Getting better sleep

sizing europe

Hi guys

For the last 3 weeks I have been stuck in a rut where I am only falling asleep at around 4/5 am, and not rising again until 11/12! I am sick of it and I feel unhealthy and run down because of this routine I can't stop. I am always usually a very very active and health conscious guy, eating 4/5 meals a day with gym work on top of it. But because of this sleep pattern I am so run down and tired I can't do anything with myself , I work p/t in a job that doesn't require any physical activity so that doesn't tire me either. I take zinc and magnesium tablets most of the time before bed, iv tried everything. At this stage I am considering going to a GP and asking him/her to prescribe me sleeping tabs because I simply can't go on feeling like a zombie and letting this sleep pattern ruin my normally healthy and active lifestyle . I realise sleeping tabs may not be a 'healthy choice ' but isn't it also unhealthy not to get your required sleep and proper hours ?

Any advise greatly appreciated

Dial Hard

This used to happen me (although not to as much of an extreme) during the summer holidays from school.

The quickest and easiest way to break this habit is to set an alarm for 7 or 8am for and actually get up at that time. You'll be so tired from only getting a couple of hours of sleep that you'll be ready for bed at a more reasonable hour that night. Repeat for a couple of days, if needs be, but I generally never needed more than a day or two of this before my sleep patterns were reset.

Get up early regardless of sleep for a couple days, go for a walk during the day, it should reset you

Yeah like dial hard said

power pants

Perhaps start going to the gym in the morning for 9am?

get up at 7:30 or 8am and off you go

Try and get as much fresh air and walking before you start work

Eat your healthy diet

Maybe you have depression or just staying in bed for the sake of it as you ask yourself, why do I need to get up when I have nothing to get up for?

sizing europe

Thanks for replies lads.. Trust me iv tried getting up at 7/8 am and going for a run or walk but at that stage iv only just fallen asleep with an hour I'd say. Last night for example I remember check in my watch and it was 6'40 am and had not been asleep for a minute at this stage. Maybe as someone said I have issues in my head which need sorting out I'm not sure what to do tho

MartyMcFly84

I used to suffer from anxiety. This effected my sleep, making me unable to sleep at night and then sleeping late into the day.

This just made things worse as I was missing classes etc and made my anxiety even worse, and I drank and did other things to escape the anxiety instead of dealing with it.

Maybe have a think. See if there is something else there that is effecting your sleep. Maybe something you need to do that you are not doing as well as you could.

I found taking up martial arts helped me a lot. I was tired in the evenings, I became more confident, and started dealing with my life better. Recently I have avoided as best I can watching TV or trawling the internet too much in the evening. This just jogs my brain and keeps me from calming down. Before you know if you can watch 4 -5 episodes in a series instead of calming down and relaxing before bed.

I have found listening to sounds of the sea in a dark room to "meditate" as I like to call it helps me a great deal, generally I just drift off.

ford2600

http://www.aclai.ie/blog/3663/sleep-part-1/

http://www.aclai.ie/blog/680/sleep-deep-perform-better-13-steps-to-a-super-deep-sleep-2/

Dial Hard

sizing europe wrote: »

Trust me iv tried getting up at 7/8 am and going for a run or walk but at that stage iv only just fallen asleep with an hour I'd say. Last night for example I remember check in my watch and it was 6'40 am and had not been asleep for a minute at this stage.

Well that's kind of the point. You get up anyway and by the time 10pm or so rolls around that evening, you'll be so tired you'll have no trouble falling asleep at a normal bedtime.

MartyMcFly84

Well that's kind of the point. You get up anyway and by the time 10pm or so rolls around that evening, you'll be so tired you'll have no trouble falling asleep at a normal bedtime.

I guess If you have just nodded off for an hour before you wake up you would be in a very very deep sleep.

I know personally I would find it very hard to wake up if in a deep sleep. I have completely slept through alarms and even kind of sleep walked and turned them off without really knowing what I was doing if i get anything less than 4 hours.

Might be better to try and stay awake. Just sacrifice one day and stay awake as long as you can and go asleep at 9pm next night.

- Another tip would be to get the clock/watch/phone out of your room. Checking the time constantly can only add to your sleep anxiety as you get more worried about the time and the fact you are not asleep. Just made things worse for me, and ultimately you have the same result the next day.

moc moc a moc

I've had sleep trouble all my life, and here are a few things that have worked for me to a greater or lesser extent:

Sleep cycles run in periods of roughly 90 minutes (light sleep to deep sleep and back again). I recommend setting an alarm for roughly 6 hours after you fall asleep (allowing for 10-15 mins to fall asleep) for a while. When the alarm goes off, you should be in one of the lighter stages of sleep and it should be easier to wake up. Try to make yourself get out of bed at this time (assuming it's a reasonable hour) even if you want to nap a little longer. I keep an energy drink beside my bed for this :eek: This may help you get back into a more normal rhythm (then start setting your alarm for 7 and a half hours).

Don't be afraid to take a catnap during the day if you're tired enough. Make sure it doesn't go over 30-40 minutes to avoid reaching deep sleep and messing up your sleep schedule. I've read reports that light sleep doesn't have a serious effect on the general sleep cycle (circadian rhythm) but can boost energy (whereas deep sleep is needed for more long-term restorative purposes such as body repair). I find that even if I don't feel like I actually slept, even closing my eyes and lying down for 30 minutes helps refresh me a bit (especially if I have time for a quick shower afterward).

I've tried to stay away from chemical sleeping aids, same as yourself, although I've had some success with melatonin supplements (sadly now available only by prescription in Ireland - it used to be possible to order tablets over the internet). This is a hormone that is naturally produced in the human body, but can be suppressed by artificial light (particularly bright TV and computer screens, and fluorescent light). If you use a computer late into the evening, try the f.lux program which will help eliminate blue light (the specific wavelength that inhibits melatonin production).

MartyMcFly84

. I keep an energy drink beside my bed for this :eek: This may help you get back into a more normal rhythm (then start setting your alarm for 7 and a half hours)

:eek: I really don't recommend this: having a energy drink first think in the morning will mess up your blood sugar levels for the day! Resulting in energy high and slumps , needing more sugar. A great way to get diabetes.

The generally they should be avoided pretty much all the time. You may as well be drinking Coca Cola in the morning.

If you need a boost stick to natural caffeines like Tea, Coffee, Guarana, Mate tea and lay off the sugar.

Vaidookas_

Hey,
My good sleep rules:
*You mentioned: Supplements of Magnesium and Zinc
*Pitch dark room
*Cold room, no warmer than 20 Celsius. Colter it is better is the sleep.
* MOST IMPORTANT: NO TV OR PHONE before sleep. Blue screens makes ur brain active and u cant fall asleep.

Try above and let me know how u get on

DoYouEvenLift

http://sleepyti.me

colossus-x

WorthIt wrote: »

Hey,
My good sleep rules:
*You mentioned: Supplements of Magnesium and Zinc
*Pitch dark room
*Cold room, no warmer than 20 Celsius. Colter it is better is the sleep.
* MOST IMPORTANT: NO TV OR PHONE before sleep. Blue screens makes ur brain active and u cant fall asleep.

Try above and let me know how u get on

I often stay up till 4am and it's usually because I'm stuck in front of the Laptop and TV - keeping me alert instead of winding down like one should be. If I didn't have those I'm certain I wouldn't bother staying up beyond 2am.

stiofain2005

I have recently tried to improve my sleep as i was struggling to initially fall asleep and waking up a lot through the nigh. This was making it really hard to get up in the morning and i was tired during the day.

What i tried

Put blackout blinds in the room - Dont wake up half as much as I used to. Was reading somewhere recently that it only takes a small amount of light to wake you up. Think this was happening to me as defo improvement.

I started listening to the headspace app to do a little bit of meditation a few weeks ago. In it he gets you to count your breaths. This was actually making me fall asleep all the time while listening to it. So I now do this when i go to bed. I have an awful tendency to keep thinking about stuff like work etc and now i can block that out with the counting breaths.

Stopped using my phones in the bedroom - Not sure how much this helped as I still do this the odd time and doesnt seem to affect me.

Stench Blossoms

Magnesium Citrate before going to bed.

Alf Veedersane

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Magnesium Citrate before going to bed.

Got the zinc and magnesium capsules from TheProteinWorks and knocked the scepticism right put of me.

eclectichoney

Just ordered some ZMA - gonna give it a try. Any idea how much you should be taking in mgs?

Alf Veedersane

eclectichoney wrote: »

Just ordered some ZMA - gonna give it a try. Any idea how much you should be taking in mgs?

'Lots' I read, online.

sizing europe

Hi lads.. I'd just like to say thanks a million for all the replies to the thread much appreciated !

I think the zinc and magnesium is a must for hard sleepers.

Shutting out all sources of light is also a must.

Actually being tired going to bed although sounds obvious is also a must. If you don't think you've been active throughout the day then go for a walk for a couple of miles in the fresh air.

To me however. The best bit of advise I could give anyone and don't think its mentioned here is to make sure not to drink anything in the hour leading up to your sleep. Needing to go to the jacks for a pee is personally probably my biggest source of waking up at night.

Alf Veedersane

sizing europe wrote: »

Hi lads.. I'd just like to say thanks a million for all the replies to the thread much appreciated !

I think the zinc and magnesium is a must for hard sleepers.

Shutting out all sources of light is also a must.

Actually being tired going to bed although sounds obvious is also a must. If you don't think you've been active throughout the day then go for a walk for a couple of miles in the fresh air.

To me however. The best bit of advise I could give anyone and don't think its mentioned here is to make sure not to drink anything in the hour leading up to your sleep. Needing to go to the jacks for a pee is personally probably my biggest source of waking up at night.

Trying to switch off as much as possible is the best advice, I'm.

I'll probably get up twice in a night to go the jacks. At least one of them is cos I wake and I think that if I don't it'll keep me awake.

I was always a night owl but I've just changed things over time. Sometimes tall radio works for me when I wake in the middle of the night bit sometimes it keeps me awake.

Try a few things but mostly try switching off at night. It might need to be conscious at first but that's ok

Alf Veedersane

eclectichoney wrote: »

Just ordered some ZMA - gonna give it a try. Any idea how much you should be taking in mgs?

If you're taking the ZMA capsules, they'll have directions but if you're taking seperately, you'd want 400-450 mg of magnesium citrate (not oxide) and 20-30g of zinc.

There are a few different types of zinc and zinc l-monomethionine or methionine and picolinate would have better levels of absorption than zinc gluconate and zinc aspartate.

eclectichoney

Thanks Alf - made sure to avoid magnesium oxide from listening to Danny Lennon!
The directions state a serving of around 450mg of magnesium alright but I am always hesitant about supplement company recommendations given they probably just want you to use as much as possible - thanks a mill for the advice!

Alf Veedersane

eclectichoney wrote: »

Thanks Alf - made sure to avoid magnesium oxide from listening to Danny Lennon!
The directions state a serving of around 450mg of magnesium alright but I am always hesitant about supplement company recommendations given they probably just want you to use as much as possible - thanks a mill for the advice!

There is that but magnesium with or without zinc tend to suggest about the 450 mark.

ZMA is done elsewhere without being called ZMA and any a fraction of the price. But if you're going down the route of getting separately, you can start lower and see how it works.

Different people react differently and different absorption rates etc so it's a suck-it-and-see approach

moc moc a moc

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

:eek: I really don't recommend this: having a energy drink first think in the morning will mess up your blood sugar levels for the day!

Sugar-free energy drinks, dingus.

MartyMcFly84

Sugar-free energy drinks, dingus.

This was not mentioned in your post, and the fact is the vast majority of energy drinks are very high in sugar.

Maybe you should be clearer when offering what could possibly be construed as very bad advice.

Brian?

moc moc a moc wrote: »

Sugar-free energy drinks, dingus.

Mod note: Infracted for personal abuse. Don't post in this thread again please.