the shizzle > diet, training and injuries
Sleep
SA Chris:
Any tips on how to get more (without resorting to drugs?)
Ever since putting up with 2 babies awake at all hours in the last couple of years my sleep patterns have been fucked (well they weren't great before!)
I usually go to bed about 11 and am awake by just after 5, and that's me for the night on a good night. If I got to bed earlier, I'm usually awake earlier and toss and turn, and if I'm lucky get an another half hour or so, annoyingly usually drifting off just as the human alarm clocks go off about 6:30.
I do all the stuff I'm supposed to; no telly an hour before going to sleep (although this is sometimes only 30-45 mins), no telly in room, room coool and dark, warm shower before bed, but cool down before getting into bed, then read until I doze off. I don't have anythign to drink before bed, or else I need to get up for a piss. I eat reasonably well, and get as much fresh air and exercise as I can (but nothing in 2 hours before bed), but anything longer than a 6 hour stretch seems to elude me. As soion as I'm awake my brain starts and won't shut down.
Advice? Or you reckon that's jjsut the way it is for me as I approach middle age? I'm usually OK with it, but sometimes just nod off early afternoon (or annoyingly on the bus home the other night, resulting in a long walk).
Nibile:
If, as you say, when you first wake up then your brain starts working and you can't get back asleep, I think it's probably something mentally stressful rather than something physical that you can control with better lifestyle or habits.
What do you think?
Just an idea, but I know many like this.
psychomansam:
--- Quote from: SA Chris on October 17, 2013, 02:07:14 pm ---Any tips on how to get more (without resorting to drugs?)
Ever since putting up with 2 babies awake at all hours in the last couple of years my sleep patterns have been fucked (well they weren't great before!)
I usually go to bed about 11 and am awake by just after 5, and that's me for the night on a good night. If I got to bed earlier, I'm usually awake earlier and toss and turn, and if I'm lucky get an another half hour or so, annoyingly usually drifting off just as the human alarm clocks go off about 6:30.
I do all the stuff I'm supposed to; no telly an hour before going to sleep (although this is sometimes only 30-45 mins), no telly in room, room coool and dark, warm shower before bed, but cool down before getting into bed, then read until I doze off. I don't have anythign to drink before bed, or else I need to get up for a piss. I eat reasonably well, and get as much fresh air and exercise as I can (but nothing in 2 hours before bed), but anything longer than a 6 hour stretch seems to elude me. As soion as I'm awake my brain starts and won't shut down.
Advice? Or you reckon that's jjsut the way it is for me as I approach middle age? I'm usually OK with it, but sometimes just nod off early afternoon (or annoyingly on the bus home the other night, resulting in a long walk).
--- End quote ---
You might find it's worth focussing even more on more natural light cycles. I actually use my laptop in bed all the time, but I have f.lux which adjusts the tone of the screen throughout the day, and I have a screen dimmer to drastically dim it at night.
Anyway, my point was, decreasing lighting for half an hour before bed can be helpful, as can using a light-alarm clock. You can buy all in one gadgets to do all this though they're not cheap if you want a decent one.
I also find bedtime sci-fi/fantasy reading helps me switch off, and do it in the dark with inverted colours on a tablet (dimmed white writing on a black background).
But I'm basically agreed with the above person. It seems like you're doing a lot of the right physical stuff, so perhaps you need to approach it more as a mental ailment. Meditation, stilling exercises etc have helped me with this (else I would have had a breakdown during my PGCE I think). These days the escapism of reading is normally enough - though I frequently dream of work and some meditation might well help.
If meditation is tough for you, perhaps start off by doing some yoga and focussing on precision, breathing and a stilling at the end of it.
I'm aware you may have tried all of this already
andy popp:
Chris, that sounds incredibly similar to my sleep pattern - I'm pretty happy if its 5am when I wake. If I'm right about that, then the problem is not getting to sleep but staying asleep late enough in the morning, so doing everything right in the evening isn't the issue. Mine has undoubtedly got worse with middle age - as its meant to - but I've always been an early riser, even as a teenager. It also got much worse during an especially traumatic period in my life - it settled back down from that but probably never quite returned to 'normal'.
But most importantly, I've also come to realize that actually I'm fine on the sleep I get. And that means I stress about it much less.
psychomansam:
Also, regarding drugs, you could always start off with a baseline of chamomile tea and then try some valerian / herbal nytol / nytol / scrip meds to kick-start you into a better cycle. But the further you go along that list, the more addictive it becomes.
I've had scrip meds for sleep before now, to deal with SSRI withdrawal. Considering the extenuating circumstances, I can't really comment on their negative effects but I was told that if you get hooked the withdrawal is similar to heroin.
They should prob ban chamomile infusions as a gateway drug. :coffee:
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