Staying asleep
Howdy all
I'm normally something of a morning person, but recently its been a little excessive.
I'm normally in bed around 10pm and my alarm is set for 5:30-5:45 depending on the day. Normally I sleep without too much trouble. I'm something of a light sleeper, but not real bad and I normally don't wake up at night unless I have to go to the bathroom.
Over the last few months, the OS specifically, I've found I wake up around 2-4am and for the most part, can't get back to sleep. I can't say my mind is going crazy or anything like that. I just lie there.
on most days after this I drag out of bed, but after about 10-15 minutes I am completely fine and don't really feel the effects of too little sleep. So I am not sure what's going on. I just know I'd prefer to go back to sleep after i wake up.
Anyone have suggestions? I'm on a number of drugs (humira, imuran, lisinopril) none of which have sleep disorder as a listed side effect. But I'd prefer something natural instead of going on a sleeping pill. I don't take OTC stuff any more unless I absolutely have to.
falling asleep the first time isn't typicall a problem.
Comments
I sometimes have similar problems on nights that I swim. I fall asleep very easily but then have disturbed sleep. It's from working out too close to bed time. I'm a morning person. What time of day do you workout?
Also, what Bill said about over-training.
+1 on posible early warning sign on overtraining/underecovering.
That being said, I will take a 1 mg. sublingual Melatonin at bedtime. Safe, effective and cheap. <$10/month at GNC. I'm a physician and I prescribe this frequently for my medically fragile geriatric patients in nursing homes. So, if it is well tolerated by elderly, pretty safe for athletes.</p>
Also, make sure you practice good sleep hygiene. Wake/sleep at same time daily, no stimulants after lunch time, no TV in bed room, etc.
Best wishes.
Jeff
My legs twitch at night if I don't stretch. I am a deep sleeper, so it disturbs my DH, he is a light sleeper. If it starts before I fall asleep, I get up and stretch and it stops.
Best of luck.
On most days I am in bed by 10pm and up at around 5:30. during the week there is very little variation. On weekends I sleep in a bit...to like 7am. So I keep to that schedule. And on the weekends, I am normally up earlier...I just relax and lie around so I don't bug my wife. I do that during the week and she's a sleeper.
As far as eating goes, I'm pretty good there. I eat my dinner around 6-7pm. Its typically healthy with decent protein/carb/fat balance.
The thing is...I wake up to go to the bathroom most of the time. I don't necessarily have trouble with that. I'll even look at the clock and see that its 3-4am and think, oh good, I have plenty of more sleep time. But then I just kinda toss and turn and never really get back to good sleep.
I'm not convinced it is over-training because when I sleep, I feel completely fine. sure my legs are a bit dead during the vo2 block, but other than that everything seems fine. I have not had to miss any workouts...I've had to modify a few. Mostly I just whine and cry like a girl. I think I do that because thats expected of newer members. :-)
We female vets in da haus don't whine and cry! That's a "little boy" issue.
After decades of huge sleep issues--esp waking up, know what resolved them? Ear plugs. Seriously, not kidding in the least. I know light bothers me and can disrupt my sleep, but I never thought about sound. After my husband crushed his face this summer and his healing bones made snoring really bad, I tried them. I could sleep through the freight train running through the room. I kept using them, he started too, and now we both are sleeping INFINITELY better than ever before. Even through IM training last summer, when sleep is usually very jittery, I slept fine a majority of the time.
I like the kind called Leight Sleepers--they're red and yellow, and you get them at CVS or the like. It takes a few days/a week to get used to them, but they have truly changed my life. Sure, there's a bad night every now and then, but it's the exception rather than the rule. Cheap fix if it helps.
Great suggestion...I'll give that a try too !
I have gone with those cloth eye cover things. Surprising how the blackness helps. And sometimes white noise, a fan or one or something.
Mostly though, it's mental. If I don't sleep it's because my head is turned on and I'm obsessing about something. I mentioned this to a friend and I referred to it as "I can't stop thinking". My wise guy friend said, "that's not thinking, that's obsessing". I think of that often. Point being, real thinking is problem solving instead of just cycliing it around and around. It's not easy determining the root cause but if you can, then you can get untracked.
Go Pack Go!
I've tried every prescription and OTC sleep aid, and those little foam ear plugs work better than anything else.
Hi Michelle:
My legs twitch at night as well usually after a really hard workout. What type of stretches do you do?
Thanks, John S.
Word: childbirth. 'Nuff said.
On Sleep, I find using earplugs, an eyepath, and taking a Cal/Mag/Zinc vitamin with some warm milk right before bed helps with the leg twitchies.