Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Yeh this job has really messed up my body clock ): They've extended the opening hours to 6 in the morning every single day(!), and when I get in I just can't switch off. My taxi driver suggested doing sit ups in bed till you fall asleep, didn't work for me though! I don't want want to go on sleeping pills because I've heard they make you groggy &out of it the next day, does anyone know any natural herbal remedies or anything to help get to sleep?
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About" by Kevin Trudeau
I don't have the book yet but my friends have told me it worked
i used to have problems falling asleep so i would put the tv on and fall asleep on the couch and now all i do is open the tv.. and i fall asleep in about 10 15 minutes..
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I have a variation on that... I have no problem falling asleep, but I can't stay that way once the sun is up. I'm a morning person and I have trouble staying awake when it's dark, and I absolutely can't sleep through daylight. I'll come home from work about 5:30 a.m., have a hot bath to relax and then go to bed, and I wake up by nine or ten at the latest. I'll be awake all day and then it starts getting dark right when I have to get ready for work, and I just crash out. It's really hard on me. I can only work four nights a week because I need the other three nights to sleep.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I'm all jacked up. I recently started a 3am- 9am shift. Although I never stay until 9 it's still messing me up something terrible. I will lay down at about 10 and wake up about 2 and get ready. I alternate between that and working 8pm-2am.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I wish I could stay awake during the day. I'm so much of a night owl. During daylight I'm sleepy all day but once night time comes, I could stay awake all night. I guess that's why dancing is a good line of work for me but I also have a part time day job and it's so much harder for me to stay awake. I usually take naps during the day on my lunch break and sometimes take a nap when I get home at 5pm.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I am just like yek. when i was dancing if the club was not busy i would be the one nodding off on some nice guys shoulder.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I sleep from 6am until 3pm or later. My brain wont shut up ever without my OCD meds, though. I am currently on 4 medications for sleep and sleep-related problems. I also like taking Magnesium powder to help.
I meditate using ambient and new age music, staring at pictures of mandalas, spirals, eaceful landscapes, and fractal art.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Some nights I'm so keyed up after work that I have trouble falling asleep, and this trick always works for me: slow down your breathing, particularly your exhale. Make your exhale longer than your inhale. For instance, breath in for a count of four and out for a count of six, then hold your breath out for a second or two before you breath in again. Learned this in yoga -- emphasizing the exhale slows down your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, and relaxes your brain wave patterns. Also, counting each breath occupies the OCD part of my brain that would otherwise be chattering like a cageful of squirrels. Try it. If you keep doing it, you'll fall asleep in ten minutes or less.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I put the tv on low so it sounds like random faraway chatter. I set it to cut off in 30-60 minutes. However sometimes that doesn't work because some f-ed up story will come on and wake my mind up. New Age music is the no-fail sleep inducer! There could be a tornado going by and I'd fall out to that!
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I got to take meds to sleep. I have horrible sleep problems.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Hot tea with honey and milk. Failing that, sex. Failing that, book. Failing that, drugs. Failing that, cry like a baby.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Unisom is a really gentle sleep aid and in my personal experience I have never felt groggy upon awakening after taking it. Try that!
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I can sleep whenever. I love to sleep...but i usually find myself sleeping from 4am till midday. I'm most awake and energetic around 1am.
Have you tried camomile tea? Cheese helps me sleep...but it's been rumored to cause nightmares.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
It's just your clock letting you know when you have to sleep. When your sleeping patterns change it takes a while to adjust. Same type of thing when traveling to another state or country.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I have to switch my sleep patterns constantly, from working a construction schedule to a late night dancer's schedule. I also suffered from insomnia since childhood, so this is nothing new to me:).
Some herbal remedies that work well are melatonin and valerian root. Both are natural and have no side effects (aside from making you sleepy;)). You can buy these items anywhere that vitamins are sold. I use these supplements to help me fall asleep earlier than my body naturally wants to. Even if I hardly slept the night before, I have a hard time falling asleep before 2am.
Try taking a hot bath or shower about 30 minutes before bed. The hot water will warm up your body, then your body will work to start cooling down, by slowing your metabolism, and inducing sleep.
Also try black out drapes on the windows. Day sleepers need darkness just like everyone else. That is the body's natural signal to sleep, so if you just have regular drapes or blinds on your windows it will mess with your natural sleep patterns, and make sleep difficult and sometimes impossible.
Buy a white noise machine. Day sleepers don't have the luxury of quiet, but a white noise machine will at least mask the sounds of a wide awake world. I have an alarm clock with "spa sounds" that I bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I love the ocean sounds and the thunderstorm sounds the best.
I've never used persciption meds for insomnia, but I'm sure that would be useful for switching around your schedule as well.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I've been as nocturnal as an owl since I was about 10 years old.
Anybody who's served in the military or in 24-hour national security posts will have to learn to live with mid shifts, or the famed 8 PM to 8 AM shift. That means learning to sleep during the day.
The easiest way to reverse your sleep cycles is to convince your brain that it's really night. That means a mask over your eyes simulating total darkness -- like you see people wearing on red-eye flights -- or the artful use of pillows, combined with earplugs, a wave simulation machine or a static sound generator.
The light chemical/physical approach: A glass of milk, a long hot shower or a glass of wine.
Sex is often the best way, of course. My first experience on the mid shift was with another Russian linguist who was also my insane, hot, althletic girlfriend. But that was always a two hour early morning romp, followed by backrubs and hair massages, and my trying NOT to be the first to fall asleep (God, I hate stereotypes).
Oh, and since nobody has mentioned it in any detail, there are prescription solutions as well. Valium will help you relax, and Xanax will chill you out, but there is nothing better than 3 mg of Ativan. The drug is actually an anti-anxiety drug that is designed to slowly reduce your level of mental obsessiveness -- the feeling that you "can't turn your brain off" -- another condition I've endured since I was about 10 years old. That effect kicks in at 30 mins, but about 15 mins later you get this wonderful sedative effect that slowly brings the rest of your body down. It's the drug of choice in IV form given to surgery patients who are anxious about surgery -- it's called "sweetening the IV." There is no morning groggy feeling, and if you take it late enough, you will awake feeling fully refreshed and with a slightly elevated mood. A nice little side benefit.
Don't take it during the day unless you are really intent on sleeping, or are very good at strategic napping. It will drive you into REM faster than any other chemical I know.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
yes TOO is right u need to trick yr brain into thinking is dark and time to sleep. when i travel to europe i get jet lag and the best thing to re adjust the sleep pattern is Melatonin
is the hormon of the sleep secreted by the pineal gland
i also use progressive relaxation : contract all the muscles groups one by one , each group for 10 seconds then relax . contract - relax . from toes to scalp. you fall asleep sometimes before getting to the head muscles
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Other Owner
Oh, and since nobody has mentioned it in any detail, there are prescription solutions as well. Valium will help you relax, and Xanax will chill you out, but there is nothing better than 3 mg of Ativan. The drug is actually an anti-anxiety drug that is designed to slowly reduce your level of mental obsessiveness -- the feeling that you "can't turn your brain off" -- another condition I've endured since I was about 10 years old.
These work well for me too. I have generalized anxiety disorder, which essentially is what TOO decribed... I obsess about everything and anything untill I work myself in to a fit. I take .5 mg of Xanax to chill out when I have approached the point of no return in obsessive freaking about nothing and everything... They help me get rest.
On the other side of the medical perscription intervention... Xanax, Valium, Ativan....All belong to a class of drugs called benzodiazapins.... Which are EXTREMELY addictive and EXTREMEMLY EXTREMELY dangerous to withdrawel from with out medical intervention. Short term use only.
Ambien also is addictive.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
I'm terrible with my time management, so I run into this situation several times a month.
To adjust your circadian rhythm, you can try chemistry or meditation. Often enough, setting the room temperature to warmer than is comfortable will work, too.
Exercise before bed is not a good idea because it increases your metabolic rate and makes you more awake for a period thereafter. Also, you shouldn't use your bed for exercise or reading, so you don't inhibit the development of sleep-related reflexes to being in bed.
You should control the amount of light in the room or wear something over your eyes. Whether you need to control the sound is something you'll have to decide for yourself.
The most effective means I know takes planning, and it is based on making yourself so tired that you avoid the whole situation. Basically, if I need to change my schedule, I will start the day before, knowing what time I will need to be in bed to be awake for whatever it is on day three, and stay up through that night. Then, about two hours before the beginning point (say, 10:00 p.m. to get 8 hrs and be up at 6:00 a.m., so start at 8:00 p.m. on day two) I will go to bed. By then, I will usually be at the point of nearly falling asleep in my chair or car, so it isn't difficult falling asleep. Likewise, I expect something will come up and interrupt me, so time for that is factored in. After that, start going to bed at the beginning point (10:00 p.m. in this example) until you need to change it again.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
When I am way too worked up and wired from work, I go to the 24 hour Walmart and do my grocery shopping.
Meditation really helps, when you focus on calming the inner monologue it really helps shut your brain off. But not just after work, before work too, so you can create this kind of calm vibe to carry with you all day long.
Re: Sleep.. or lack thereof
Ohh. I didnt detail my meds, did I? Oops. I take Lunesta (So far its the only sleep meds that doctors around here will prescribe long term), Effexor so my brain will shut up, Clomipramine and Imipramine for the sleep paralysis....