Can't sleep...araghhhh!

Why is it that you wake up at 4:00 am and can't sleep, then 10 minuets before the alarm goes off at 6:00 am, your exhausted and can't keep your eyes open? I have such a long day today, it's going to suck.

What's worse is waking up at Midnight & being awake 'til 6. :(

Ahhhh...insomnia...welcome to the land of the "living dead"...nothing good on TV either when you are awake at crazy hours of the night. I have always been a light sleeper, but after menopause my insomnia has been really terrible...DRAT...old age be damned!!! I have researched treatments over the years and have included some helpful hints below (just the nurse in me-having to share). :)

Here are some basic facts on insomnia. It's actually divided into two kinds: primary and secondary.

Primary insomnia is having sleep problems that are not related to another health issue and generally lasts for at least one month or longer.

Co-morbid insomnia involves sleep problems that are associated with some other medical conditions. More than 8 out of 10 people who suffer with insomnia are believed to have this type. Examples of things that can cause co-morbid insomnia include:

• Illnesses such as arthritis, cancer, heartburn, heart and lung diseases
• Pain, anxiety and depression
• A substance you may be using such as alcohol, caffeine or tobacco
• Prescription or over-the-counter medications
• Another sleep disorder such as restless leg syndrome
• A poor sleep environment or a change in sleep routine

Insomnia is also divided into types based on how long it lasts. The three types are:

• Transient insomnia: lasting fewer than four weeks
• Short-term insomnia: inability to sleep well for a period of four weeks to six months
• Chronic insomnia: occurring every night or most nights for more than six months

Some of these suggestions might not fit with your lifestyle, but they may be worth trying if you get fed up with insomnia.

1. Don’t stay in bed for longer than 20-30 minutes if you can’t fall asleep or go back to sleep after waking up.  Why? Because  it can cause your body to become accustomed to being in bed without sleep and can be subconsciously ingrained – bad news if you’re trying to avoid becoming an insomniac.

2. Avoid caffeine within 8-10 hours of bedtime.  There have been studies that show if you ingest caffeine (coffee, tea, or otherwise) at noon, it can remain in your system until 8 or 10 at night.  Hmmm gonna have to stop visiting Starbucks on the way home.

3. Avoid alcohol before bedtime.  Alcohol can sometimes cause you to sleep lighter than usual thusly causing you to wake in the middle of the night – Well, how realistic is this.  :wink:

4. Find light, relaxing activities to partake in if you can’t sleep.  Try reading or listening to calm, soft music.  It might help your overactive brain to pause and stop the flood of things do to, projects to finish, worries to worry about. I swear by Solitaire on my laptop...it makes my brain tired.

5. Try the cool-down method. Take a warm bath or shower about 30-45 minutes before you go to bed.  This let’s your body relax and the cooling sensation is very ‘sleep-inducing’.

[ Edited by: VampiressRN  2008-10-30 21:29 ]

Thanks for the info VampiressRN,
I think, no, I know the problem...I'm a contractor and a cabinetmaker, my phone has not rang for weeks. I may run out of work by the end of November. I had work out to March or April with some projects lasting until next fall. All the projects have been; delayed, canceled or are under going "value engineering" I had to let a worker go last week and perhaps 2 more in December. It's time for some serious decisions.
I have been in business for 30 years, and I know this too shall pass but I'm getting to old for this crap but too young to retire.

Also this is in yer closet:

Sweet dreams.

This works for me.

I toss a firecracker out the window into the back yard then get back in bed. When it goes off everyone else around wakes up, but they don't know what woke them up. So they get up and mill around for a while wondering whats up. The sound of all that gentle shuffling about lulls me back to sleep within a couple of minutes.

I count tikis

one tiki, two tiki, three tiki, four tiki....

one million tikis, one million one tikis, one million two tikis.... (sigh)

Drugs Betty.......drugs!!!!

I don't really have a problem sleeping,
its the getting up to pee 2 to 5 times a night that is getting annoying.
I've tried cutting out drinking past 7pm, but its not working much.
I'm just hoping that I'm not getting prostate problems.
ugh...
:(

Jeff(bigtikidude)

I usally work so hard during the day that I fall asleep in the evening and end up waking around 1AM. I just get up and do stuff. Play with the dog, do yoga, work on projects, READ LOTS, do Jumba, watch TV. If I could go swimming in the middle of the night I would. cept I have to be up at 6AM for class. I usually fall asleep again at about 4Am and get up exactly 15 minutes too late to get to class on time DRAT! I think Ive had that restless leg thingy before I just used to call it wiggle leg . and a sure fie way not to get that is to actually use your legs during the day. Like walk a few miles, or run if thats your thing. Tire them out then they wont wanna wiggle at all!

I should be hatching plans for making some christmas loot, but Im still half way creatively blocked.

On 2008-11-06 07:23, bigtikidude wrote:
I don't really have a problem sleeping,
its the getting up to pee 2 to 5 times a night that is getting annoying.
I've tried cutting out drinking past 7pm, but its not working much.
I'm just hoping that I'm not getting prostate problems.
ugh...
:(

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Wear Diapers!!

is that from personal experience Spermy?

Jeff(bigtikidude)

99 bottles of rum on the wall...

I should get a night job.

On 2008-11-13 03:21, BettyBleu wrote:
99 bottles of rum on the wall...

I should get a night job.

Hell Yeah!! Maybe you can get a job changing Jeff's diapers!!

[ Edited by: The Sperm Whale 2008-11-13 04:54 ]

On 2008-11-13 04:44, The Sperm Whale wrote:

On 2008-11-13 03:21, BettyBleu wrote:
99 bottles of rum on the wall...

I should get a night job.

Hell Yeah!! Maybe you can get a job changing Jeff's diapers!!

[ Edited by: The Sperm Whale 2008-11-13 04:54 ]

Doh!!
why you!!!!
I only got up 1 time to pee last night,

Spermy, how those plastic sheets workin out for ya?
:wink:
Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2008-11-06 07:23, bigtikidude wrote:
I don't really have a problem sleeping,
its the getting up to pee 2 to 5 times a night that is getting annoying.
I've tried cutting out drinking past 7pm, but its not working much.
I'm just hoping that I'm not getting prostate problems.
ugh...
:(
Jeff(bigtikidude)

A lot of my friends, (mid 50's and up) have some prostrate problems and they CAN'T pee. I don't have that problem at all.
Every morning at 5:30 sharp, I pee like a racehorse!
Only problem...I get up at 6:00.

Set your clock ahead 30 minutes.

On 2008-11-14 10:16, The Gnomon wrote:
Set your clock ahead 30 minutes.

That was a joke son, a joke!
That boy is as sharp as a bag of marbles.
(Foghorn Leghorn)

Try the natural herb, over the counter Melatonin. It will help you fall a sleep and stay asleep..

not even remotely tired.

what really sucks is when you go to bed at 4 am on Fri nite/sat. morn.
and you get woke up at 5:50 am by somebody calling a wrong number on my cell phone.
ugh...
then I got up at 8:30 and was awake and gone all day on barely 4 hours sleep.
Jeff(bigtikidude)

[ Edited by: bigtikidude 2008-11-17 14:10 ]

3:10 am
Here we are again. So frickin much fun. Worse part? nuthin, I mean nuthin! in the house to eat. Oh yeah, the pantry is full...of things to cook or healthy things, soup, tofu, vegetables, but not a dang thing to munch on at 3:00am.
A sugary cereal would be good, some Capt'n Crunch or Coco Puffs, some cookies, maybe some of those new Rachael Ray flavored Triscuits, SOMETHING!!! look in the fridge, There is 19 bottles of salad dressing with less than 1/2 left, cut, peeled carrots? WTH? and what the heck is with all the stuff with SPLENDA? Yech! I can taste that stuff a mile away, like my dog can taste a pill in a ball of hamburger! Hamburgers...that would work...nope, garden burgers...who shops here!?! My skinny wife does! Snacks, we need some snack food! now I'm hungry, tired and can't sleep ARRRRGH! Some toast with peanut butter? What is 29 grain bread with no flour or glutton? Dang looks more like a sanding pad than bread, no sourdough? Oh great, the peanut butter is a new jar, all natural, means it has to be stirred to get the oil in, what a mess. Next.
out to the freezer in the garage...more garden burgers and what is a Portabello burger? Mushroom burgers? who eats this stuff? I wonder if there is a 24 hour Taco Bell here? naw, I don't want to go out.
crap.

What was that crash outside dang!

Great! that stupid raccoon is back and knocked over a container of wild bird food onto the glass table top out back, at 3:30am it sounded really loud, (PETA lovers cover your ears) I just nailed him with a rock, little bastard! He wiped out my garden this summer, now we have to keep the dog door covered, last week he came in the house in the middle of the night and ate the dog food. He's about 5 times bigger than my dog, she's smart, she hides upstairs. My wife says "Oh he's so cute!" yeah, like a stomach pump. GET OUT OF THE BAMBOO! Your not a panda! There are new shoots coming up, grrrrr if he breaks them. Sprinklers just came on, that sent him on his way. That means the newspaper person will be coming anytime, why does everyone get the paper on our street? Plop, plop, plop. Wednesday morning? Good, the street sweeper comes at 4:30...

Wide Wide awake.
Hungry.
Crap.

1/2 hour till "Its too late to go back to bed and not be wiped out at 6:00am"

Wide Wide awake.
Hungry.
Stressed
Crap.

My dogs never catch up with daylight savings time....ARGH!!! Quit waking me up at 4am....we can sleep till 5am guys. :(

On 2008-11-16 15:04, tikipaka wrote:
Try the natural herb, over the counter Melatonin. It will help you fall a sleep and stay asleep..

Thanks for the suggestion, I am very very sensitive to that kind of stuff, I would be a total zombie the next day. Benadryl kicks my butt and I'm in a fog for two days.

Ah ha! I did some reverse psychology, I stocked up on late night/early morning foods!!! Capt Crunch, big jar of jam and that killer San Luis Sourdough, I hoping that will work against it. We'll see.
What I need is for my phone to ring and some Kitchens in the shop and see more $$$ in my checking account, that would put me asleep like a baby!

On 2008-11-15 21:52, bananabobs wrote:

On 2008-11-14 10:16, The Gnomon wrote:
Set your clock ahead 30 minutes.

That was a joke son, a joke!
That boy is as sharp as a bag of marbles.
(Foghorn Leghorn)

So was mine. 8)

Great horny-toadies! I think I dug all the way to Chinee!
(Yosemite Sam)

On 2008-11-20 06:58, The Gnomon wrote:

On 2008-11-15 21:52, bananabobs wrote:

On 2008-11-14 10:16, The Gnomon wrote:
Set your clock ahead 30 minutes.

That was a joke son, a joke!
That boy is as sharp as a bag of marbles.
(Foghorn Leghorn)

So was mine. 8)

Great horny-toadies! I think I dug all the way to Chinee!
(Yosemite Sam)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwnwbG9YLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwnwbG9YLE

Sorry. But bein' that I am rarely online except at work and we are a Gubment contractor, MIS has filters for all streaming media, photo/file storage sites, and a lot of other stuff. Consequently, when Chonglio and certain others post photos in Photo Association, for example, I don't see them because they are linked to photo storage sites and the company servers filter them out. Same for streaming media like youtube, etc.

I'm sure the above link is cool though.

Yawn!!! At least "A Night in Casablanca" is on. :)

Warm milk, whole wheat toast with peanut butter, 1/2 hour before hitting the pillow.

Milk's chemical compound is changed when warmed, and it releases some, er... stuff (it's been a while since I had one of those month-long nights - details are scroggy), as does whole wheat & PB. Make sure the PB is natural (no Kraft sugar added, thanks), plus the protein keeps the stomach busy & helps take care of the 3 a.m. snack-time wakey-wakeys.

More reading material for all of you wide-eyed Zombies....

CHRONIC INSOMNIA
For chronic insomnia, the treatment of choice is to change your lifestyle and habits. A careful evaluation can pave the way to better sleep by pinpointing habits that keep you up at night. A sleep specialist trained in behavioral medicine can help people with learned insomnia replace their bad habits with positive ones.

SLEEP RESTRICTION
People with insomnia often find that spending less time in bed promotes more restful sleep and helps make the bedroom a welcome sight instead of a torture chamber. As you learn to fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly, the time in bed is slowly extended until you obtain a full night's sleep.

Some sleep experts suggest starting with five or six hours at first, or whatever amount of time you typically sleep at night. Setting a rigid early morning waking time often works best. If the alarm is set for 7 a.m., a five-hour restriction means that no matter how sleepy you are, you must stay awake until 2 a.m. Once you are sleeping well during the allotted five hours, you can add another 15 or 30 minutes, then repeat the process until you're getting a healthy amount of sleep.

RECONDITIONING
In the 1970s, a Northwestern University professor developed a technique to recondition people with insomnia to associate the bedroom with sleep. These are the rules:

Use the bed only for sleeping and sex.
Go to bed only when you're sleepy. If you're unable to sleep, get up and move to another room. Stay up until you are sleepy, then return to bed. If sleep does not follow quickly, repeat.
During the reconditioning process, get up at the same time every day and do not nap.
The idea is to train your body to associate your bed with sleep instead of sleeplessness and frustration.

RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
For some people with insomnia, a racing or worried mind is the enemy of sleep. In others, physical tension is to blame. Fortunately, there are ways to release physical tension and relax more effectively. Relaxation techniques that can quiet a racing mind include meditation, breathing exercises, and progressively tensing and relaxing your muscles starting with your feet and working your way up your body — a technique known as progressive muscle relaxation.

In biofeedback, people use equipment that monitors and makes them aware of involuntary body states (such as muscle tension or hand temperature). Immediate feedback helps people see how various thoughts or relaxation maneuvers affect tension, enabling them to learn how to gain voluntary control over the process. Biofeedback is usually done under professional supervision. Other relaxation techniques — such as progressive muscle relaxation or meditation — can be learned in behavior therapy sessions or from books, tapes, or classes.

See ya on the flip side!!!

Now here is a twist, A roast in the crock pot... It apparently woke me from a sound sleep. My wife is, I suppose, trying to get a jump on Thanksgiving cooking, is cooking a huge roast in our big crock pot. The smell woke me up. As you can image from my rant over food, I'm a 2XL kinda guy and food is pretty important to me, well you should smell this roast, damn, it's killing me. We went to bed around 11 and judging by the size of this roast, it has until about 4 AM before it's done. That's a long time to stand here with two slices of sourdough bread coated with Mayo and Mustard...man there's some beans left over from Wood Ranch BBQ, what a marriage that would be with the sandwich...or maybe some instant mashed potatoes to go with the gravy or...
I've got my happy thought, I can probably go back to sleep, Psst, pot roast...see ya at 6:00!

Mmmmm, that does sound yummy. Sat up last night from 2am to 3am...went back to bed but woke up at 4 and got up at 4:30am. All in all...5 hours of sleep...I'll be dragging today. Send me a roast samwich for lunch. :)

The sleep aid, tryptophan, always seems very plentiful this time of year.

Chicago Sun Times: tryptophan

Garbage! On a Saturday night? 1:30am up again. ARRRAGH!

On 2008-11-23 09:54, twitch wrote:
Warm milk, whole wheat toast with peanut butter, 1/2 hour before hitting the pillow.
3 a.m. snack-time wakey-wakeys.

PGJ before bed? I like it! It may put the weight up a little and the cholesterol level over the top but who cares if we sleep!

"snack-time wakey-wakeys"
I like it! I am going to add this to my vocabulary! Thanks

In bed before 11, up at 6:30, straight through.
Why do I still feel like crap?

as I get older I am not sleepy as well,
maybe its my blood pressure, but I have to keep flip flooping more than before, to relieve the pressure in my head.

if I sleep to long, my head starts throbbing and I have to get up after awhile, if I sleep 7 hours or less, I wake up exhausted and still wanting more sleep,

good tip to get to sleep,
rub one out.
:wink:

Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2008-12-09 07:06, bananabobs wrote:
In bed before 11, up at 6:30, straight through.
Why do I still feel like crap?

You might have sleep apnea. Are you a major snorer?
GROG' brother was waking up tired all the time. He went and did one of those sleep studies where they test you overnight as you sleep. It showed he was pretty much waking up every two minutes or so all night long and never really falling into a deep sleep because he has sleep apnea. So you might want to try a sleep study and see what's going on.

On 2008-12-09 23:40, GROG wrote:

On 2008-12-09 07:06, bananabobs wrote:
In bed before 11, up at 6:30, straight through.
Why do I still feel like crap?

You might have sleep apnea. Are you a major snorer?
GROG' brother was waking up tired all the time. He went and did one of those sleep studies where they test you overnight as you sleep. It showed he was pretty much waking up every two minutes or so all night long and never really falling into a deep sleep because he has sleep apnea. So you might want to try a sleep study and see what's going on.

For a fellow that's not completely upright yet, your pretty smart!
Thanks Ernie, I have a complete physical tomorrow and that's one of the things the Dr. wants to look into.

go'in on 5 days of waking up at 3:30-ish a.m.

what gives?

( this happens often)

you're turning into BambooSanta and getting ready to deliver new bamboo tiki bars to all the good little girls and boys....

On 2008-12-23 04:00, RevBambooBen wrote:
go'in on 5 days of waking up at 3:30-ish a.m.

what gives?

( this happens often)

I hear that old people do this a lot.
my Grandpa would go to bed at 7 pm and get up at 3 am to go get donuts.
then by 10 am he had to take a 2 hour nap.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2008-12-23 04:00, RevBambooBen wrote:
go'in on 5 days of waking up at 3:30-ish a.m.

what gives?

( this happens often)

When you wake up are you staring at a white ceiling? If so, it's just guilt taking its toll. Cure: bamboo the bejesus out of it and set sail for dreamland.

I hope this will help. It has always worked for me. I sleep like a baby (except I don't spit up and poop in my pants.)

http://www.revengelady.com/

The "Santa Killer" may have taken this idea just a little too far. Sorry.

[ Edited by: hellotiki 2008-12-27 16:37 ]

for the past 2 weeks we have prettymuch been snowed in. No driving for me, ust hiking around the neighborhood. Normally I get atleast 2 rs of exercise everyday, but becasue of all te stoopid snow I cant get to my yoga class, or over to the pool for my mid day swim. You would think that the lack of exercise would really make me crazy , I need to burn off a certain amount of energy every day so i can sleep.
BUUUTT I went to the liquer store, stocked up on the rum and have been drinking plenty-o-cocktails. Consequently, Im sleeping really good!
YEA RUM