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Moderate exercise every day.
No sodas, no caffeine - I don't drink coffee and only herbal teas.
If I'm going to bed at 11, then I try to not eat anything after 8:00 PM.
I love dark chocolate, but try to limit to no more than 2 little squares per day and not after 3:00 PM.
If I'm really stressed I'll do these breathing techniques to help relax me: https://www.drweil.com/health-wellne...ree-exercises/
This sounds as though it is seriously affecting your waking life and it is not getting any better. You may want to see if you can get into a sleep clinic and have them watch you for a night to see if something like apnea has suddenly developed or if there is some other reason for this change that they can pinpoint and treat/advise you about.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this
Also, just FYI, some sleep clinics can do the sleep study in your home. I would feel more comfortable, and they could probably get a more accurate reading that way. I've also heard of such studies being done both at the clinic and at home to compare them.
I've always had a hard time falling back asleep as I tend to use the bathroom almost every morning around 2AM. I drink a lot of water throughout the day so I started cutting back but I still get up to use the bathroom even if not a lot comes out.
Lately, for the past 2 weeks or so, I will feel like I'm up the entire night when I'm asleep. I can almost see myself sleeping like a lucid dream. I wake up tired every morning even though I get about 7-8 hours of sleep.
I thought maybe my room is too bright so I use a sleeping mask now even though it falls off in the middle of the night. I have been sleeping in this room since August and I've never had this strange experience before. My mind will race with thoughts around night time and I have a hard time quieting it. Even if I'm exhausted and take a sleeping pill, I still feel as if I'm awake even when I'm asleep.
Last night I can't even remember if I woke up to use the bathroom or not. It certainly feels like I'm going through hell. I wonder if I've been sleepwalking??? During the day I'm so tired and not functioning well and will crave caffeine. It's a tireless cycle and I'm not sure what to do about it. Anyone experienced this strange type of insomnia/lucid dreaming?
I was on sleeping pills once and they affected my mind too. My kids would constantly look at me funny and say 'mom, you're repeating yourself'.. I brought my 3 dogs, drove the car to the vets to get their shots and had no memory whatsoever of doing it. When i called the vet to make an appt. the girl said 'you were here 3 days ago'. I thought I was losing my mind.
Once I stopped the sleeping pills though I stopped having those problems.
I hear insomnia so much but that is not my issue. A friend who deals with CFS claims it's inflammation of the brain with CFS people. She takes a ton of stuff for getting sleep.
I have my sleep remedy in Alt Med area and I have wake ups during the night but get myself back to sleep, calms forte' helps me a lot. Melatonin is a major part of my sleep combo.
Here is a listing of sleep products at the end of the page.
When I was going through a lot of stress (moving here, etc.) I used to do the wake-up at 2:00 thing. Not fun at all! Luckily I didn't have to get up at a certain time. Eventually, I'd fall back asleep.
One thing that seems to help is a colder room. We keep the bedroom at around 68. So we can snuggle with comforters. Plus we have a Tempur-pedic mattress topper. Eye-masks fall off me, so I just lay a light shirt over my eyes and it stays on better.
When my thoughts are whirling unpleasantly, I try to focus on the lyrics of songs which then occupy my resistant brain. I often drift off to a DVD concert in bed.
I'm sorry you are going through this, OP. To feel tired all day....
I've had life long insomnia since high school (sleeping in stupid bristle rollers I suppose). and then with kids sleeping with one eye open half the night. Then DH snored and I snored and jumping legs. You name it, I've had it and I've treied all sorts of meds too. All made me feel hung over the next day.
Finally somebody gave me a bottle of melatonin. I halfway thought it was voodoo medicine but I swear I have never slept better. I fall asleep fairly quickly and if I have to get up or I just wake up in the middle of the night, I chew 2 more and usually get back to sleep right away.
I've had life long insomnia since high school (sleeping in stupid bristle rollers I suppose). and then with kids sleeping with one eye open half the night. Then DH snored and I snored and jumping legs. You name it, I've had it and I've treied all sorts of meds too. All made me feel hung over the next day.
Finally somebody gave me a bottle of melatonin. I halfway thought it was voodoo medicine but I swear I have never slept better. I fall asleep fairly quickly and if I have to get up or I just wake up in the middle of the night, I chew 2 more and usually get back to sleep right away.
I'm curious as well because if they're taking two at bedtime and two more in the middle of the night..that's a lot.
I used to take Melatonin (not sure of the megs...I used the brand Costco sells) at night..I started with one pill at night time and thought it was the bee's knees. Fast forward a week or so and that one pill didn't work; upped it to two. Upped it to three. Finally stopped taking it all together because it stopped working for me.
I now use (going on 9 mths now) Serenity oil from Doterra..works better than anything I've ever tried..even Melatonin. I just put a few drops on my feet at night and the rest is history. I won't take sleeping pills..too much of 'hangover' in the morning for my liking.
The article divides sleep issues into three types. They provide a quiz to see what type you are and then they offer suggestions on what medication or supplement you need.
. At least half of our sleepless clients have responded quickly
and well to neurotransmitter precursors such as GABA, tryptophan, and/or
melatonin. Others have required very specific cortisol-lowering regimens instead of or in addition.
So if you respond to Trazadone, for instance, your problem is really with seratonin. Therefore, you would probably respond best to tryptophan, melatonin, etc.
If your insomnia is only helped by "benzos" like Klonopin and Lorazapam, your problem is really with GABA. Therefore, you would probably respond best to GABA itself.
There has been controversy as to whether GABA crosses the blood brain barrier, and the latest research is showing that GABA does get to where it needs to be--somehow! No one really knows how, but it gets there and so it really can and does work.
So, once someone determines the CAUSE of their insomnia, they will know what to take for it. Not all insomnia is alike.
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