How is your sleep?
 

What do you do to be able to sleep? Or, are you one of those young perfect people that fall asleep as soon as they hit the pillow?


Over the last 5 years my sleep habits have become worse and worse. I blamed it on everything and anything and eventually I'd get back to my old pattern of perfect sleep. Then, I'd have a period where I wouldn't be able to sleep and eventually revert again.

Now, I am afraid, my sleep is totally ****ed. And I don't know what to do about it.

I used to drink alcohol at nights to help me relax and get tired. Getting older, those extra calories are really not helping matters and I do worry about my alcohol consumption. Not from a dependency perspective (though it doesn't seem right to having to drink alcohol in order to be able to sleep) but more from a health perspective. A body shouldn't have to put up with the additional burden of daily alcohol and abuse like that will eventually have consequences.

Anyway, earlier this year I was prescribed Ambien - a sleep medication. I don't like chemical drugs and am quite afraid of them. I did take one at one point and the side effects were frightening. I put them in my medicine cabinet. Eventually, I got used to the side effects of narcotics due to other meds I am taking and I have tried the Ambiens again. Now, I am in love with them. In love doesn't even come close. I worship my Ambien. I have one left and I am deathly afraid of taking it cause that would mean I am out of them and I know I can't get a prescription for more. Doctors suck.

My sleep is horrible. I can't fall asleep even though my eyes are so tired I can hardly keep them open. Finally, I fall asleep only to wake up 2 hours later fully awake. I lay awake till about 5am and then fall asleep again. Then, I can't get up when I have to, or I stay up but am horribly tired but have to work, etc. When I come home, the same thing happens all over. I can't fall asleep nor stay asleep. I am terribly terribly tired until I reach a state of utter and total exhaustion. Then I get two nights of good sleep and the whole thing starts all over again.

I am tired of it.

It is annoying and can't be healthy.

Ideally, I'd have an endless supply of Ambien. That way, I'd get some sleep every night, but I found that my tolerance to medication, even narcotics is scary. At times I need 3 Ambien (one is the regular dose) to fall asleep and I know over time my tolerance will just increase. Also, I don't want to have to take sleeping pills, a couple of cocktails, or smoke some pot only to be able to SLEEP!!!

Certainly, I wouldn't mind not having to sleep if only I wasn't so freaking tired without it.


So, what is it that you do to get a good nights rest? Is it easy? Do you slip in and out of insomnia periodically? What causes it? Stress? Worry?

oh dear that doesnt sound too good!!!! try and get some more ambien but also try and get off them :)


at this moment its nearly 5am here, i'm still awake. for the past few months i've been sleeping for about 4hours if that. the past couple of days i've been going to sleep cos im so tired but i wake up every hour which annoys me so much.
i've thought about sleeping pills but nah, what usually knocks me out is quite a bit of alcohol, all good i suppose, may get my normal sleeping pattern back one day!

I've had periods like this and it was in fact caused by stress. When the stress was gone, so were the sleeping problems.

I'm sorry to hear it's bugging you this much, Maria - I know being in a state of total exhaustion is just terrible.

I wish I could fall asleep early. I can't get to bed until like 2 AM on average! I like to keep it as cold as possible because I just live to curl up in a blanket. I usually end up waking up every few hours it seems to blow my nose because it's so FUBAR that it's not even funny.

Ryan

I never been a fantastic sleeper but I've just recently started taking melatonin supplements and the difference is phenomenal. Melatonin is the chemical your brain releases when you are asleep. You take one about an hour before you go to bed and you start to feel a bit sleepy (very natural, not like when you take a drug) after a while and I then fall asleep so easily. And the best thing is I never wake up during the night now. With the amount of fluids I drink during the day I use to never be able to get 7 or 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Now I do and it's bloody great.

I'd definitely reccommend trying these supplements.

It can sometimes take me a while to get to sleep, but when I do I am usually ok. If I wake during the night, which I sometimes do many times, I can get back off quick enough. I usually aim to get between 5-7 hours sleep a night, more generally on weekends due to having a lie in until mid afternoon. I have always been 'a night person' (no, not a vampire :P) so don't like to go to bed early, very rarely this year have I been in bed by midnight. Even if I have to be up at 7am it can be 1am before I'm in bed. From what I heard though (on QI :P) it is more healthy for you to get between 4-7 hours of sleep, rather than 8 as many people think.

Yes I got a gift for sleep...... I think i get sleep very easy and controling sleep is biggest challenge for me sometimes.. as i often sleep just watching TV or movie... Still i don't sleep too much.. i don't like to sleep for long hrs and usualy sleep late at night even if nothing there to do .. But thing is i can get sleep anywhere and under any noise....i even have 5 min.. 10 min.. 15 min... 30 min sleeps.... which i use it usualy when i'm going back home from work at afternoon in bus or transport.... very helpful especially when its too much trafic...

Well i do have times where i don't get sleep.. but it is very few and far between..:)

Sex........

I might look into it, but from what I understand it is a human hormone and the idea of taking hormones freaks me out. I am also not into herbal supplements due to my high tolerance of medication. If I need 2 Ambien to knock me out, I don't see how anything less forceful could have a similar effect.

I am the complete opposite. I am a very light sleeper and anything and everything wakes me up. No sleeping for me in airplanes, busses, etc... :(

Nope. Doesn't do it.