Give me one month of sleep hygiene - March 2022

GabiV125

3/16, 3/17- my days have been busy with heavy things on my mind (can’t help or influence, just wait for the bad or worse news) so I got what I could out of my nights. Not too bad considering, (about 5h).
Yesterday I went to an indoor pool, first time in more than 2 years, and I remembered how exhausting 50 minutes can be. Years back I would have been disappointed in lack of instant results, but now I know if I could do this regularly, it will happen.
Too many moving parts at the moment to be able to pinpoint each effect to its cause, or maybe I’m not supposed to find out yet 😁.
@AnnPT77 - I couldn’t handle your sleep schedule for money- kudos to you for finding ways to come victorious in these conditions. Thank you for sharing.

AnnPT77

I haven't given up, though I haven't posted:

March 17: Asleep around 2:30AM, got up about 8:30AM, maybe 3 wake-ups in between.

March 18: Asleep around 3AM, got up about 8:30AM, after waking up about every 60-90 minutes during the night.

March 19: Asleep about 2:40, got up at 10, maybe 3-4 wakeups along the way.

Still not doing well with bedtimes, following my rules about avoiding getting up in the night, playing with my phone other than the AM weather/HR check right before I get up.

It's helping me in some ways, to be working at this (more daylight, less time in bed messing with my phone). Whether it will help sleep continuity, ever, is still an open question.

GabiV125 wrote: »

3/16, 3/17- my days have been busy with heavy things on my mind (can’t help or influence, just wait for the bad or worse news) so I got what I could out of my nights. Not too bad considering, (about 5h).
Yesterday I went to an indoor pool, first time in more than 2 years, and I remembered how exhausting 50 minutes can be. Years back I would have been disappointed in lack of instant results, but now I know if I could do this regularly, it will happen.
Too many moving parts at the moment to be able to pinpoint each effect to its cause, or maybe I’m not supposed to find out yet 😁.

I hear what you're saying. There are a lot of variables.

Not so much in this scenario so far, but in others, I've learned that if I stick with it, keep forming and testing hypotheses, while allowing a bit of time for each thing to settle in (i.e. not just shifting gears instantly based on a brief trial) . . . eventually, usually, I can figure out some useful strategies. Maybe not perfection, but incremental improvement.

@AnnPT77 - I couldn’t handle your sleep schedule for money- kudos to you for finding ways to come victorious in these conditions. Thank you for sharing.

I do have choice about the bedtime and get-up pieces, but the big problem for me - for years now - is the sleep interruptions. They're less sometimes than others, but I haven't found an obvious pattern in that.

Here's the thing, though: What choice do I have, but to handle it? Believe me, if there was a better alternative, I'd take it.

I felt kind of the same during cancer treatment (20+ years back): People would say "I don't think I could handle chemotherapy" or whatever. I was polite to them, but my brain was thinking "WTH? So you'd just give up, materially increase the chance of dying, like soon?!?! I don't think so."

On the sleep interruption insomnia front, I've had multiple sleep studies; I've tried various sleep meds (prescription and OTC), supplements (magnesium, melatonin, more), folkloric stuff (hot milk, aromatherapy, etc.), . . . on and on.

The thing that helped the most was hypnotherapy from a psychologist, which made the initial sleep block most nights a bit longer, maybe 3 to even 5 hours sometimes . . . a minor thing, kind of, but a pretty big improvement vs. waking up every 60-90 minutes every single night. I've been thinking I need to pull out my hypnotherapy tapes from those sessions, get them transferred to digital audio, use them again.

GabiV125

3/18 and 3/19- I had 4-5 sleep interruptions each night (minimum 15 minutes each) and being able to sleep in the extra hour felt wonderful. Or maybe having more daylight time in the weekend is the reason I feel better as the office has no windows. Or both.
My worst time sleep wise was when I had newborns because I have this weird block and no matter how tired I am, I’m not sleeping when is light outside. Nothing I tried tricked me - dark room, sleep mask, night routine and many many more. Any lost sleep I recover slowly and in small doses. Those months were brutal and make any bad stretch now, look like a walk in the park.

You are so right @AnnPT77 we do handle everything. Worded it wrong before, sorry.
I hope the tapes help you.

AnnPT77

GabiV125 wrote: »

3/18 and 3/19- I had 4-5 sleep interruptions each night (minimum 15 minutes each) and being able to sleep in the extra hour felt wonderful. Or maybe having more daylight time in the weekend is the reason I feel better as the office has no windows. Or both.
My worst time sleep wise was when I had newborns because I have this weird block and no matter how tired I am, I’m not sleeping when is light outside. Nothing I tried tricked me - dark room, sleep mask, night routine and many many more. Any lost sleep I recover slowly and in small doses. Those months were brutal and make any bad stretch now, look like a walk in the park.

You are so right @AnnPT77 we do handle everything. Worded it wrong before, sorry.
I hope the tapes help you.

No need to apologize: I wasn't offended at all. I agree the situation kind of stinks, but what's a li'l ol' lady to do, but keep trying?

Sounds like you're sticking with working on figuring out what's going on for you, what may make improvements: That's great! I hope you'll be able to find some good solution(s)!

GabiV125

It’s official- my Sunday nights are never good, so I have the pleasure to start the work week cranky and then fake smile until the coffee kicks in.
Regardless of how the sleep went, I kept to my night preparations this month and it’s not a routine yet but I’m getting there. I’m happy with this.

GabiV125

3/22- moderate sleep, also noticed my day was productive but quiet with not as many interruptions, so probably less stress to deal with.
3/23- should have been the same or better as we got some night rain, but my spring break child had a catch up with friends online time, way after 3am and my very light sleep suffered. I would have said something but there was so much laughter going on, I just enjoyed listening to it.
I already planned my day and spread things around to allow sitting, daydreaming, snack planning, exercise or whatever seems the answer in the moment.

AnnPT77

Yikes, it's been longer than I realized since I posted! I haven't given up the effort, but have been busy with some other things the last few days.

In general, I'm doing well with the "don't pay wth the phone during sleep or in the AM" rules, and that's been quite beneficial to me - less time in bed, shorter sleep interruptions during the night . . . as a consequence getting more daylight (which helps me in itself), and getting a bit more done, as well as (probably) getting a little bit more random calorie-burning activity into my day (vs. laying in bed). Those aren't huge things, but they're good things.

The short but frequent sleep interruptions I've had for 20+ years are still present: No surprise.

I'm still trying to reset my body clock since the time change, not doing well. Goal is still getting to sleep between midnight and 1AM, failing utterly.

Approximate times for each night, below.

March 20 - Asleep 1:40 AM, up 9:10 AM, uncounted small number of wake-ups
March 21 - Asleep 2 AM, up 8:30 AM, woke up about 3 times and went right back to sleep
March 22 - Forgot to note, but nothing unusual that I recall
March 23 - Asleep 2:55 AM, up 9:40 AM, couple of wake-ups, one bathroom visit
March 24 - Asleep 2:15 AM, up 9:15 AM, couple of wake-ups, one bathroom visit

One of the things I'm doing that's at cross-purposes to my goals is letting myself put off exercise (rowing machine or stationary bike) until sometime in the evening, occasionally late evening, which tends to rev me up and make me want to stay up later. On top of that, sometimes I put off dinner until after the exercise. Eating late isn't a problem for me as far as I've noticed for sleep quality, but the logistics of cooking/eating/clean-up can further delay bedtime.

AnnPT77

I finished out March working on this and keeping notes, though I haven't posted since data for 3/24. Without adding the tedious daily detail: Time getting to sleep is still a problem - later than I'd prefer. It's like I haven't gotten back to where I was before the time change . . . or rather, that I'm staying where I was, but the clock is different, so I'm not where I want to be.

There were a couple of nights that were a true train wreck, up until 3-4AM, and one where I deviated from my "phone use during sleep time and wake-up" rules.

The later I go to sleep, it seems like, the fewer or slower the sleep interruptions happen, i.e., bigger initial block of sleep, fewer wakings per hour on average. But I don't want to stay up later to get that effect. There are always sleep interruptions, but almost always I go right back to sleep.

Generally, I'm doing well with the phone-play rules, and will keep that up. It's been beneficial.

I'm going to keep working on other sleep hygiene issues, including continuing to try to go to bed earlier, but am going to stop posting about it here.

88AViva

I struggle falling asleep, and in the morning I struggle waking up. Sometimes even awake I struggle with the will to get out of bed. I'm trying a sleep specific routine and made my bed a space to only sleep (I don't watch TV, browse on my phone or read in bed anymore) so when I get to bed, my brain might relax and let me fall asleep. Day 3 - so far it's still a work in progress.