"Insomnia" the last week or so

I have been having a lot of trouble falling and staying asleep, especially in the last week or so. I've never been a great sleeper, but it's been noticeably worse.

I drink about 1-2 cups of coffee a day and have no other caffeine sources (I suppose my medication could have some?). Sometimes I goof and drink something really strong like a 16oz cold brew coffee from the café at work. I don't really drink alcohol or soda - maybe twice a month.

The only medication I take is Cartia/Diltiazem for blood pressure/high heart rate, but that's been for years. I don't take any sleeping medications or any other supplements at the moment.

I'm not uncomfortable masked up and lying down. Last night I tried to go to sleep around 10PM and was awake pretty much all night. When I did manage to fall asleep once or twice, I would wake up like an hour later. While waking up isn't uncommon for me, waking up every hour or so is; usually I can stay asleep for at least 3-4 hours (knowingly anyway).

Nothing unusual is on my mind that I can think of. I'm not in physical pain or anything.

One thing I noticed as far as bad habits go, is that over the weekend I stayed in bed until very late in the morning on Saturday and Sunday, and let myself fall asleep over and over instead of getting up. This led to oversleeping and feeling like crap. My plan is to implement waking up at the same time every day, including the weekends, and not hitting snooze anymore. Any other tips?

I will have trouble falling asleep if I have had any sort of nap during the day...even a 10 minute power nap.
Hard to not do though when we don't get enough sleep in the first place.

Insomnia is a particular nasty little beast and the least little thing will feed him.

Really pisses me off to nod off for 5 minutes at 6 PM maybe and then not get sleepy until after midnight (usual sleepy time is around 11 PM) and then I get less hours of sleep than I need and greatly increase the chances of nodding off again and starting a nasty little circle of events where I am more apt to nod off sometimes during the day which in turn messes with my normal "sleepy time".
Gotta break the cycle but sometimes it's really hard to break.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 08, 2019 8:04 am

I will have trouble falling asleep if I have had any sort of nap during the day...even a 10 minute power nap.
Hard to not do though when we don't get enough sleep in the first place.

Insomnia is a particular nasty little beast and the least little thing will feed him.

Really pisses me off to nod off for 5 minutes at 6 PM maybe and then not get sleepy until after midnight (usual sleepy time is around 11 PM) and then I get less hours of sleep than I need and greatly increase the chances of nodding off again and starting a nasty little circle of events where I am more apt to nod off sometimes during the day which in turn messes with my normal "sleepy time".
Gotta break the cycle but sometimes it's really hard to break.

I try my best to never take naps. Sometimes if I lay down early while on my laptop, I will occasionally fall asleep without intending to when I "rest my eyes" for a few minutes. Then I am screwed for the night.

I think I will try waking up the same time each day and also kicking the caffeine. Lordy am I addicted - it's the first thing I think about when waking up. I am sure it's a vicious cycle.

Well thank goodness caffeine doesn't really harm my sleep much as long as I keep it to before 6 PM.
I have given up so much...I just don't want to give up my coffee or soda or sometimes that chocolate bar.
If we can't enjoy the minor stuff in life that we like...kinda makes the whole thing not much fun. The whole reason we do all this crap is so we can enjoy doing the things we want to do.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:13 am

Well thank goodness caffeine doesn't really harm my sleep much as long as I keep it to before 6 PM.
I have given up so much...I just don't want to give up my coffee or soda or sometimes that chocolate bar.
If we can't enjoy the minor stuff in life that we like...kinda makes the whole thing not much fun. The whole reason we do all this crap is so we can enjoy doing the things we want to do.

That's how I usually rationalize my caffeine intake...life is short . But for the first 20 years of my life I never touched coffee or craved it. In fact, I thought it was disgusting. Now I cannot seem to live without it, which is obviously not true on an objective basis. When I do drink a soda, it's because I enjoy the sugar/taste; I've never drank it for the caffeine content. The low caffeine content in soda doesn't effect me in the same way that coffee does. In fact, my favorite soda is root beer - most of which have no caffeine. Decaffeinated coffee tastes like dung for the most part. And it's not like I love the taste in the first place. Yet I still "need" it. If that isn't addiction, I am not sure what else to call it.

raisedfist wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:32 am

Yet I still "need" it. If that isn't addiction, I am not sure what else to call it.

Well....IMHO there are a lot of worse things in life to be addicted to and I don't give a rat's ass if I am addicted to something like coffee or soda or chocolate. Be it a physical addiction or mental...I just don't care.
I am going to enjoy the stuff that I can enjoy come hell or high water. I have already given up so much of the stuff that I love to do that I simply refuse to give up this little stuff.
I absolutely love a good latte with lots of foam...and I make myself one quite often.
and I refuse to do the diet drinks or decaf stuff....I want the good stuff.
I do limit my sodas now though...but from a calorie standpoint though....been on a diet and lost 25 pounds...got another 20 to go.
I eat and drink what I want but I have modified the portion side of things and eliminated wasted calories as much as possible.
Lay's potato chips...it's true you just can't eat one...so I just don't buy it. Those ware wasted calories in my book.

Oh...in case anyone is wondering...at most I have 3 cups of coffee in the morning and 1 soda during the day and none after 6 PM.
Most of the time 2 cups of coffee is all I drink. It's not like I am main lining the stuff.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:02 am

raisedfist wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:32 am

Yet I still "need" it. If that isn't addiction, I am not sure what else to call it.

Well....IMHO there are a lot of worse things in life to be addicted to and I don't give a rat's ass if I am addicted to something like coffee or soda or chocolate. Be it a physical addiction or mental...I just don't care.
I am going to enjoy the stuff that I can enjoy come hell or high water. I have already given up so much of the stuff that I love to do that I simply refuse to give up this little stuff.
I absolutely love a good latte with lots of foam...and I make myself one quite often.
and I refuse to do the diet drinks or decaf stuff....I want the good stuff.
I do limit my sodas now though...but from a calorie standpoint though....been on a diet and lost 25 pounds...got another 20 to go.
I eat and drink what I want but I have modified the portion side of things and eliminated wasted calories as much as possible.
Lay's potato chips...it's true you just can't eat one...so I just don't buy it. Those ware wasted calories in my book.

Oh...in case anyone is wondering...at most I have 3 cups of coffee in the morning and 1 soda during the day and none after 6 PM.
Most of the time 2 cups of coffee is all I drink. It's not like I am main lining the stuff.

Diet drinks taste really bad in my opinion. I'd much rather have the occasional real soda. Nothing much better than a bottle of Coca Cola that comes in the glass with real cane sugar. I will only drink things out of glass, aluminum or in a cup with ice. I find the soda in a plastic bottle to not taste as good somehow.

I think a good latte is really amazing as well. My problem is that I have poor self control, so I end up taking in more caffeine than I should. I am a smaller guy and also pretty sensitive to caffeine it seems.

I love chips, cookies and pretty much any sweets, especially in the kiddie cereals form, but aside from the occasional tortilla chips with guacamole or some other dip, I refuse to have them lying around the house. I used to go to my Grandpa's house and we would sit on the couch eating family sized bags of Kitchen Cooked potato chips or cans of Pringles.

If you don't notice much of any bad side effects to the caffeine, I see no reason in quitting. For me, coffee does not make me more alert, it hurts my stomach, makes me feel dehydrated, and other bad things. But I still want it. That is the problem I see, for me.