The Forums › Forums › Tools, Techniques & Treatments › Medication › Sleep, sweet deep sleep.
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March 10, 2011 at 3:06 pm #89225
AnonymousInactiveMarch 10, 2011 at 3:06 pmPost count: 14413How many of you are getting 7-8 hours of deep uninterrupted sleep at least 5 nights a week?
How many of us are in bed before 10:00 PM if needing to be up before 6:00 AM?
If you’re not going to bed as early as you think you should why don’t you?
Do you think a lack of sleep impacts your mood and ability to reason, focus, irritability?
What are you doing to improve the odds of getting more quality sleep?
Are you taking anything before bed to help you get to sleep or stay sleeping?
Do you feel this impacts your quality of sleep?
Would you be able to motivate yourself to get enough physical activity to make yourself tired?
What if you were guaranteed to feel better, have more energy and get more done with less effort?
To make change we have accept that we need to change and then make the changes. When we aren’t willing to make changes in ourselves things don’t change. Exercise and sleep are the two most important pieces to treatment, yet I have been unwilling to change and ‘just do it’. I know I feel better, I know I sleep better, I know I get more done and it takes less effort but I refuse to listen to my own encouragement. Part of me feels the need to figure out why, the other part is saying get off your arse and do it. So what is it in me that doesn’t want to change and why? Or does it even matter? Will understanding help me get going or make it easier to maintain once I do? Or is it more important to just get going and figure it out as I go? It’s not a hard decision, yet committing to the exercise is very hard because I have to change me to do it.
I also understand that my judgement is impaired because I’m not getting enough quality sleep as I pop a pill to sleep, take another pill to stay awake and spend the time in between trying to hold it together. Funny how this is unacceptable yet I’m clinging to it like an addict to heroin. I wish I knew what ‘it’ was.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 10, 2011 at 4:35 pm #101524Since I am being treated for ADD, I have found my usual 5hrs is not enough. I sleep for 6-7 now, but it is hardly restful. I am always waking up, thinking about work, family, all the little things I forgot to do, the things I might have forgotten but don’t know about yet… the list goes on. This is another reason I wish I was “normal”
REPORT ABUSEMarch 10, 2011 at 5:12 pm #101525
AnonymousInactiveMarch 10, 2011 at 5:12 pmPost count: 14413I am currently trying melatonin. So far, I notice it does help me get to sleep much more easily. Whether it will help to regulate my sleep cycle overall has yet to be seen.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 10, 2011 at 6:41 pm #101526
AnonymousInactiveMarch 10, 2011 at 6:41 pmPost count: 14413shutterbug, what wakes you up and do you find any difference between weekdays and weekends in respect to the restfulness of your sleep?
Paully, what is the most challenging part of getting to sleep for you and when you do get to sleep how much sleep are you getting before you wake up?
For me it’s internal noise and for the longest time I was waking up at 4:30 every morning for no apparent reason. Getting back to sleep is mixed. On the weekends, not a problem and I can crash on the couch watching anything on TV Sunday afternoons, but weekdays if I wake up I’m awake, that is if I even got to sleep. I know I need more activity to balance out the mental workout that goes on all day long and to give the mind an opportunity to stop racing while the body focuses on work, but getting the motivation is difficult.
I’m trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t for others and trying to draw some motivation from that.
Sleep tight
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March 10, 2011 at 7:56 pm #101527CMC, pretty much anything wakes me up. A noise, the dream, it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes I just roll over and go back to sleep.Other times I just start at the ceiling thinking, until my alarm rings. It doesn’t matter whether it is a weekday or a weekend. I still wake up with all of these thoughts doing laps in my head.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 10, 2011 at 10:19 pm #101528
AnonymousInactiveMarch 10, 2011 at 10:19 pmPost count: 14413Hi CMC,
Hmmm… well, I have been in a pretty hightened state of anxiety for a several months now. For a variety for reasons, although baseline state at the best of times seems to be fairly anxious. But sleep has been particularly rotten since December. Anxiety, depression, the end of a relationship, christmas, the season…
One of my stimulation seeking activities is to play games or read news on my phone. Obsessively. So, have been doing this as a means to get to sleep, or at least be able to lie down without all the rumination. Self soothing. But I think this type of activity stimulates part of the brain. Also, have been waking up at 4:30 or so fairly consistently. Same thing, first thing I do is reach for my phone.
Now, this is extreme, even for me,and I expect it to get better. I am also taking steps to get my ADD and other symptoms managed. So the melatonin is to manage the acute aspects. But, on what I might consider to be typical conditions, I do still struggle with having a routine, and sticking to it. In that case, basically similar issues, just not usually so severe, or for so long a period. I have stimulation seeking behaviours, I think mostly to deal with anxiety, but the behaviours do not help sleep.
You know what I miss? Do you remember sleeping at a friends house when you where a kid? And you slept so soundly, and woke up so rested, and in the moment, that you did no know where you were at first? I used to relish that feeling, trying to postpone the moment where I figured out where I was, but at that point, the possibilities where endless – I could be anywhere. Would love to recapture just a little of that feeling of restfulness and comfort!
Anyway, probably much more than you asked for, lol.
Cheers.
Paully
REPORT ABUSEMarch 11, 2011 at 4:47 pm #101529
AnonymousInactiveMarch 11, 2011 at 4:47 pmPost count: 14413I admit it. I usualy get 8 to 10 hours of sleep a day. I also have and extremely active dream life.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 11, 2011 at 4:50 pm #101530I go to bed at 8 through 9:30, wake up at midnight, go back to sleep at 12:30, wake up at 3, go back to sleep around 4, and give in at 5 or 6 in the morning.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 14, 2011 at 1:10 pm #101531
AnonymousInactiveMarch 14, 2011 at 1:10 pmPost count: 14413Thanks folks for the great replies. I am assuming from the posts that I’m not the only one finding it hard to make themselves exercise. This is March break for my family, I work today and tomorrow, but for the following days I’m forcing myself to exercise if it kills me. If I can see any benefit it will be much easier to keep it going because I feel that this is going to be the biggest part of my puzzle, hearing from someone that has been in this position would also be great motivation.
Get out and walk for 45 minutes, it does the body and the mind good.
Cheers.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 14, 2011 at 2:47 pm #101532
AnonymousInactiveMarch 14, 2011 at 2:47 pmPost count: 14413I have been on different doses of methylphenidate (30-54) in both concerta and ritalin. I remember not sleeping the first and second night i took the meds but have been sleeping like a baby since. Usually anywhere from 7 to 9 hours.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 14, 2011 at 3:18 pm #101533CMC,
I too have had issues waking up too early, feeling anxious and having trouble slowing my brain down at night. I started using relaxation recordings on my iPod. Whether you call them visualizations, guided meditations or self-hypnosis, they all have a similar approach – slowing down your breathing and calming your thoughts. They really worked for me. Now, I no longer need the recording. I can just focus on the feeling and go *there*.
Last week, I was actually a half hour early for my doctor’s appointment (I know! That NEVER happens.) so I tried a little experiment. I sat in my car and put on a 20 minute recording, so I was feeling pretty relaxed for the appointment. The doctor always checks my blood pressure and she commented that it had come down since the last appointment. Hardly scientific, but still good news.
There are lots of these recordings available for free on the internet. If anyone would like some, I would be happy to post some links.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 14, 2011 at 4:48 pm #101534
AnonymousInactiveMarch 14, 2011 at 4:48 pmPost count: 14413Bill, thanks for the offer! Post under Tools and Techniques, I have a few, but keep forgetting to actually put them on the iPhone. If I have a few more to add I’m more likely to remember.
Cheers.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 14, 2011 at 5:01 pm #101535Last night was horrible. I had so much trouble sleeping, because of Day Light savings time. Waking up every hour just to find that I could not go back to sleep.
REPORT ABUSEMarch 18, 2011 at 8:34 pm #101536Hey CMC,
I have posted several free relaxation recordings in the forum under Tools & Techniques. Take a look!
REPORT ABUSEMarch 19, 2011 at 7:29 am #101537
AnonymousInactiveMarch 19, 2011 at 7:29 amPost count: 14413CMC – sounds like the same issues I’m having. I can sit and play a game for hours but resist walking in the sunshine for 30 minutes even when I know it would be the best thing I could do for myself. I’ll try some of Bill’s recordings. If I sleep better, maybe I’ll be willing to work out.
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