Anyone Else Have Trouble Staying Asleep?

StarSong

StarSong

Awkward is my Superpower
Location
Los Angeles Suburbs
My ability and desire to sleep like the dead used to be legendary - at least until I was in my late 50s. I was one of those people who could sleep to 11 AM when given the opportunity.

Fast forward to today. Only rarely can I can stay in bed until 6. Falling asleep between 10 and 11 PM is generally not a problem, but my first wake-up is before 2, then again an hour or two later, and usually by 4:30 I can't sleep any longer.

Over the counter sleeping pills, even only a quarter of a pill, make me feel wonky the next day. I tend to fall a lot because I don't look where I'm going, so being fuzzy-brained is especially dangerous for me. Prescription sleeping pills would be out of the question.

I'd so appreciate any suggestions. This morning I slept in until 5:30, but that's likely because I was up at 3:30 yesterday after going to bed at 11:00. (And no, I don't nap.) I'm considering melatonin.

Thanks for the help.
 

I have had trouble sleeping for the past 15 years or so. I go to bed at 10PM, fall asleep and am awake within the next two hours. Getting back to sleep takes for ever and only lasts a few hours. I know acid re flux,which I have, doesn't help as well as achy knees.
I've tried everything. Not reading or computer time before bed. No caffeine, raised the bed for the acid reflux. The list goes on and on. Ambien works for me but can be terribly addictive.I wouldn't recommend it. I have finally weaned myself off of it and will use it only when we travel. Over the counter meds also makes me hung over in the morning. Melatonin helps a little. I take a half of a 5mg tablet. What I am doing now seems to be working for me. If I feel like reading when I go to bed, I read. When I wake up and can't get back to sleep I read some more or embroider, listen to music, or an audio book, sometimes I even have a bowl of cereal and then go back to bed. I don't have to get up for work so if I sleep to 9 or 10 AM,I don't care. I just go with the flow. I get my 8 hours in and feel well rested even if I end up eating breakfast and lunch together.
 
That describes my own sleep pattern perfectly, and I deal with it about the same way Ruth does. When I wake up after a few hours, feeling wide awake, I get out of bed, go into the kitchen, get a glass of milk, and do a crossword puzzle. That usually relaxes me enough to make me feel sleepy again.

Since I don't have early morning activities either, I don't worry about what time I will wake up. But I'm usually awake by 8 anyway. I think this is just my normal pattern of sleeping. It's only called "insomnia" because that's a label we put on it.
 

Yes! I’m somewhat of an insomniac. Yesterday I did too much which got my adrenaline going and I stupidly had a decaf coffee last night. I’m not sure why I decided to do that but I paid for it by hardly getting a wink of sleep. It’s only got a tiny bit of caffeine but I don’t need much to start bouncing off of walls, so to speak.

If it gets bad where I can’t sleep for days I’ll take either melatonin or some other all natural sleeping aid; maybe a canna cookie.

Like Ruth I don’t like the drug hangover feeling from over-the-counter conventional sleeping aids.
I end up feeling sluggish all day long and I don’t like it.
 
I stopped fighting it. If I wake up I look at my kindle until I'm sleepy again.
I used to toss and turn and worry.
Now I make it a point to think about what I just read, not work, etc. and doze off much easier.
That started when someone on here posted about another country where they got up and did some things, then went back to bed.
It works.
 
jujube said:
Usually if I can GET to sleep, I can STAY asleep. But if I wake up during the night and the Spousal Equivalent is snoring, it's all over. I might as well get up and roast a turkey or paint the house......
Click to expand...

That's my problem, too. Plus I'm a night owl so I'm never sleepy until around 2 a.m. So once I get to sleep I can stay asleep, except for the occasional potty break. :D Odd that I can basically sleep-walk to the bathroom and back to bed, and go right back to sleep.
 
Oh I used to sleep well when I was younger but for many years now and especially in the last year since I retired I've been sleeping for only 4 or 5 hours a night, and even then it's not relaxing sleep.. always tossing and turning and once awake impossible to get back to sleep... Tried everything..including sleeping pills ,but couldn't function the next day etc.. even bought a new very expensive bed ..

This last month I've been taking 2 Magnesium Glycinate capsules in the evening with my last meal of the day...I can't tell you how much it's improved my sleep pattern. I'm not sleeping quite like a baby , but I've been able to go to bed before midnight and sleep until 7am...that's been impossible for years.

Of course as with anything you have to check that they wouldn't cause any adverse reaction with any current meds you're taking ( I have a Hiatus hernia so take Omeprozole) but it doesn't clash with that... truly believe me when I say I've tried every type of meds to help me sleep over the years..prescribed and OTC..and this is the only thing that has worked. Please God it continues..
 
My wife sometimes has a hard time falling asleep or she will fall asleep fairly easy, but wake up at 3AM and can't go back to sleep. She will get up and play a game on her iPhone for maybe an hour and then come back to bed. Thing is, she works a full-time job and we have both of our alarms set at 6:30AM. If she has a hard time sleeping on a work night, when she gets to work the next morning, she will hit the hot tea and/or hot chocolate a couple of times. Weekends aren't so bad. If we eat breakfast out, I have to get her up at 8AM, if not, I just let her sleep and keep quiet in the living room. Her PCP did give her a prescription of sleeping med., but, "Thank God" she doesn't use it very often. She will only take a quarter of a pill, but it can take a couple of hours for it to work on her. Sometimes she will take a 200mg Motrin and that will help her sleep.

As for me, I can have a hard time sleeping thru the night as well. When I was younger, I didn't have so much of a hard time, but at almost 69, it can be hard. Anyway, I'm a former farmer (teen years) and had to get up at 5:30AM each morning to feed/water livestock. On top of that, I'm also former Navy and no matter how little sleep someone in the military gets, when they are on Duty, they get up at 6AM. Anyway, most of the jobs I've had I had to be at work at 7AM, so I've pretty much always been an "early riser".

Oh, and BTW, there are times on the weekends, we will take a two hour nap.
 
Oh, Yes, I've had that same problem infinitum for many years, ever since also younger. For me it seems be the cycle of deep sleep and REM sleep (sleep where you're dreaming is that that keep you asleep). So, mainly I awake every two hours or when REM sleeps ends and if you remember your dreams this is where it is. Sometimes I can get back to sleep fairly quickly or I stay awake for an hour or two. I can't control it. However, if my sleep goes bad one night, it will be better the next night and because it was better that night, it will be worse the next next, and so infinitum.
 
StarSong said:
My ability and desire to sleep like the dead used to be legendary - at least until I was in my late 50s. I was one of those people who could sleep to 11 AM when given the opportunity.

Fast forward to today. Only rarely can I can stay in bed until 6. Falling asleep between 10 and 11 PM is generally not a problem, but my first wake-up is before 2, then again an hour or two later, and usually by 4:30 I can't sleep any longer.

Over the counter sleeping pills, even only a quarter of a pill, make me feel wonky the next day. I tend to fall a lot because I don't look where I'm going, so being fuzzy-brained is especially dangerous for me. Prescription sleeping pills would be out of the question.

I'd so appreciate any suggestions. This morning I slept in until 5:30, but that's likely because I was up at 3:30 yesterday after going to bed at 11:00. (And no, I don't nap.) I'm considering melatonin.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Because I am in the same boat as you my suggestion is to stay awake as long as you can before going to sleep.

I have to get up because of bladder and I'm glad that I can wake up. But then getting back to sleep is difficult if not impossible. I cannot take over the counter sleeping pills.

I have never tried melatonin but I have experimented with all kinds of stuff. Music, hypnotism videos, you name it.

The only thing that really worked was a weak prescription.

So what is your goal? How many hours would you like to sleep?

Think about it. If you go to bed at 10 and wake up at 3 you have already slept 5 hours.
 
I can't sleep well very often. My bipap machine works very well, and allows me to get the REM sleep. I catches most of my apnea episodes, but not all of them. I have an average AHI (measurement of the average no. per hour) of .87, which means that I stop breathing about once every 1 and 15 min. (without the machine it would be about 9 per hr, or about 1 every 6 minutes.)

However I, like many have said, only average 6 hrs, at best. If you don't have sleep apnea, get on your knees and give thanks!
It is not a disease that you want.
 
I have to get in at least 8,000 steps in a day in order to sleep at all, and sometimes not even then. I always wake up 2, or 3, or more times a night. It sucks, doesn't it? Doc refuses to give me pills, so I muddle through.
 
jujube said:
Usually if I can GET to sleep, I can STAY asleep. But if I wake up during the night and the Spousal Equivalent is snoring, it's all over. I might as well get up and roast a turkey or paint the house......
Click to expand...

Might I suggest...ear plugs. It helps with the snoring.
 
exwisehe said:
I can't sleep well very often. My bipap machine works very well, and allows me to get the REM sleep. I catches most of my apnea episodes, but not all of them. I have an average AHI (measurement of the average no. per hour) of .87, which means that I stop breathing about once every 1 and 15 min. (without the machine it would be about 9 per hr, or about 1 every 6 minutes.)

However I, like many have said, only average 6 hrs, at best. If you don't have sleep apnea, get on your knees and give thanks!
It is not a disease that you want.
Click to expand...

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea nine years ago and got a cpap machine. I've tried and tried and tried to get used to it and can't. I've tried different types of masks to no avail. I just can't use that thing. I get panicked when I have it on.
 
I use earplugs when I go to sleep and it helps some. I still wake up about every 1-2 hours throughout the night. I take melatonin and that puts me to sleep but does not keep me sleeping. I have another pill for a condition I have and it is sedating. I feel so tired the next day after I take that one. I take naps at times, too, even though I know it will effect my sleep. I do it because I am so tired. So now I am up at almost 1:30 am watching the ID channel.
 
My doctor says its normal as we age, He says its called "second sleep" as our ancestors would sleep a few hours, get up, do a few chores and then sleep again. I don't worry about it. I sleep hard for a few hours, get up, play on the computer or read. Sleep again a few hours and then I am ready for the day. Before I retired I was always the first in my office every morning usually around 7 am. would get a ton of work done before everybody else got there. The ladies in my office hated me getting there early as I usually had emails to them asking for updates on projects I had assigned to them. Of course the boss loved my work ethics. No big deal for me as I always worked like that. Like I said, doctor says its normal as you age. I would not take meds for it at all as it works for me.
 
Absolutely, I do. I was a pilot for United for 34 years and most always had the first flight of the day, so I was up at 3:00 a.m., which to this day, I still get awake at between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. and cannot fall back asleep.
 
Keep trying Jujube.

I had the same trouble, and couldn't sleep with the mask for a couple of years. On my first machine about 15 years ago, I couldn't stay compliant with the rules for Medicare, so they came to my home, checked the data, and had to take my machine back.

I kept trying. As the machines became more advanced and the masks became more varied, I began to adjust.

So now its no problem. Actually when I place my Wisk nasal mask on, its a pleasant sound when the air comes through the tubes from my Bipap Dreammaker (one of the best) because I know when I hear it, that its prolonging my life, making me healthier, and helping my heart, and my over-all well-being.

I've adjusted so much now that if I don't have my mask on, I know something is wrong and then could NOT sleep, for sure.

It takes time and patience, but your body will eventually come to the point where it will "fit like a glove".

Good luck.
 
Camper6 said:
So what is your goal? How many hours would you like to sleep?

Think about it. If you go to bed at 10 and wake up at 3 you have already slept 5 hours.
Click to expand...

According to most statistics and medical sources, my GP included, 7-8 hours of sleep is ideal for current and long-term good health, cognitive as well as physical, so that's my goal.

Exwisehe and Jujube, I can't imagine trying to sleep with a contraption strapped to my face. I'm glad that bipap machines exist, but am glad to (presumably) not have sleep apnea. Then again, how does one truly know, short of a sleep study?
Hollydolly, thank you for the advice. I'll look into magnesium glycinate.

CarolTX, you may be onto something. There may be a loose association with how much exercise I get on a given day.

Thank you all for your commiseration, suggestions, and food for thought. I make sure to a bit of caffeine every day, but not after 10 AM. (When I've totally decaffeinated myself in the past I've found that even a small square of chocolate or similar smidge of caffeine can set my heart pounding for hours. Giving up chocolate completely is a non-starter for me, so I make sure that this body that I inhabit has some level of tolerance for caffeine.)

Last night I took half a melatonin and got in a solid 5-1/2 hours, which I'd give an F on a pass-fail basis. On the other hand, I didn't wake up with a drug hangover, a happy plus. I'll try a full pill tonight to see if that helps. Will also get in more walking.
 

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