Trying to get better sleep

[Reidak]

I posted something similar to this a while back. Dont know why. Anyways Im trying to get better sleep. When my head hits the pillow, im fully conscieous of the fact im trying to sleep. I feel like im trying to force sleep. Yeah, i know, its weird. I get busy thinking about alot of stuff that stimulates my mind. bitches, anxieties, worries, money. Basically I cant get to sleep. Sometimes Ill hit the sack at 1 and ill sit up and see 3 on the clock. Then I worry ill be tired the next day.

Basically its major bullshit. Anyways, I remember sleeping like a baby at my buddies cottage in the summer. It might have been the alcohol, or fresh air, but I remember the ambient noise. Where I am there is just cars...

So anyways, im gonna try to find some ambient music. Rainforest stuff, water stuff, nature stuff. Basically trying to lull myself to sleep. I think its +EV because if i can sleep faster and better, ill be more capable of other stuff.

Anyone like me? Any suggestions?

Ill give a TR tommorow, if i can find any tracks.

[gabe]

i have similar problems and am interested in this topic

[drmcboy]

yes, I suck at sleep.

Also, I started working from home about 9 months ago, and it has been a huge problem since I usually don't have a specific time I need to be up. If I let myself get 8 hours, I am up way more than 16 before I'm ready to sleep, but it turns out the day is always only 24 hours and I end up on vampire time.

[swiggidy]

work out during the day sometime (running better than weights)

before you laydown

???

profit



okay, that was serious except the last 2. If you can't fall asleep then maybe sleep less? When I was finishing my thesis I started drinking at night, cuz otherwise i couldn't calm down my mind. Not a lot, just a strong whiskey seven with a couple shots in it.

[Irisheyes]

I have exactly the same problem and no idea what to do about it. Thats why it's 7:20am and I've been up for 20 hours, again.

[bigspenda73]

I stay up until 4am every night and wake up at 2pm. I cannot break the habbit. I've tried some herbal remedies but no go. All I do is sit around all day and by the end of the night I have way too much energy. I think Im just going to have to force myself to wake up at like 10 AM tomorrow morning b/c in a week I'll have to be waking up at 8am for work again.

[a500lbgorilla]

Excersise.

Masturbate.

Or, I used to have trouble worrying and planning if I have a busy week ahead of me, so I really have to try to work a lot so that I really get on top of my work and can sleep easy.

[ChrisTheFish]

I stay up until 4am every night and wake up at 2pm. I cannot break the habbit. I've tried some herbal remedies but no go. All I do is sit around all day and by the end of the night I have way too much energy. I think Im just going to have to force myself to wake up at like 10 AM tomorrow morning b/c in a week I'll have to be waking up at 8am for work again.

Exactly my problem, with me being in the UK all the games get good in the middle of the night and poker is my main source of income while i'm at uni so i want to play when the games are good! But the few times i don't want to play poker and try sleep at like 12/1am i find it near impossible. I really need to get my sleep pattern sorted before my uni exams too... used to use sleeping tablets which worked but i don't wanna have to relay on them. I agree with trying to "force" sleep and you know you have to be up in 6 hours and that in it'self is enough to keep you awake..

[AHiltz]

Don't drink alcohol before bed. Fucks my sleep right up.

Exercise and release stress. Orgasms are good for this too.

Don't allow yourself to get overtired.

[Galapogos]

I used to have this problem. Then I worked two full-time jobs simultaneously for a year or two and after that my body never took for granted oppotunities I gave it to sleep again.

That wouldn't help a lot of you obviously. I've heard from a lot of people that smoking pot before you go to bed gives you the best sleep ever. So if you don't mind becoming a chronic that's one solution.

I'm no help really. Self-ban.

[IowaSkinsFan]

Excersise.

Masturbate.

Or, I used to have trouble worrying and planning if I have a busy week ahead of me, so I really have to try to work a lot so that I really get on top of my work and can sleep easy.

All the advice you need is right here. Get tired and you'll go to sleep.

[Reidak]

Well the working and the exercise is a major lifestyle change that you guys are offering as a solution. Im going to start running in the morning as soon as its warm enough to do so.

Im also the owned of a bowflex that I barely touch. Its sad.

But anyways, heres my trip report.

I started looking for streaming mp3 of relaxation music. I was kind of hoping to find like jungle music tracks, just tape of the rainforest at night. My brother used to have one and he used it and swore by it - I called him gay, its funny how things happen. anyways I eventually stumbled upon a 24/7 ambient relaxation 'bla, bla bla' stream.

http://www.shoutcast.com/ type in ANAHATA in the search.

Now they reccomend you get winamp media player. They arent kidding, i tried it on my realplayer (the only one that would actually work) and it kept cutting off. So go to google, type in winamp, go to their site, find the downloads and get the lite version. When installing, tell it not to associate it with your files, because really - winamp isnt that great.

Anyways to my report. Its 1 on the nose as I my head hits the pillow. I was fully conscieous of what I was trying to get my body to do and so I was worried I would relapse. However withing a couple minutes I found myself comepletely droning to the music. It really was relaxing me, alot.

But then I got a couple tihngs in my head, however instead of 2 hours they were only for a few minutes before I started drfiting off to the music. I could tell I was ab0ut to pass out so I sat up out of curiousity, and it was quarter after 1. Sweet.

Anyways today I woke up at around 8:30, and to my pleasant suprise I was well rested. Felt great, the music was still going. Usually when i wake up its me being groggy and i usually hit snooze. I did that today, too, because I set my alarm a little too early. I actually felt more tired after I was snoozing for another 40 minutes. Perhaps I overslept a little.

Anyways I'm going to keep at this music stuff, ive got a cd's downloading of rainforest music ish so I dont get sick of this stuff im listening to right now. Switch it up.

I might be over-optimistic here, but I think this is for real.

[AHiltz]

Im going to start running in the morning as soon as its warm enough to do so.

I'm not a morning person, so maybe that's why I don't run in the morning, but I try to work out at about 8 pm at night. Takes the stress away and gives the body/mind time to unwind after the workout is done. I let my body cool down and shower then watch some tv or whatever.

When I don't workout (due to colds/sickness) for about a week, my body feels drained an useless and my sleep suffers.

[drmcboy]

I Taebo three times a week, walk my dogs more or less every day and I have the orgasm angle covered. Tired yes, fall asleep, no.

Next?

[kevster]

I used to have trouble sleeping but now hardly ever do. Here are my tips....

1. Cut out coffee and other stuff with caffiene after 5pm each day
2. Try and eat less junk and more fruit and veg
3. Exercise regularly. Whenever I play football (soccer) in the evening, I sleep like a baby.
4. Try and get into a routine and go to sleep at the same time (it doesn't have to be military) just not 10pm one night and 3am the next.
5. Learn basic meditative breathing exercises, I can go into more detail if people are interested but there's plenty of info out there. This will naturally relax and de-stress you - I've often fallen asleep when doing this but you don't have to do it at bedtime (just try and do it once a day) though I find the evening is best
6. If you find yourself waking at night, don't look at the clock (cover it up or something) - it doesn't help!
7. If you have lots on your mind and your brain won't slow down you're never going to sleep. Write a list and get it out off your head (a kind of 'to do' list or whatever for whne you wake up). I've heard of some people keeping a pen and paper next to the bed for this and found that it helped.
8. Always, always concentrate on your breathing. Deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. This should naturally induce sleep.

Finally, yes relaxations CDs with background noise can be great. Jishu, if you can recieve a decent sized MP3 via email, PM me and I can send you one I used to use. Same goes for anyone else.

You don't necessarily have to do everything in this list but I'd recommend that anyone having trouble sleeping try a few of the above. Different things work for different people.

[swiggidy]

spenda, I think the problem is going to bed early. You're not going to be tired. If I have to re-adjust my schedule I just stay up really late one night, then I'm tired the whole next day, but when I go to bed (at the desired time) it helps me re-adjust.

dr, have more sex

I don't eat anything with excess sugar in it, and I don't drink caffine after 12-2pm. If I drink a cup of coffee at 6pm I won't fall asleep until 2am and I won't sleep well.

[Ash256]

Well said kevster.

I find the main problem is thinking about sleep, if you do that you're fucked! Masturbation is quite useless, unless I'm the only person on earth who needs a piss after a wank. But yeah, stop thinking about sleep, stop thinking about that you've got to be up at 7 the next morning, just take it as an oppurtunity to lie down and relax, and not care about anything.. if you fall asleep, yay, if you don't, who gives a shit.

[drmcboy]

I have been trying to get up at the same time each day, it is going OK. I am terrible at falling asleep but I am awesome at sleeping in.

I am sure coffee is a part of the problem, what is the half life on caffine? There is 0 chance of me giving up after dinner coffee, but maybe I can cut back. My tolernace is through the roof for sure, I am the king of coffee.

dr, have more sex

forwarded to Mrs Dr

[swiggidy]

this is interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Metabolism

so 3-4, maybe longer? I wonder if I drink enough that my liver doesn't can't process caffeine that fast?

Maybe if you started making your evening coffee weaker? Coffee is generally made too strong as it is. Get some good coffee for the evening. I make mine around the consistency of tea, instead of the consistency of syrup like many restaurants and my old roommate.

[drmcboy]

Caffeine has a much more significant effect on spiders, for example, than most other drugs do.[41]

Sweet, I hate spiders

I drink good coffee (fresh ground, usually Hawaiian although we mix in other stuff) 100% of the time, I'm elitist. I am going to try cutting back some, and make sure it's gone before 9, I don't want/need to sleep before 1-2. It is hard making less because I never know how much Mrs McBoy will drink, sometimes half a cup, sometimes 2.

Some things I wonder:

Do I need the same amount of sleep each night?

Can I figure out what this number is somehow?

is it important what hours of the day they are?

[swiggidy]

That's good to know, this is the best coffee I had while I was over there: http://www.hulabean.com/

your questions:
1) for optimal performance, yes. I would get by fine in school sleeping 8 hours one night and 4 the next, basically alternating.

2) yes

3) no, but it should be consistant

[DaNutsInYoEye]

Get your life together. You're going to continue to have sleep problems as long as you have anxiety issues. When your lying in bed at night you're thinking about things that have been largely ignored during daily activity. If you don't address the issues that are concerning you then they're going to continue to keep you up.

[drmcboy]

http://www.hawaiicoffee.net/

good, but shipping takes forever

http://www.mauicoffeeroasters.com/

we order from here now, much faster, same tastyness

we'll try some of yours next time

[Reidak]

Alright im going to follow up. Its been a couple days of listening to this relaxation music and I have to say its working for me. Maybe in a week or so is a better time to reflect on my results, but I wanted to post this anyways.

I think that even though im sleeping a bit longer, but when im waking up im feeling alot more rested. Not groggy. I wake up now feeling like I would after about 20 minutes of being awake a week ago, after my shower.

Im not a sleep expert but you hear things like ren or rem sleep or something. I think this music is allowing my mind and body to relax enough to fall into that category. Im also having much more vivid dreams. They would definatley make for some cool posts, its too bad I forget them.

Anywho, ill update again in a few days to see if im still improving

[Irisheyes]

http://www.shoutcast.com/ type in anahata in the search.

cant you give a more exact link please? I went over there and searched and got no results.

[Reidak]

the links are not exact to the page where you can download, sorry.

its ANAHATA by the way, in caps

[Irisheyes]

You totally sure?

all I get is this

Unfortunately, there weren't any SHOUTcast streams found containing the term ANAHATA

[Reidak]

Irish, I uploaded the file. Simply open your winamp and drag and drop this into your playlist. it loads automatically.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vdhxl5

[Irisheyes]

Cool got it thanks a bunch. I find this stuff great to play poker to also. Great for keeping you calm and detached.

[kevster]

Alright im going to follow up. Its been a couple days of listening to this relaxation music and I have to say its working for me. Maybe in a week or so is a better time to reflect on my results, but I wanted to post this anyways.

I think that even though im sleeping a bit longer, but when im waking up im feeling alot more rested. Not groggy. I wake up now feeling like I would after about 20 minutes of being awake a week ago, after my shower.

Im not a sleep expert but you hear things like ren or rem sleep or something. I think this music is allowing my mind and body to relax enough to fall into that category. Im also having much more vivid dreams. They would definatley make for some cool posts, its too bad I forget them.

Anywho, ill update again in a few days to see if im still improving

Glad to hear you're sleeping better Jishu. I know how bad lack of sleep can be - I used to be a total fucking insomniac a few years back and it felt like I was going mental. Natural, genuine, relaxation is the key and those CDs can really help.

[UG]

I take melatonin (something your body produces naturally). My wife says that by taking melatonin at night (bedtime) you encourage your body to develop better and more consistant sleep paterns. It helps you sleep deeper and more soundly. It can also help your body get into the mood of sleeping (if you take it 30 minutes before bed).

I also take Valerian sometimes, too. It's a relaxant herb that helps relax you for sleep and helps you sleep better.

Neither of these cause any dependancies and aren't habit forming, according to studies, but I usually don't take them on the weekends because most times it doesn't matter when I go to bed or when I wake up.

[Reidak]

Yeah. Id rather hold off the extras until they are of necessity. Im not afriad of the side effects, but I mean if i am doing well with jus the music then ill keep at it until it fails.

[takesix]

Ambien CR ftw.