Tips to Help You Fall Asleep....and Stay Asleep

From Sleep Well and Live: Tips to Help You Fall Asleep....and Stay Asleep

http://sleepwellandlive.wordpress.com/2 ... ay-asleep/

The link provides a pretty good, but standard list of sleep hygiene practices. As one who is currently engaged in a nighttime battle with the insomnia monster, here's my take on the list.

Ensure adequate exposure to natural light during the day.

In Buffalo? In Winter? Well, when there's snow there's at least some nice reflected light and it DOES make a difference.

Exercise in the morning or late afternoon can promote good sleep

Gotta work on this one. Hubby needs and wants to loose some weight, (I don't need to.) So we can do this one together.

Stay away from large meals close to bedtime

Been doing it very seriously since the start of CPAP since if I eat anything at all within a couple of hours of bedtime it was leading to aerophagia issues with the S9. The topamax has depressed the appetite so I'm not very hungry anyway. So this one's easy for me.

Avoid stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol 4 hours before bedtime

I'm a nonsmoker. And I'd already given up caffeine and alcohol after lunch. The PA has now limited me to no caffeine after 10 AM. So this rule is covered.

Avoid using electronic devices (computers, cell phone texting, video games) 1 hour before bed.

Not a texter or a video gamer so that's not a problem. Have to watch the web browsing and the tv watching though. At least both the computer and the tv are not in the bedroom and I've always had a 30 minute break between them and bed. Just need to make sure I get the break up to an hour more consistently. I do need to work on this.

Keep a notepad and pencil by your bed to write down any thoughts that may wake you up at night.

I've not tried this before. I'm not quite sure I want to. With the BiPAP and the fact I'm blind as a bat without my glasses, this might just be more stimulation than I really want at night. Here's the senario that I'd need to make this work:

• On the table with the BiPAP I already have the lamp,a notebook and pen for the AHI data, my glasses, a holder for the spare nasal pillows (that are "drying" and my nightguard), my chapstick, and the iHome with the iPod plugged in. (The iHome's clock is FULLY dimmed and completely DARK and invisible at night as is the iPod's display.) So I'd need to add another notepad for the list or someway of separating thoughts from data, but that's not impossible. So let's suppose that problem is solved. So when I wake up, here's what I have to do: Fumble around in the dark until I find the top of the covers (I often sleep with my head under the covers), find the lamp, turn it on so I can find my glasses so I can find the pen and paper so I can write down whatever it was that I thinking about when I woke up all the while trying to not get too tangled up in the hose which I run under the covers as if it is a six foot long stuffed toy snake. And then turn out the light and spend a good ten minutes settling myself back down to get back to sleep. I don't think so.

I think this idea would work for some, but it simply takes me too much time to get myself comfortably arranged in bed to be practical for me. I'm kind of like an animal that circles around and around before lying down at night rearranging the pillows several times before I finally lie down in my nice robin-nest.

Turn your alarm clock around so it’s not facing you; do not look at the clock during the night as this can cause more stress and anxiety about your sleep.

Note only is it not facing me, it's not even on my side of the bed. I've done what I can to make it really hard for me to find out what time it is during the night unless I've faced the fact that I'm too awake to get to sleep and have gotten out of bed anyway to go into another room to wait for sleep.

If you wake up during the night and can’t fall back asleep, get out of bed (do NOT use the computer). Go back to bed only when you feel sleepy again.

Been doing this off and on for years with only occasional back sliding with regards to the computer or tv. I tend to avoid reading as well. And certainly no work related stuff. And it's been a good tool in mild bouts of insomnia in the past. The PA has me back making a conscious effort doing this one again.

Associate your bed with sleep. It’s not a good idea to use your bed to watch TV, listen to the radio or read

I do use the iPod to listen to Geogorian chant while falling to sleep. Banned the TV many years ago. And learned not to read in bed on some other bout with the insomnia monster.

Make sure your sleep environment is pleasant and relaxing. The bed should be comfortable and the room should not be too hot or cold, or too bright.

Bed is comfortable: Ok. Room not too hot and not too cold: In winter time---OK; in summer time---it depends on the weather since we have no A/C. And fans are at best a compromise for me----I need the moving air on hot, humid nights, but I don't enjoy sleeping under a fan at all.

Sleep environment is pleasant and relaxing: In theory---the answer should be yes; but right now that's the rub: Between BiPAP and the vertigo and the insomnia, I've simply come to loathe going to bed. That's one of the obvious reasons why the insomnia monster now runs freely through my bedroom and my troubled dreams. And hopefully the work on reigning in the insomnia monster will begin to address this issue.

Establish set times for waking and sleeping.

This is literally the daily and nightly homework the PA has given me to do. The sleep log helps to enforce it. And the Ambien when needed may prove to be an important short term tool in establishing a 1:30 AM bedtime and a 7:30 AM wake up time. [Yes, those may seem ridiculous to those of you with real jobs, but they are feasible for a tenured college professor who really doesn't want to get up at 6:30 on Saturdays and Sundays.]

Robysue, I so hope you are able to more easily achieve and sustain sleep soon. It has to be frustrating when the standard suggestions don't resolve the problem and you've invested yourself in multiple efforts. Sure hope your efforts bring more results than thusfar.

Emilia, Thanks for posting that link. Sometimes removing a few hindrances is enough, and for those, knowledge is power. (Either that or it leaves one without excuse. )

I know that what works for me when my limb movements keep me awake is different than what I need when my mind is stuck in high gear. It has taken years for me to become at least somewhat in tune with my body and brain to have some discernment about how to handle bouts of insomnia - to know when to keep trying to sleep and when to get up, or when I need to totally wake up for a while and when to just move to the recliner and sleep. For so long I had kept all insomnia lumped under the generic "can't sleep" umbrella. In the past month I've had 3 nearly sleepless nights. Two I knew why, and could accept I might as well get up and get on the computer because sleep wasn't going to happen. The 3rd was frustrating because there was no identifiable cause. I'm just grateful these days that my nights, even when sleepless, are no longer utterly miserable. Sad to be willing, even eager, to accept such a low standard, but I'm really not complaining.

robysue wrote: Ensure adequate exposure to natural light during the day.
In Buffalo? In Winter? Well, when there's snow there's at least some nice reflected light and it DOES make a difference.

Well, one thing that might help (drop in a bucket, I understand) is investigating vitamin D deficiency. You could consult your doctor or simply try taking some D3.

snuginarug wrote:

robysue wrote: Ensure adequate exposure to natural light during the day.
In Buffalo? In Winter? Well, when there's snow there's at least some nice reflected light and it DOES make a difference.

Well, one thing that might help (drop in a bucket, I understand) is investigating vitamin D deficiency. You could consult your doctor or simply try taking some D3.

Been there, done that (i.e. the blood test, and my vitamin D level checked out normal this fall for once), and doing it (continuing to take 1000 IU of D3 anyway. I do notice I feel worse when I don't take the D.

All in all I know that if I were NOT already doing such a decent job with the sleep hygeine, the insomnia monster would be far, far stronger. It would be really frightening just how big and bad he'd be if I were not already in the practice of doing all the really easy ones (no tv and no reading in bed for example) and many of the more middling level sleep hygiene things in a decent enough fashion already and working reasonably hard on improving most of the remaing practical ones for me. I really believe the key to solving the insomnia problem will be the long and difficult stuggle to:

• Establish set times for waking and sleeping. (Which CAN be actively worked upon.)
  
  Make sure your sleep environment is pleasant and relaxing. (Which can only resolve itself in time as the process of going to bed becomes less loathsome and difficult and exhausting.)

Signing off for the night because my bedtime is now in ONE HOUR and FIFTEEN MINUTES so I NEED TO GET OFF THE COMPUTER.

Sweet dreams everyone.

(And it's an Ambien for me tonight since last night I only mangaged about 3 1/2 hours which was NOT enough to function well enough to get what I needed done at the office today for getting ready for my spring semester. Although I got up at 7:30, I could not manage to pull myself together and get out of the house until after noon. [The joys of being a college professor on break.] And I had to have my hubby drive me to Gifted Math tonight (night class for talented high school seniors taking a sophomore level linear algebra class). I was afraid I'd fall asleep at the wheel.