Sleeping tips

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legblonde355
legblonde355 Posts: 41 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone got any tips for getting enough sleep? Especially for those of us who keep waking up.

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  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,454 Member
    edited November 2021
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    • No caffeine past noon, limit it in general
    • Cool room
    • Use the bed for sleep and sex only
    • Stop looking at screens an hour or so before bed
    • Possibly white noise generator
    • Don't sleep with pets
  • cbihatt
    cbihatt Posts: 319 Member
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    I think sleep is a pretty individual thing. Caffeine never seems to bother me, but I wouldn’t say I have a high caffeine intake, so maybe that’s why. I cannot exercise within a few hours or shower shortly before bed, though, because it will keep me awake. I save that stuff for the morning. Other people may find bathing before bed to be relaxing.

    I do recommend a sleep mask if you are sensitive to light, and aromatherapy oils if you have trouble falling asleep in the first place. I use a mix of lavender, eucalyptus and peppermint, which I also find helpful when I have a migraine.

    I intermittently have issues sleeping, and I have noticed that it is quite often linked to my menstrual cycle. I haven’t found any way to resolve this, but it also doesn’t happen every month, so I have just learned to live with it.
  • chris89topher
    chris89topher Posts: 389 Member
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    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    • No caffeine past noon, limit it in general
    • Cool room
    • Use the bed for sleep and sex only
    • Stop looking at screens an hour or so before bed
    • Possibly white noise generator
    • Don't sleep with pets

    About the pets part (how do people bold stuff??). My dog sleeps with me and snores super loud. It actually lulls me to sleep. And she's like a 55 lb sack of potatoes (English Bulldog) that doesn't move at all during the night so no jostling issues. Lol!
  • dralicephd
    dralicephd Posts: 401 Member
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    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    • No caffeine past noon, limit it in general
    • Cool room
    • Use the bed for sleep and sex only
    • Stop looking at screens an hour or so before bed
    • Possibly white noise generator
    • Don't sleep with pets

    First, all of this.

    As a perimenopausal woman, repeatedly waking up at night because of hot flashes (or just because the ovaries decided that I needed to be awake, jerks that they are) is just my life right now. Some days are worse than others, but the things listed above really do seem to help. I'll add the following:

    * Add exercise to your life (if you haven't already)
    * Add some outside time to your life. Sunlight is huge in maintaining the hormones needed for sleep.
    * If you want to look at screens (like an e-reader), get yourself some blue-light blocking glasses. They really do help and they have some now that aren't the big ugly orange things. They even make blue-blocker reading glasses! Also, if your devices have a blue-light shade at night, make sure they are employed in case you forget the glasses.
    * If you are waking up to pee, stop drinking liquids about an hour or so before going to bed.

    If stress is waking you up, here are some other tips (that aren't just "eliminate the stress!"):
    * Don't freak out and stare at the clock every five minutes being annoyed that you are still awake. This will ensure that you stay awake. Trust me on this one. haha..
    * Don't worry about not getting enough sleep. You will survive your next day on very little sleep. Every parent of a small child will attest to that.
    * Have a book to read. Sometimes a chapter or so of a book is enough to calm my mind and put me back to sleep.
    * In extreme sleepless nights, I've actually gotten up and done some very gentle restorative yoga for 15 minutes to get my racing, stressed out brain to shut up. That works pretty well too.

    Not getting good sleep is pretty awful, so I really do feel for you. I hope something in this list is helpful. Hang in there!
  • legblonde355
    legblonde355 Posts: 41 Member
    Options
    I wake up to pee and can’t get back to sleep so the stop drinking before bed tip really helps! t
    dralicephd wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    • No caffeine past noon, limit it in general
    • Cool room
    • Use the bed for sleep and sex only
    • Stop looking at screens an hour or so before bed
    • Possibly white noise generator
    • Don't sleep with pets

    First, all of this.

    As a perimenopausal woman, repeatedly waking up at night because of hot flashes (or just because the ovaries decided that I needed to be awake, jerks that they are) is just my life right now. Some days are worse than others, but the things listed above really do seem to help. I'll add the following:

    * Add exercise to your life (if you haven't already)
    * Add some outside time to your life. Sunlight is huge in maintaining the hormones needed for sleep.
    * If you want to look at screens (like an e-reader), get yourself some blue-light blocking glasses. They really do help and they have some now that aren't the big ugly orange things. They even make blue-blocker reading glasses! Also, if your devices have a blue-light shade at night, make sure they are employed in case you forget the glasses.
    * If you are waking up to pee, stop drinking liquids about an hour or so before going to bed.

    If stress is waking you up, here are some other tips (that aren't just "eliminate the stress!"):
    * Don't freak out and stare at the clock every five minutes being annoyed that you are still awake. This will ensure that you stay awake. Trust me on this one. haha..
    * Don't worry about not getting enough sleep. You will survive your next day on very little sleep. Every parent of a small child will attest to that.
    * Have a book to read. Sometimes a chapter or so of a book is enough to calm my mind and put me back to sleep.
    * In extreme sleepless nights, I've actually gotten up and done some very gentle restorative yoga for 15 minutes to get my racing, stressed out brain to shut up. That works pretty well too.

    Not getting good sleep is pretty awful, so I really do feel for you. I hope something in this list is helpful. Hang in there!

  • legblonde355
    legblonde355 Posts: 41 Member
    Options
    legblonde355 wrote: »
    I wake up to pee and can’t get back to sleep so the stop drinking before bed tip really helps! t
    dralicephd wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    • No caffeine past noon, limit it in general
    • Cool room
    • Use the bed for sleep and sex only
    • Stop looking at screens an hour or so before bed
    • Possibly white noise generator
    • Don't sleep with pets

    First, all of this.

    As a perimenopausal woman, repeatedly waking up at night because of hot flashes (or just because the ovaries decided that I needed to be awake, jerks that they are) is just my life right now. Some days are worse than others, but the things listed above really do seem to help. I'll add the following:

    * Add exercise to your life (if you haven't already)
    * Add some outside time to your life. Sunlight is huge in maintaining the hormones needed for sleep.
    * If you want to look at screens (like an e-reader), get yourself some blue-light blocking glasses. They really do help and they have some now that aren't the big ugly orange things. They even make blue-blocker reading glasses! Also, if your devices have a blue-light shade at night, make sure they are employed in case you forget the glasses.
    * If you are waking up to pee, stop drinking liquids about an hour or so before going to bed.

    If stress is waking you up, here are some other tips (that aren't just "eliminate the stress!"):
    * Don't freak out and stare at the clock every five minutes being annoyed that you are still awake. This will ensure that you stay awake. Trust me on this one. haha..
    * Don't worry about not getting enough sleep. You will survive your next day on very little sleep. Every parent of a small child will attest to that.
    * Have a book to read. Sometimes a chapter or so of a book is enough to calm my mind and put me back to sleep.
    * In extreme sleepless nights, I've actually gotten up and done some very gentle restorative yoga for 15 minutes to get my racing, stressed out brain to shut up. That works pretty well too.

    Not getting good sleep is pretty awful, so I really do feel for you. I hope something in this list is helpful. Hang in there!

    Thank you! I wake up to pee and can’t get back to sleep so the stop drinking before bed tip really helps!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,961 Member
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    There's now a whole forum dedicated to sleep. You might want to ask the admins to move this there.

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