What do you do to stay asleep?

I am trying to figure out how to stay asleep. So I ask this question in hopes of finding things to try that I may not have already tried. I don't have trouble falling asleep it's just staying asleep for more than a couple of hrs . Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you in advance

So what kinds of things have you tried for staying asleep?

One thing to keep in mind is that it's both common and normal to have a few isolated, short wakes during the night. It's not uncommon to wake up briefly at the end of a REM cycle, for example. Or to turn over in bed. But for "normal" folks---i.e. ones without insomnia---these brief awakenings don't lead to a feeling of disrupted sleep because they go right back to sleep, perhaps after fixing a comfort issue (tug on the cover for example). In other words, they don't wake up and then realize they're awake and then start worrying about being awake instead of asleep.

Back near the beginning of my long war with the insomnia monster, my PA put me on a sleep restricted schedule where I was only to be in bed for a maximum of six hours each night. One of the points of this sleep restricted schedule was to encourage my body to reteach itself how to wake up briefly, deal with what needs to be dealt with and quickly go back to sleep without stopping to worry about being awake and triggering more angst, which in turn makes it harder to get back to sleep. It took some time, but by the end of about three months of the sleep restricted schedule, I was noticing that the remaining wakes were getting shorter and shorter and vaguer and vaguer in terms of my memory of them the next morning. And now? As long as I'm not dealing with a stressful event in my personal life during the daytime, I can pretty much wake up, quickly determine if there's a comfort reason and deal with it, and then get back to sleep pretty quickly. And the net result is that the 2--4 short wakes I have on a typical decent night's sleep no longer seem to disrupt the overall quality of my sleep.

I just don't wake up.

Okay, seriously, I don't know. I either just stay asleep or I don't. One thing I noted most recently was I had switched my APAP to CPAP mode and I seem to waking up a lot less frequently each night. I'm starting to think that the pressure increases from the APAP were waking me up.

I guess a couple of things I try and do is go to bed at the same time each night (9pm for me, and yes my kids call me an old man because of this early time), I don't go to bed with the TV on (now the wife likes to come to bed after me and turns the TV on, but thankfully she is very considerate and has excellent hearing so she keeps it very low), and I try and pee before I go to bed and not drink a ton of liquids after dinner.

I doubt there is anything in my list that you haven't tried, but just in case, there it is.

LOL, well that makes me an ol' lady then, because I go to bed at 9pm also. I know that others have most likely dealt with ripping their mask off at one time or another, but that is what is happening when I do wake up. I wake, lay there with the mask on hoping to fall back to sleep, then for some odd reason I rip the mask off & go back to sleep. Is this a normal thing for the time being & I will just get it down eventually?...I found the right mask, chipmunk cheeks are gone....to me that's the only thing I am getting frustrated with myself about.

Thanks

I never went through a ripping the mask off phase. I did wake up once and went to look at my data and saw that there was a two hour window where there was no data. My wife said I went to the bathroom, came back to bed and forgot to put my mask back on.

I still wake up, but for the most part, I am fairly comfortable with my mask and will fall asleep quickly again.

Hmmm, I will just keep trying. Like I said some of the other issues are now gone, so if I can figure this out I think I will finally be on my way to decent cpap therapy.

Thank you

I try to go to bed as comfortable as possible so I don't wake up hot/cold later, however I do toss my down comforter on the floor some time during the night as I get too warm, but rarely remember doing this. I think if you do whatever is needed to be comfortable - light/noise/temperature etc., then waking during the night should be minimal unless other reasons are the cause. A schedule might help, but my hubby works 2nd shift, so Friday and Saturday nights I stay up at least 3 hours later and have no trouble adjusting, however HE can't keep my hours, so IMHO the schedule is an individual preference.

Try as I might to sleep in on weekends, once I've had 7 hours sleep, it's up and at 'em.

Prior to CPAP I was getting up at least twice every night to use the bathroom. Because I'd been doing this for 40+ years, would go right back to sleep most times.

Cheers,
xena

White noise helps me. I have a cheap clock/weather radio/alarm that has a noise maker function on it.
Could leaks be waking you? Do you look at your data?
I'm getting an electric blanket or mattress pad this year. I'm hoping that will eliminate temperature fluctuations and the furnace kicking on and off all night which I think cause some awakenings.

My gf had/has sleep apnea but opted for the surgery years ago. There is still some snoring.

I had about 90 apnea events per hour during my test, so that explains why I've always remembered waking up at least a dozen times during the night every night. Now on the CPAP, I'd doing much better. At first though, I was still waking up a couple times a night. I've got the comforts all down, but I seem to have become MUCH more sensitive to the snoring around me. Last night was the first time in 3 weeks that I slept through the night (or at least don't recall waking up) and had good stats. I did go to the gym a couple hours before bed, so we thought maybe my O2 level was up thanks to the workout.

Keep it up Op and I hope it gets better soon!

Kaiya--

I have had the same problem (and still do), unfortunately I don't remember ever pulling my mask off. But almost daily when I look at my data there is almost always a 1 to 2 hour time frame where I had pulled off my mask. But when I wake up I am wearing it again. I am still trying to find a way to keep my mask on at night... however I still haven't been able to be 100% compliant in my subconcious mind. Hopefully it is something that will improve over time.

Rome

kaiya2465 wrote: I know that others have most likely dealt with ripping their mask off at one time or another, but that is what is happening when I do wake up. I wake, lay there with the mask on hoping to fall back to sleep, then for some odd reason I rip the mask off & go back to sleep. (emphasis added)

Offering my next two cents: I don't think there is "some odd reason" you rip the mask of and go back to sleep. You're doing this consciously since you are awake when it happens. And you do it because you've gotten to the point where you simply can't stand to have the mask on your nose one second longer.

Here's what I think is going on:

You wake up and you don't know why. So you try to get back to sleep with the mask on, but as the minutes tick by you notice you are NOT getting sleepier. You're getting more bothered (or worried) about being awake, lying in bed with the hose on your nose and the machine on. You try to force the issue by not getting out of bed even though by this point you know you're not getting any sleepier even though you feel tired. But this winds up making it even harder to relax enough to get back to sleep. Eventually (after how many minutes?) you give into that part of your unconscious mind (or perhaps your conscious mind) that's screaming at you: JUST TAKE THE DANG MASK OFF AND I'LL LET YOU GO TO SLEEP.

And I think that the quickest way to solve this problem is to NOT give into the dark side and take the mask off in the middle of the night and then choose to allow yourself to fall back asleep without the mask on. In other words, you're developing a bad habit: Wake up, lie awake long enough to get antsy, take mask off, and go back to sleep.

How to break this nasty bad habit? I think you need to quit laying in bed "with the mask on hoping to fall back to sleep." Why? Because I think that's the very thing that's making it so hard to get back to sleep. Some part of your mind is behaving like a stubborn two year old and it has figured out that if it just keeps you awake LONG enough, you will eventually give in and take the mask on and turn over and go to sleep.

So what to do instead of lying in bed until you get to the point where you simply can't stand the mask on your nose one second longer? Give yourself a maximum of 15-20 minutes to lie in bed trying to get back to sleep with the mask on. If you are still awake and making no progress towards getting back to sleep at the end of that time, then make yourself get up out of the bed, go into a different room to do something soothing and relaxing and sleep inducing. And go back to bed once you are calm enough to face the mask again and sleepy enough to actually manage to fall back asleep with the mask on your nose.

And what to do when you are out of bed in the middle of the night? Simply sitting in the semi-dark in a different room for 5 minutes may be all you need. Or make yourself a cup of sleepy time tea or warm milk. Or listen to some quiet music. Or read a boring book. But don't watch TV or start web browsing.

Thanks Robysue.....I will try getting out of bed for awhile when thinking about sleeping w/o the mask. I will update in about a wk.