Sleep Suggestions

brandondanieley

I have a very difficult time falling asleep some nights. Well a good bit of nights 😅 I’ve tried melatonin and all the usual sleep aids, and the nutritional and exercise changes have been done.

Does anyone take anything not usually known about to help them sleep or do anything specific that isn’t widely talked about to help them get good rest?

Open for discussion and suggestions!

AnnPT77

A limited course of in-person hypnotherapy helped me. (I went to a credentialed psychotherapist, but one of my friends went to a non-psychologist hypnotist, and had success).

On my way to that point, trying lots of things, I was told by my employer's referral service that a limited course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is quite successful for people who can't get to sleep, or can't get back to sleep, because basically their mind is racing with thoughts and keeps them awake.

That wasn't the type of insomnia I had, so I didn't try CBT. But the hypnotherapy did help, not a 100% cure, but a big improvement, bigger than anything else I tried.

I'm usually a skeptic, went into the hypnotherapy as a skeptic, am not usually very suggestible in routine life, but I was desperate. I had tried everything I could think of: Hospital sleep studies, multiple prescription and OTC sleep meds, I was surprised that it worked as well as it did, frankly.

Personalized hypnotherapy is not cheap. (I did it a few years back. If I estimated the total cost in current dollars, I would guess around $500-700USD for the whole multi-week course (plus recordings to use at home)?) There exist non-personalized sleep hypnosis recordings that are not expensive; there may even be free ones on YouTube or a podcast app, I don't know.

Lessennan

I tried switching off the internet at 8pm and either just watching tv or reading for the last two hours and it worked for me. Evenings I don’t do that I don’t sleep.
Of course, if I’ve something on my mind then hitting me on the head with a sledgehammer won’t knock me out to sleep

AnnaLRW

I have been listening to nature sounds. I like the ocean. It works on the whole. I'm not sure how I think it gives me a focus and maybe crowds my thoughts to the edges!

mehshell420

Occasionally I'll drink chamomile tea. Other things that help me fall asleep are cbd oils/indica flower and some nights I like to put some crystals under my pillow. A nice foot rub also helps!

Speakeasy76

My 12-year old son actually started working with a sleep psychologist recently due to insomnia and uses the CBT approach. She said that she rarely suggests melatonin, especially as a long-term solution, and most people are using it wrong. When she does recommend she suggests like half of the suggested dose and taken a few hours before planned bedtime. Ironically, she pushed my son's sleep time to like 2 hours after his usual but he has to get up at the same time (which he does on his own regardless of time to bed). The idea is that he'll keep pushing it to 15 minutes earlier every 1-2 weeks to "squeeze out" the insomnia. He also takes theanine as well.

If you haven't already, turn off all screens at least 30 minutes before bedtime and start some kind of wind-down routine. I actually do some gentle, supposedly sleep-helping stretching in bed. Some sleep aid tea may also help as well.

vanmep

I like to do a guided progressive relaxation. There are lots of them on YouTube or podcasts.

WilnaRenee

My nightly routine is to take a melatonin, and get into bed. Watch some tv until I start to feel sleepy. Then I put on a progressive relaxation video on YouTube, put on a sleep mask and am normally out before the video is over. When I have a hard time staying asleep, I will drink some skullcap tea before I begin my routine.

Mellouk89

I know it may be a bit silly, but I eat a giant bowl of pasta before I go to bed and it works pretty well. Cause carbs will increase serotonin, at least temporarily. I don't even care about gaining weight at this point I just want to sleep.

cwolfman13

I take a 1:1 ratio THC:CBD 5 mg gummy (legal here) a couple hours before bed when my wife and I sit down for the evening to watch television along with some herbal hot tea; this just gets me in a very relaxed state. I take 1,000 Mg magnesium citrate about 30 minutes or so before going to bed which makes me sleepy and helps me sleep through the night and also helps me avoid the muscle cramping that I used to frequently have. Generally I read for about 30-45 minutes and then I'm out.

PapillonNoire

I was prescribed Trazadone by my doctor for anxiety related insomnia. I don't take it every night, just for the occasional problematic night but it works amazingly well for me when needed.

I also found in general that using a lavender scented pillow spray makes me feel more calm and relaxed.

Rsrs35

I recently had a sleep coach help me as I’ve suffered with bouts of insomnia my entire life. I think my cortisol levels are out of whack but that’s something I haven’t tested as yet - you might want to research into getting this tested.

The sleep coach designed a 6 week course.

Initially she focussed on limiting sleep - which on day one did not feel like sleep deprivation because at that point I was so used to sleeping late, I was like “2 am? - yep i can do that easily”.

BUT there was a catch - I had to wake up at the time Everyday no matter what. I chose 7am.

So initially for 1 weeks I was limited to only sleeping at 2am and waking at 7am.

By day 5 I was shattered. She then increased this by 30 mins every week until I got to 7.5 hours.

What did I learn? It’s not solely about what time you sleep. You should focus on the time you wake.

To many of us focus on bed time routines but we rarely focus on the time we get out of bed and that routine. Once you have conquered waking up, and not napping, and getting daylight at the start of the day (this resets your Circadian rhythm)

You might like to try limiting your time in bed too.

So;

- ALWAYS wake up at the same time everyday no matter what. (Yes even the weekends)
- ONLY sleep when you are tired.
- Limit your sleep for one week gradually increasing by 30mins every week.
- try PMR - progressive muscle relaxation
- Don’t be hard on yourself.

Sweet dreams!

milky_nutella

Earplugs and eye band sleep helped me a lot. It's easy and simple, but it really works. Just before falling asleep I let myself to think about something if I need to and then I try to clear my mind.

makinlifehappen

I have insomnia and apnea so sleep and me aren't friends.
My youngest son is worse. He was prescribed Melatonin, benadryl, and ambien at the age of six.
We don't take anything prescribed anymore. But with him the combination of benadryl, melatonin (10 MG), valerian root and zinc seem to help.

For myself I have adjusted my diet to include things that will promote sleep and fullness. Some nights it helps with sleep, some nights it just helps me not eat.

Hollis100

brandondanieley wrote: »

I have a very difficult time falling asleep some nights. Well a good bit of nights 😅 I’ve tried melatonin and all the usual sleep aids, and the nutritional and exercise changes have been done.

Does anyone take anything not usually known about to help them sleep or do anything specific that isn’t widely talked about to help them get good rest?

Open for discussion and suggestions!

When I was young, I knew a wonderful man who lived through the WWII bombings in London. His family slept on the London underground (subway/railway) platforms. He said he did the following to get some sleep:

Lie on your back. Beginning with your toes, tense and relax your muscles. Variations: hold the tense muscles for several breaths (normal inhales and exhales), lift each body part a few inches off the mattress, and then let it drop.

Work your way up your body, tensing and relaxing your muscles -- legs, buttocks, stomach, arms, hands and shoulders, and head. Pay attention to the small muscles in your head, including your scalp, cheeks, mouth, eyes, and forehead.

I've done this before and fallen sleep right away. Good luck!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I've not had that much trouble sleeping for most of my life, but it's getting harder as I get older. It doesn't seem to matter that much if I read stuff on my phone with the brightness turned down. (News articles put me right out, usually.)

If there's something on my mind, it can keep me up. To get me to focus on something different, I'll listen to an audiobook. Actually, I'd like to find headphones that are comfortable in bed so it's easier to do that. I like the idea of a guided meditation instead of the book.

xrj22

Writing in a journal just before bed has been great for me.

sbelletti

Aid may depend on what's causing your sleeplessness. For me, my brain is often running nonstop and prevents me from sleeping. I actually prefer falling asleep to the sound of a TV at a low volume. White noise isn't quite distracting enough, but I can fall asleep to just about any TV show. Ideally, it's old reruns that I'm not actually interested in watching.

Walkywalkerson

My sleep is awful at the moment!
I think the excess of Christmas on my diet and exercise routine plays a big part in that.
I sleep so much better when back in my normal routine.
I don't eat or drink anything with calories for at least 3hrs before bed.
I also don't have anything with caffeine after 3pm.
Alcohol plays havoc with my sleep so I avoid it - I haven't been doing much avoiding over the Christmas period - I feel exhausted 😴

koalajoe1

This may sound weird, but it’s helped me so much—it might help some of you, too. About 5 months ago, I started mouth-taping when I go to bed at night, and it was a game changer for falling asleep quickly, stopping my snoring/sleep apnea, and sleeping through the night. I found a link that explains it, if you haven’t heard of it before.

https://askthedentist.com/mouth-tape-better-sleep/#whats-so-bad-about-mouth-breathing

I have bad allergies at certain times of the year and so I think I tend to breathe out of my mouth a lot instead of my nose. I had read about trying mouth taping to retrain myself to breathe through my nose. I never paid much attention to which way I was breathing before and didn’t realize that there are a lot of positive health benefits to breathing through your nose.

Now I fall asleep within about two minutes of laying down, I sleep through the night, I don’t have the urge to get up and go to the bathroom, and I feel so much better during the day.

I used to prefer sleeping on my side on a low pillow, and I think those two things were cutting off the amount of oxygen and I was getting which was probably contributing to all of my sleep problems.

With the tape on I discovered that I have to lay on my back and sleep on two pillows so that my head is elevated up enough and my tongue won’t fall back in my mouth and cut off my oxygen.

I think there are some mouth tapes in the market, but I just use surgical tape that I bought at the drugstore and it works just fine.

I definitely recommend trying it and hope it can be as helpful you as it has been for me.

AnnPT77

Tape is a good point: I use it with my CPAP mask. I need the full face mask, but still tend to mouth-breath and dry out, even with humidity in the CPAP. With the mask, a single strip of regular sensitive-skin paper tape (like you'd use for bandaging) works fine, applied vertically from just under nose to bottom of chin. I would've thought it wouldn't stick, but it does, generally. Keeps my mouth closed, even without covering lips fully. It's weird, TBH.

Xerogs

brandondanieley wrote: »

Does anyone take anything not usually known about to help them sleep or do anything specific that isn’t widely talked about to help them get good rest?

I set a bed time and wake up time and try to stick to it within an hour or so. If I can't get to sleep within 20 minutes I do a reset and get up for a short while (no phone, no TV, no bright lights). If my mind is all over the place then I try meditation practices to let those thoughts go while in bed (the "what ifs" will keep me up for hours and its not worth it). I don't eat right before bed try to give it 2-3 hours before sleep plus I stay away from acid reflux foods. No caffeine after 2pm. We also try to keep our bedroom as dark as possible (black out curtains, dim clock lights, cover any bright LEDS). We also have an air purifier (all year) and a fan that we use in the summer time that adds white noise to the room. We also keep our bedroom quite cool which seems to help as well.

I've also accepted that for me its normal to wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times so I don't stress and fall back to sleep faster.

atactic

brandondanieley wrote: »

I have a very difficult time falling asleep some nights. Well a good bit of nights 😅 I’ve tried melatonin and all the usual sleep aids, and the nutritional and exercise changes have been done.

Does anyone take anything not usually known about to help them sleep or do anything specific that isn’t widely talked about to help them get good rest?

Open for discussion and suggestions!

A weighted blanket for me was a game changer. It helps me get to sleep and fall back to sleep when I wake up.



https://amazon.ca/gp/product/B07F5DG4YF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mvila0

After getting sleep studies and being diagnosed with a sleep disorder, trying different medications, etc, my therapist actually gave me the best approach.

I have anxiety. And when I lay my head down, I have a lot of thoughts I can't shut down. And I try to convince myself to turn them off to sleep.

My therapist suggested I not try to sleep. She said if I wasn't tired, to keep up and not go to bed until I was. This led to me staying awake until 4am the first night and surviving the next day on three hours of sleep. This continued on for a few days, making sure I got up and stayed awake no matter how tired I was. I soon got tired a bit earlier. And eventually, I got up to getting five hours. Those five hours had me feeling better than eight with melatonin, ambien, or anything else I'd tried.

Now I get about six hours of sleep a night, and although I'm still tired, I'm less tired once I stopped putting pressure on myself to sleep

lindamtuck2018

The key to sleep for me is following the same routine every night. I also listen to 432Hz music. I started doing that about 10 days ago and overall my sleep has improved.

Sinisterbarbie1

Tart cherry juice is supposed to be a sleep aid. For me it is about the ritual - like having a “nightcap” but without the sleep disrupting properties of alcohol. Also I fall asleep with the TV but my husband can’t stand it so I started listening to a podcast or an audiobook that I had already heard so that it didn’t matter when I fell asleep.

Bluebirdday72

I have had luck with herbs like Valerian, Passionflower, Skullcap, chamomile, etc. Also there are some Cal/Magnesium drink powders that claim to help if you drink them right before bed. I have had a little success with those off and on. Here is one of those drinks that also includes melatonin and l-Theanine:

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Vitality-Calmful-Magnesium-Wildberry/dp/B0716M5CXM/ref=pd_bxgy_2/132-7430240-4546423?pd_rd_w=PyqKN&pf_rd_p=6b3eefea-7b16-43e9-bc45-2e332cbf99da&pf_rd_r=ASCKKB0WPMTBWABY1QV5&pd_rd_r=032aedc9-3634-49b7-bfb1-f7e4b0c957b5&pd_rd_wg=9mZ6g&pd_rd_i=B0716M5CXM&psc=1

I have read good things about l-theanine but haven’t tired it yet.

HoneyBadger302

I'm on my fourth week of reducing the number of hours a night I'm sleeping - for the first time in my entire life (not joking) - but it has required a few very specific changes to my routines to make it possible.

1) I have my phone auto-start the blue light filter at least an hour before I'm heading towards bed
2) Room temp needs to be fairly cool
3) After getting ready for bed, I prep and drink some "sleepy time" or chamomile tea while reading a paper book for 20-30 min in bed prior to sleeping, with a lamp that has a warm tint light bulb
4) Consistently ensure the alarm goes off at the same time
5) Consistently head to bed at the same time
6) TV off at least 45 minutes before sleep (and I refuse to put one in my bedroom)
7) On weekends I don't sleep in too late - I may not set an alarm, but if I wake up at 6:30 or 7 (or whenever) I get up and work on that day's critical tasks (such as reading my development book, or working on a side gig) even if the bf is still sleeping for awhile
8) I stick to my morning routine, and don't hit the snooze (although I do set two alarms 15 minutes apart to give myself a few minutes to wake up prior to jumping out of bed, but just in case I doze off again...)
9) No caffeine after lunch
10) No getting on my phone during the night (if I do wake up) or scrolling through things just before bed
11) No getting on the phone first thing in the morning, either
12) I allow a 20 minute afternoon nap if I'm feeling a bit tired (this one is new, not 100% sold on it yet)
13) Room is kept fairly dark outside of some natural moonlight that gets in the high window in the vaulted ceiling - there's a light in my closed closet that allows enough to make my way to the bathroom during the night, but all other lights (including the LED on the automatic cat feeder) are covered/turned so I can't see them from the bed

I've been able to cut back the amount of sleep per night by ~1.5-2 hours/night, which is a lot of extra time in my week! My sleep quality is MUCH better, but the key is sticking to these things so that I get higher quality sleep since I'm cutting back on quantity. If I don't follow the routine my quality goes down and then I don't function on that amount of sleep...

Mind you, my entire life (I'm 43) I was convinced I needed a minimum of 8, and was better off with 9-9.5 hours/night. Every time I got less more than a day in a row I'd be falling asleep, dragging, making poor decisions, and it was almost dangerous to drive later in the day I'd be so tired. I would take an over the counter fairly strong sleep aid if I was finding myself waking up rather than sleeping since it was so "imperative" that I get the sleep.

JbeanR0212

I don’t have a trouble going to sleep but my deep sleep registers very low. I‘ve always felt like my heart is racing often when I awake (even without an alarm) and at times when I awake at night. Recently bought a fitness backs and my resting heart rate during sleep takes frequent dips and climbs from 42-98 BPM. Wondering if there are others out there like me & how/if you’ve improved your sleep quality?

avatiach

JbeanR0212 wrote: »

I don’t have a trouble going to sleep but my deep sleep registers very low. I‘ve always felt like my heart is racing often when I awake (even without an alarm) and at times when I awake at night. Recently bought a fitness backs and my resting heart rate during sleep takes frequent dips and climbs from 42-98 BPM. Wondering if there are others out there like me & how/if you’ve improved your sleep quality?

Have you talked to a doctor about this?

JbeanR0212

avatiach wrote: »

JbeanR0212 wrote: »

I don’t have a trouble going to sleep but my deep sleep registers very low. I‘ve always felt like my heart is racing often when I awake (even without an alarm) and at times when I awake at night. Recently bought a fitness backs and my resting heart rate during sleep takes frequent dips and climbs from 42-98 BPM. Wondering if there are others out there like me & how/if you’ve improved your sleep quality?

Have you talked to a doctor about this?

Not yet @avatiach, trying to collect a decent amount of data and then I intend on it. I’ve never had a smart band before so seeing the results was the eye opener I needed.