to sleep, and sometimes when I waken to toddle to the bathroom, I have trouble falling back asleep.
As far as how to fall back asleep after one of those wakings, I’ll be watching for hints too - there are times when I wake at 2 AM and am stuck until 5 or so. Usually my twitchies (PLMD) aren’t an issue. If I wake up early enough, I can take a sleeping pill (Sonata, which is prescription but shorter-acting than some others) but that is feasible only if I don’t wait too long (I have to be awake to go to work!).
Sounds like you’re doing a lot of the right stuff - no caffeine after noon, rarely drink alcohol (it can help you get to sleep but makes it likely you’ll wake up early).
My husband hasn’t been diagnosed, so I can’t address real PLMD, but he definitely twitches and does this weird marching movement that wakes him up without him being aware of it.
I just read a book called “Powerful Sleep” which talked about temperature and melatonin as the two main sleep regulators. Its main suggestions for improving sleep quality were:
Sunlight exposure: Get outside and get lots of sunlight as soon as you wake up and throughout the day. Apparently light is a huge factor in our sleep systems and staying inside all day (especially if you’re not near windows) messes with your cycle. Author even suggests that we shouldn’t wear sunglasses unless absolutely necessary, and should get bright light boxes if we have to work in internal offices.
Exercise: Exercise raises your temperature which helps ensure that you get a nice temperature drop in the evening (which sends you off to sound sleep).
Regular sleep schedule: As much as possible, try to go to sleep and wake up at the same times every day. Don’t sleep in on the weekends, and don’t try to make up for missed sleep. Over time, if the other factors help improve the quality of your sleep, you may be able to reduce the quantity to 5-7 hours a night.
Power Naps: If you get tired in the middle of the day, take a nap, but don’t let yourself sleep longer than 45 minutes. If you do, that will send you into a deeper sleep which will make it harder to wake up and will mess with your cycle
Drink Water: Author claims that hydration is important for getting good quality sleep for a variety of blood-related reasons that may or may not be quack science. Still, water is always a good thing.
Drugs: Sleeping pills mess with your system and make you worse off. Nicotine really messes with your system and should be stopped. Caffeine should be limited and mostly consumed during the morning.
Other Stuff: Don’t sleep on your stomach. Don’t eat within the 3 hours before sleeping (or at least don’t eat heavy foods). Don’t do anything but sleep in bed (e.g. no TV or anything else that will form waking associations). Make the room cold at night. Take a warm shower 90 minutes before sleeping (but not later than that). Make sure your room is pitch black when you sleep and that you open the curtains wide and let in the sun as soon as you wake.
Once you’re on a regular sleep schedule, you should experiment with waking up 20 minutes earlier, 20 minutes later, 40 minutes earlier etc and note how easy it is to wake up. Our sleep goes in cycles and it’s easiest to wake up in stages 1, 2 (light sleep) and 5 (REM/dream sleep), but very hard in stages 3-4 (deep sleep). If you can find a schedule that works naturally with your personal cycle, then you’ll have an easier time waking up in the morning and feel more refreshed throughout the day.
I’d also recommend talking to your doctor to rule out depression; as has been mentioned, it is one of the most common causes of depression (associated with about 17% of all cases of insomnia IIRC). That you have no problem falling asleep and wake up early sounds like you have an advanced sleep phase, which, as the link says, is commonly associated with depression.
Melatonin may work but, as with all supplements, is not regulated and therefore the dosage is pretty much unknown for a specific brand. A better alternative may be ramelteon, which is a melatonin receptor agonist approved by the FDA, and its effects should therefore be more predictable. It is prescription-only, so once again talk to your doctor. If he doesn’t feel comfortable with it, and most physicians have very little training in sleep disorders, see if he will refer you to a sleep clinic.
I have heard theories that either serotonin or melatonin (can’t remember which) is required to keep us asleep, and it is destroyed by any light in our room while sleeping. This includes the glow of your bedside clock. I have covered mine so I don’t see the glow, and I find I do sleep better. Also, it gets you out of the habit of looking at the clock during the night - you only need to know one time, and your alarm lets you know when you reach that time.
On the topic of not using the bed for anything but sleeping: That includes lying in bed fretting. If you wake up and can’t get back to sleep within 30 minutes or so, get up. Do something nonstimulating until you feel sleepy again, and only then go back to bed. For “nonstimulating” I usually read something boring or sort books to take to the used-book store; don’t do anything physically strenuous and don’t go online or turn on the TV (and don’t do anything noisy if you live in an apartment). Do NOT lie in bed for hours worrying about anything; get up and distract yourself. Do not lie in bed for hours trying to get back to sleep; get up and do something–even if you get no more sleep at least you’ll get some chores done.
Keeping your bedroom on the cool side helps too; it’s hard for anyone to sleep in a hot room. But for me the most important things are 1. quiet bedroom 2. watch caffeine and decongestants 3. if I find myself awake, get the hell up.
Hmmm…PLMD? Well, I know that I have kicked the cat out of bed (literally) when she sleeps in the wrong place and I forget she is there, but through years of college roommates, nobody ever told me I did strange things in my sleep. I also, every once in a really really long while (months) will twitch myself awake right as I am falling asleep. I usually don’t turn on the TV for a while because as soon as it’s on, I’ll never sleep again. I also have an alarm clock that isn’t lit (one of them old-fangled dial thingamabobs). My bedroom is really really dark…even in the day. As far as getting sunlight ASAP in the AM…well, here in the Arctic North (Wisconsin) I am up for hours before the sun shows its lazy-ass head. I already don’t sleep in on weekends, and I do not take naps if it is at all avoidable since I can’t get to sleep that night. If I am up early and can’t get back to sleep in half an hour or so, I usually get up and clean the kitchen or unload the dishwasher or something semiproductive. My workplace has decent natural light and very bright artificial light, too. We’re a plant, its regulated.
Maybe I should spend my lunch time running around the plant for excercise.
- I remember that exchange from a few months ago.