How to sleep better

[Wonderer67]

I am bumping and restarting this thread.

I went thru a really bad spell of ptsd induced insomnia in ‘23. This year my sleep schedule is just all off. I am falling asleep early on the couch, like at 8. When I wake up, I either have a hard time falling back asleep or wake up at 3am, if I can fall back asleep.

Tonght my wife and I tried walking after dinner in a circuit around our house when I start getting drowsy. It seemed to work. I have been falling asleep after Jeopardy at 7:30.

This never happens to me during the longer days. I am outside quite late during other times of the year. OCT - JAN tho is tougher on my sleep.

 

[Mo_Bandy]

I am the worst. No alcohol is big one for me but pretty difficult. Also taking Magnesium and D3 before bed is a help.
I have heard adding L-theanine, Inositol and Glycine can also work.

 

[Deleted member 6789170]

3-4am is peak wake up time

 

[Wonderer67]

I am the worst. No alcohol is big one for me but pretty difficult. Also taking Magnesium and D3 before bed is a help.
I have heard adding L-theanine, Inositol and Glycine can also work.

Thanks for the tips!

I take magnesium, potassium and few other things my wife gives me at bedtime. I think they help.

I think I just need to be more disciplined in my stretches, eating well and making sure I DONT fall asleep early.

Got a solid 5.5 hrs of sleep which is about all I need. I’m usually pretty happy if I can just sleep thru the night so I will chalk last nite up as a success.

 

[Mo_Bandy]

Thanks for the tips!

I take magnesium, potassium and few other things my wife gives me at bedtime. I think they help.

I think I just need to be more disciplined in my stretches, eating well and making sure I DONT fall asleep early.

Got a solid 5.5 hrs of sleep which is about all I need. I’m usually pretty happy if I can just sleep thru the night so I will chalk last nite up as a success.

A couple things. Make sure it is magnesium glycinate. Also the Vitamin D3 will help body absorb Magnesium. There is some interesting research out there on Cortisol level spiking too which might be reason. I have tried Tablespoon of honey and helps too a degree but not MCT Oil.

https://www.unilad.com/news/health/broken-sleep-expert-advice-snack-701693-20241030

 

[sandybrooke]

An orgasm and edible do it for me every time! My Saturday night ritual!

 

[NewStartQueen]

I can relate. However my insomnia is usually tied to stress.

Though for my Mum as soon as we got her a memory foam mattress she stopped having the middle of the night wake up. Eroflex is the reasonably priced one we got.

Also box breathing can assist to put you back to sleep quickly once you do wake..

https://www.sleep.com/sleep-health/box-breathing

Finally, if you have a thermometer, measure your temperature for four days straight first thing in the morning when you wake up, this will establish your normal body temperature. Write it down. Then when you wake in the middle of the night take your temperature again. If it's higher than your normal morning wake up temperature, you are getting too hot when asleep. If it's lower, you are too cold. I suspect you might be getting too hot, because urinating is helping you get back to sleep. Might need to invest in a dual temperature doona/comforter

Hope that helps

 

[jsmiam]

To poor sleepers everywhere: while working through your difficulties sleeping, you might as well have (or at least try to have) a little fun along the way. Look into lucid dreaming, where you become aware that you’re dreaming, and perhaps even control your dreams too.

Not everyone can successfully become a lucid dreamer, and it’s harder than all the people with books and videos to sell make it out to be. But still worth trying, and there is lots of online info available for free.

And since you’re going to be waking up in the middle of the night anyway during what should be your high quality REM sleep, you might as well give it a try.

If you’re lucky, you could be one of the ones who can successfully be aware during a dream that you’re dreaming. And if you’re double lucky you can control the dream, fly, all sorts of crazy things.

I’m quite often able to realize I’m dreaming. I’m less good at the next step, controlling my dreams. I try to control the dream, get too excited, and wake up about 99 out of 100 times. But once in a great while I’m successful. It’s an interesting past-time to try on the side.

The connection to lucid dreaming for bad sleepers is this: to lucid dream, you have to wake up during REM sleep. Many people (those uppity “good sleeper” types) set alarms to intentionally wake themselves at about 4:00 am. But we bad sleepers have a great advantage. Whether we wanted to or not, we’re going to wake up anyway, at 4:00 am. And 3:00. And 2:00. And 1:00. So we’re way ahead of the game!

 

[Leigh81]

For people who find their brain not shutting off while trying to sleep, L-Theanine & Magnesium Threonate does the job.

 

[RoperTrace]

For people who find their brain not shutting off while trying to sleep, L-Theanine & Magnesium Threonate does the job.

Are those compounds found in any OTC tablets or liquid?

My sleep pattern since retiring has been very erratic, no problem falling asleep, then wake up at 2:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. and have difficulty falling back to sleep. An online friend with degrees in pharmacy and chemistry suggested one-half Unisom tabs, and I only take them every few days. They've improved my sleep for a couple days in a row on just a half tablet.

I did start by taking a whole tablet, and had weird, strange dreams and woke up with a fuzzy brain for a few hours, hence the 1/2 tablet recommendation.

 

[Leigh81]

Are those compounds found in any OTC tablets or liquid?

My sleep pattern since retiring has been very erratic, no problem falling asleep, then wake up at 2:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. and have difficulty falling back to sleep. An online friend with degrees in pharmacy and chemistry suggested one-half Unisom tabs, and I only take them every few days. They've improved my sleep for a couple days in a row on just a half tablet.

I did start by taking a whole tablet, and had weird, strange dreams and woke up with a fuzzy brain for a few hours, hence the 1/2 tablet recommendation.

They come in capsule form & available at health/vitamin/supplement store. L-Theanine is an amino acid found in green tea. Both are natural & won't make you fuzzy at all.

 

[Bigboobbabe]

Mind blowing, bed rocking, house shaking orgasms while playing naughty with an online or Skype friend does it for me.

 

[Bigboobbabe]

Mind blowing, bed rocking, house shaking orgasms while playing naughty with an online or Skype friend does it for me.

I forgot to say sheet soaking.

 

[takingbacksunday]

I forgot to say sheet soaking.

Can't forget the most important part!

 

[RoperTrace]

I forgot to say sheet soaking.

I can still remember the wife bringing a towel into bed on those nights. (sigh)

 

[Bigboobbabe]

I can still remember the wife bringing a towel into bed on those nights. (sigh)

I learned early that our towel needed to be folded in thirds if I wanted to keep the sheets clean.

 

[RoperTrace]

I learned early that our towel needed to be folded in thirds if I wanted to keep the sheets clean.

Wow, that's a triple decker, only needed for gushers like Ol' Faithful!

 

[Bigboobbabe]

Wow, that's a triple decker, only needed for gushers like Ol' Faithful!

Indeed. Xoxo

 

[Lucien_Al]

I’m an insomniac. I rarely sleep through the night. I think I have good sleep habits. I go to bed around the same time every night.

I am 55, I eat well, lots of fruit, veggies, and not too close to bedtime. Im in decent shape and work out 3-4x a week.

I’ve started doing yoga stretches and also meditation before bedtime.

I’ve tried getting high, I’ve tried cbd, melatonin, masturbating when I wake up or go to bed. I’ve tried staying off of my phone and being on my phone.

I am a very light sleeper and also unfortunately have ptsd. I wake up almost every morning at 2-330am.

Any tips or advice you all have on staying asleep or getting back to sleep when you wake up?

I am in the same boat as you and it can at times mean that I rarely get more than 4 or 5 hours. In my case when it gets down to 4 hours a night it starts to have so many other drawbacks and I feel generally grumpy and depressed.

Eventually I got medical advice and she has put me on my normal sleeping tablet to get me to sleep and then a second tablet to keep me asleep. I was about to get 8 or 9 hours comfortably. She has advised me not to do this often but just when it becomes a problem so I would estimate I only need to do this around once a month. For the days following the double use I get 7 hours quite easily so I do wonder if in my case its just a bad habit we get into.

I would suggest speaking to a Dr or sleeping specialist as it certainly worked for me.

 

[Wonderer67]

Since I first started this thread in 2023, my sleeping habits have gotten much better. I’m not a typical seven or eight hour sleep kind of person.

But if I can get a solid five or six hours, I’m usually OK. Less than five though is when things start to go haywire for me. If I have a couple of bad nights in a row with less than five hours of sleep, I usually find that I will sleep a good seven or eight hours.

So mostly back to balance, but I’m really struggling with the change of the clocks this year still. Not as bad as it was a few weeks ago…

 

[RoperTrace]

I can relate. However my insomnia is usually tied to stress.

Though for my Mum as soon as we got her a memory foam mattress she stopped having the middle of the night wake up. Eroflex is the reasonably priced one we got.

Also box breathing can assist to put you back to sleep quickly once you do wake..

https://www.sleep.com/sleep-health/box-breathing

Hope that helps

This is going to sound like total b.s., but I just tried that box breathing thing here in mid-afternoon in a bright living room, tv on, and almost fell asleep without trying. Weird reaction especially since I've just had two great nights of sleep in a row. I may have to learn that process a little better.

 

[subdudeme13]

Since I first started this thread in 2023, my sleeping habits have gotten much better. I’m not a typical seven or eight hour sleep kind of person.

But if I can get a solid five or six hours, I’m usually OK. Less than five though is when things start to go haywire for me. If I have a couple of bad nights in a row with less than five hours of sleep, I usually find that I will sleep a good seven or eight hours.

So mostly back to balance, but I’m really struggling with the change of the clocks this year still. Not as bad as it was a few weeks ago…

Hey! Why am I only finding this thread now! LOL

 

[Wonderer67]

Cuz I only got four hours of sleep last night??

Goddam hotels.

I think there are some pretty solid sleep tips here. My thing is waking up in the middle of the night, unfortunately. Or bad dreams.

If I could summarize for me.

- If I wake up, go to the bathroom, no matter what.
- box breathing (if I wake up)
- if ptsd dream - sleep chill music. Helps me get bad thoughts outta my head.
- insight timer free app has good music and some nice sleep meditations
- sometimes I take CBD or even thc to make me drowsy (I prefer not to go that route)

 

[Wonderer67]

Hey! Why am I only finding this thread now! LOL

Cuz I only got four hours of sleep last night??

Goddam hotels.

I think there are some pretty solid sleep tips here. My thing is waking up in the middle of the night, unfortunately. Or bad dreams.

If I could summarize for me.

- If I wake up, go to the bathroom, no matter what.
- box breathing (if I wake up)
- if ptsd dream - sleep chill music. Helps me get bad thoughts outta my head.
- insight timer free app has good music and some nice sleep meditations
- sometimes I take CBD or even thc to make me drowsy (I prefer not to go that route)

Last nite the music helped…

 

[subdudeme13]

Cuz I only got four hours of sleep last night??

Goddam hotels.

I think there are some pretty solid sleep tips here. My thing is waking up in the middle of the night, unfortunately. Or bad dreams.

If I could summarize for me.

- If I wake up, go to the bathroom, no matter what.
- box breathing (if I wake up)
- if ptsd dream - sleep chill music. Helps me get bad thoughts outta my head.
- insight timer free app has good music and some nice sleep meditations
- sometimes I take CBD or even thc to make me drowsy (I prefer not to go that route)

Last nite the music helped…

There was a time I traveled alot and I understand hotels. I only recently have started having issues sleeping and I am guessing they are age related. It was good to find this tread as i was browsing around and there you were. I can get to sleep usually but wake up and can't get back to sleep. I have tried many of the tips here. I still have problems but I am making progress.