Poor Sleep Habits

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Sonya
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Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Sonya » Tue May 19, 2015 9:06 am

I have terrible "sleep hygiene" or whatever you want to call it. I'm connected to TVs and computer screens well into the dark hours and then I fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV in my recliner.

I was doing really well with going to bed around midnight and getting 5-6 hours of sleep in the bed, on the CPAP, but lately I'm falling asleep in front of the TV and waking after 3am and then going to bed until 6am. So not enough hours on the machine and not good sleep for me.

I'm trying to change these habits and get myself to bed for a full 6-7 hours of sleep, but it's just not happening yet. I seem to be going backwards at this point, despite my best efforts.

So I'm curious. What are your less desirable sleep habits and how do you combat them to get good rest?

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Krelvin
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Krelvin » Tue May 19, 2015 9:48 am

Actually it is pretty easy. Just say no and don't do that. Same thing you would do for a child. You would not let them stay up like that.

Set a bed time and go to bed. Use the same process every night.
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Julie
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Julie » Tue May 19, 2015 10:16 am

It's called self discipline... not to sound harsh.

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Pugsy
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Pugsy » Tue May 19, 2015 10:18 am

Sonya wrote:What are your less desirable sleep habits and how do you combat them to get good rest?
Late night TV and/or computer are my main vices.
Occasionally will sneak a soda in after 6 PM and I pay for it with caffeine induced "not sleepy despite my usual drug cocktail" or I wait too late to take the cocktail and then I have to weigh in morning drug induced not fully awake stuff or not much sleep during the night which also will cause the morning not fully awake stuff.

In other words....I don't always practice what I preach and I have no one to blame but myself.
I do have the luxury (if the dogs and cats will let me) of sleeping in to offset my late night vices.

One thing I don't do is lay down on the couch late. I always sit up because the chances of my falling asleep while sitting up watching TV or playing on the computer are very slim. I have done it but I don't stay asleep long when sitting upright.

We don't have a TV in the bedroom though. So that vice isn't a factor.

I don't have compliance issues to be met though...you do and you need to do whatever it takes to meet those issues until the compliance time frame has passed. Since you don't want to bring the machine to the living room and use it while watching TV and let yourself fall asleep there....your only alternative is to take yourself to the bedroom before you ever allow yourself to fall asleep in front of the TV. Easier said than done I know....bad habits are real easy to make and notoriously difficult to break.

Once the compliance time frame has passed....if you can't break that bad habit then try to find a cheap machine so you can leave it set up in the living room and use it while watching TV so that when you fall asleep you won't be doing any sleeping without the machine. Nodding off for 15 minutes is one thing but to sleep from 11 or 12 midnight to 3 AM without the machine is really bad for the body.

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49er
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by 49er » Tue May 19, 2015 10:39 am

Hi Sonya,

As one who unfortunately nods off while watching TV, I have found if I am going to watch it, I have to sit on the edge of the chair to make sure I don't fall asleep and even then, that is no guarantee I won't. But if I don't and notice I am sleepy, I will stand up to watch which doesn't make the activity as much fun.

Would something like that help to alert you that you need to go to bed?

Is there something else you could do what would be an adequate substitute that would enable you to get to bed when you should?

Sonya wrote:I have terrible "sleep hygiene" or whatever you want to call it. I'm connected to TVs and computer screens well into the dark hours and then I fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV in my recliner.

I was doing really well with going to bed around midnight and getting 5-6 hours of sleep in the bed, on the CPAP, but lately I'm falling asleep in front of the TV and waking after 3am and then going to bed until 6am. So not enough hours on the machine and not good sleep for me.

I'm trying to change these habits and get myself to bed for a full 6-7 hours of sleep, but it's just not happening yet. I seem to be going backwards at this point, despite my best efforts.

So I'm curious. What are your less desirable sleep habits and how do you combat them to get good rest?

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OkyDoky
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by OkyDoky » Tue May 19, 2015 11:36 am

Make a decision when you want to go to bed. Then set an alarm to wake you up if you fall asleep then go to bed (or remind you if awake). You may be awake for a while but at least you won't be without your machine for hours.
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Madalot
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Madalot » Tue May 19, 2015 11:40 am

My worst sleep habit is sitting in bed and watching TV way beyond the time I need to go to bed. It's a habit and while hard to break, like all habits that need to be broken, it can be done. It's simply a matter of making up your mind and doing it.

I am now TRYING to go to sleep by 11:00. If I feel a little more tired earlier, I lay down earlier. But even if I'm not really tired, I try to lay down by 11:00. I'm working on breaking the habit of sitting up until the wee hours.

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes. My WORST habit was breakfast which was always something sweet like a cinnamon roll, honey bun, muffins, danish, etc. Those things are so good with coffee, plus they are fast and easy. I kept them at my desk so I could grab what I wanted while sipping my coffee.

Now, I fix a piece of whole wheat toast (blech) with peanut butter or I have a SMALL bowl of Rice Krispies with a little skim milk.

I hate it and wish I could have my sweets, but I cannot. So, I just made up my mind and did it.

And as a side benefit, I've lost almost 23 pounds since March 10.

I know it's not easy, but that's what you need to do. Make up your mind that you will go to bed at whatever time, and just do it. Once you do it a few times, it will become the new habit.

You can do it.

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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by palerider » Tue May 19, 2015 11:54 am

if you're going to keep sleeping in your recliner, get a backup machine and wear it while watching tv, so you get your therapy when you fall asleep there.

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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by bwexler » Tue May 19, 2015 12:16 pm

Madalot wrote:My worst sleep habit is sitting in bed and watching TV way beyond the time I need to go to bed. It's a habit and while hard to break, like all habits that need to be broken, it can be done. It's simply a matter of making up your mind and doing it.

I am now TRYING to go to sleep by 11:00. If I feel a little more tired earlier, I lay down earlier. But even if I'm not really tired, I try to lay down by 11:00. I'm working on breaking the habit of sitting up until the wee hours.

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes. My WORST habit was breakfast which was always something sweet like a cinnamon roll, honey bun, muffins, danish, etc. Those things are so good with coffee, plus they are fast and easy. I kept them at my desk so I could grab what I wanted while sipping my coffee.

Now, I fix a piece of whole wheat toast (blech) with peanut butter or I have a SMALL bowl of Rice Krispies with a little skim milk.

I hate it and wish I could have my sweets, but I cannot. So, I just made up my mind and did it.

And as a side benefit, I've lost almost 23 pounds since March 10.

I know it's not easy, but that's what you need to do. Make up your mind that you will go to bed at whatever time, and just do it. Once you do it a few times, it will become the new habit.

You can do it.
If you are diabetic, you need to learn about the glycemic index. It ranks different foods against glucose levels to determine how each might affect the release of insulin. You may be surprised to find whole wheat toast and rice crispier very close to glucose in the way your body responds. The difference maybe the glycemic load which also considers the amount of high glycemic content and the balance. When you add peanut butter that adds protein which adds some balance.
The standard food pyramid used by the diabetes association is not currently the best approach to a healthy diabetic diet.

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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by robysue » Tue May 19, 2015 12:19 pm

Sonya wrote:So I'm curious. What are your less desirable sleep habits and how do you combat them to get good rest?
My worst vices right now are not getting off the computer at least an hour before I intend to go to bed and allowing myself to sleep later than my regular wake-up time when I don't get to bed on time.

I also have a real problem with "getting too involved" with reading, grading, crocheting, blogging, web-browsing too close to bedtime and pushing myself through a "I'm starting to feel a tiny bit sleepy" stage because I really can get a lot done late at night when I want to.

I've been diagnosed with severe insomnia and delayed sleep phase problems in addition to my OSA. My sleep doc wants me to use sleeping medication to manage the bedtime/wake up time routine better than I can on my own. In other words, right now what I'm really working on is paying enough attention to when I first get start to get a bit sleepy and going ahead and taking the medication and going to bed. And I'm trying pretty hard to make sure that I get up between 8:30 and 9:00am every day regardless of whether I go to bed by 1:00 or 1:30 (my "desired" bedtime) or whether I go to bed at 3:30 or 4:00 (when my body finally gets so sleepy that I actually want to go to bed).

Sonya wrote:I have terrible "sleep hygiene" or whatever you want to call it. I'm connected to TVs and computer screens well into the dark hours and then I fall asleep on the couch in front of the TV in my recliner.
You need to develop some discipline and turn off the TVs and computer screens when you first feel even a tiny bit sleepy. Seriously: Once you catch yourself starting to doze off, it's time to turn everything off and go to bed.
I was doing really well with going to bed around midnight and getting 5-6 hours of sleep in the bed, on the CPAP, but lately I'm falling asleep in front of the TV and waking after 3am and then going to bed until 6am. So not enough hours on the machine and not good sleep for me.
The only fix for this is to find the self discipline to turn the TV off and go to bed as soon as you start to feel a tiny bit sleepy. That means not lying to yourself and saying, "I'm really interested in this show and I'll stay awake until it ends." That actually happened to me two nights ago: I was watching a late night movie that I was really enjoying, but around 1:15 I noticed that I was starting to have real problems keeping my eyes open. I really wanted to see the last of the movie, but I realized that I was going to be fast asleep in the recliner if I tried to stay up any more. So I took the sleeping pill and headed off to bed. And got a pretty decent night's sleep.
I'm trying to change these habits and get myself to bed for a full 6-7 hours of sleep, but it's just not happening yet. I seem to be going backwards at this point, despite my best efforts.
That's the thing about (bad) habits: They're easy to fall into and they're difficult to break.

But there is no magic bullet for breaking a bad habit. You have to find the self discipline to NOT do the things that you know you should not be doing.

Keeping track of what you are doing sometimes is enough to help you over the hump of breaking a bad habit. So you might try keeping track of how where you fall asleep each night along with a short note of how good or bad you feel in the morning. If you start to see a lot of "I feel pretty good" comments on mornings after you go to bed on time and sleep with the CPAP all night along with a lot of "I feel pretty bad" comments on mornings after you allow yourself to fall asleep in the recliner, you might have more motivation to turn off the gadgets and go to bed when you first start feeling a bit drowsy.

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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by kteague » Tue May 19, 2015 1:07 pm

My sleep can come on suddenly so I have a rule that I don't recline unless I'm masked up. Not on the couch, not in the bed. Since I will often fall asleep even sitting straight up, I know that lying down would be a recipe for trouble. When sitting and watching TV, I prop my head so as to make any sleeping that might happen the least problematic possible. Plenty of vices. I stay up late and use the computer till ready to go to bed. Occasional coffee too late. My lifestyle allows me flexibility in my sleep schedule. If it did not, I'd have to make some changes. When I first started CPAP my sleepiness was so overwhelming I had a rule for myself that I had to mask up while standing by the bed. Couldn't even sit on side of the bed without risking sleeping for hours sitting there. As I became less sleep deprived and more in tune with myself, I was able to relax about it a bit. Now I allow myself to sit before masking up. We all have to figure out how we can best help ourselves in our individual situations.

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Sonya
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Sonya » Tue May 19, 2015 2:27 pm

Julie wrote:It's called self discipline... not to sound harsh.
It doesn't sound harsh, cuz it's true! It just happens to be an area in which I need to do some serious work, especially where sleep is concerned.

I was trying to go to bed at 11pm, but I would just lay there for hours. Now I'm trying to judge my level of sleepiness, but that only works when I get to the bed before drifting off on the couch.

Sonya
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Sonya » Tue May 19, 2015 2:39 pm

I am diabetic too and there's no way I could eat either wheat toast or rice crispies in the morning. In fact, I'm off all grains for the next few weeks as I try to work on another health problem. It is so much change all at once. So hard, but so good for me. I'm down 105 lbs from my heaviest right now, so I guess lower carb is working and I'll stick with it. My nutritionist keeps emphasizing to me how important sleep is to the equation, but I can't seem to get a grip on it.

I thought I had it until 2 nights ago. I'll try some of your suggestions and see if I can get to bed on time and not trust myself to know when I'm going to fall asleep earlier.

I love the idea of an alarm. I have a setting on my fitbit wristband that will vibrate at a specific time. Maybe I'll set it for 11:30 and if I'm asleep in front of the TV it will wake me so I can go to bed. Or, if I'm in bed, I can just ignore it.

I talked to my husband about getting a small machine for the living room, but he feels that I SHOULD be able to make this adjustment and all will be fine. Yeah, that old should is after me again.

Thanks again for the advice. I'll just keep re-adjusting what doesn't work until I get it right. So far my compliance for May looks good. I do feel more rested when I've got 5-6 hours on the PAP.

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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by Sonya » Wed May 20, 2015 9:16 am

I went to bed last night!!! I was on the computer and watching TV. Put the computer away and then felt my blinking was getting kind of slow and long blinks. I stopped everything, got up and went to bed. I took a xanax to help me relax and sleep.

The last time you used your Philips Respironics RemStar Auto with A-Flex...
was last night (on Tuesday, May 19, 2015)
You had an AHI of 5.94, which is considered not very good
You machine was on for 7 hours, 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
You had significant periods of major mask leakage.
Your pressure was under 18cmH2O for 95% of the time.

Oh well, no great AHI and problems with leaking, but 7 straight hours of sleep is amazing for me, so I'm proud of last night. Let's see if I can keep doing it.

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palerider
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Re: Poor Sleep Habits

Post by palerider » Wed May 20, 2015 10:38 am

Sonya wrote:but 7 straight hours of sleep is amazing for me, so I'm proud of last night. Let's see if I can keep doing it.
well, *puts away the 2x4* maybe we won't have to get tough with you after all

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