Uninterrupted Sleep Tips?

[Kizzie]

Finally!  The running dawg -  Rain

[Butterfly]

[somnambulist]

Has anyone else tried melatonin and/or valerian?  I have used those off and on to make sure I'm getting sleepy at an early enough hour of the day.

[Butterfly]

Yes valerian is in the mix of herbs I've tried. Works good but on meds for a few weeks to get back on track.

[alovelycreature]

I was trying to find this article I read about sleeping! Do you find yourself waking up multiple times or just once? The article was about how only recently humans have switched to 8 hour sleep schedules. Apparently people use to sleep, get up in the middle of the night and go hang out with neighbors (have a meal, whatever), and then go back to sleep for a while. Once I read that I started getting up, letting the dog out, have a snack, and then getting back in bed. That helps sometimes.

When I have trouble getting back to sleep. I usually do deep breathing while counting back from 10 over and over. I have problems with ruminating before bed so when I am forced to think about breathing and numbers at the same time there isn't room for much else. 

My friend just told me about this app called calm.com. they have ocean sounds that I'm going to try if I have trouble sleeping again. Hope you're able to get a good night's sleep

[flookadelic]

Cold room and warm duvet helps.

[Butterfly]

Since I stopped worrying about sleep I'm getting more and better sleep. I also downloaded an app to monitor my sleep based on movement and it turns out I was getting more sleep than I thought. It helped calm me down when I saw I've got a good amount solid hours deep and rem sleep so I didn't need to worry.

More tips
http://www.polyphasicsociety.com/polyphasic-sleep/beginners/sleep-hygiene/

[Butterfly]

I learned about some adenosine too and how it builds up in the body and will eventually sleep what's needed. We can't help it, it's how the body is and that helped me not worry too.

Video #3 in this playlist
http://youtu.be/379q0g55yug?list=PLN0nnPyXPp3xDlKwHJpUs8kREJZfiwdVf

[Brandy]

[I used to have problems sleeping, when I was a child. Then I discovered daydreaming (aka dissociating) so now when it's time to sleep I just go to my happy place and I'm out in minutes. It also needs to be dark enough, and quiet enough (I ALWAYS sleep with earplugs), and I can't have too much caffeine during the day. I sleep when the whole world disappears. It's like in Hitchhiker's Guide when Arthur discovered that the secret to flying is not thinking about it at all.

I've never heard anyone else talk about falling asleep like this. I don't know what that means, but I suspect that I am just very very crazy, to be able to turn off reality like flipping a switch.

[Butterfly]

I think it's good because my brain tends to 'spin' in thought, not always bad thoughts, sometimes just ideas I have to organize something or for a craft project, sometimes it spins on stress topics. It's good to be able to shut it off, I've had to practice to develop that skill. My T recommended deep, slow breathing to slow the heart rate and grounding to remind me I'm in bed, safe, and don't need to stress.

If you can do that without having to practice how to do it then good!