Sleep Apnea AND.... something else

Okay, I am not sure if I am the only one but why is it that I wake up every single night consciously knowing that I woke up more then once? I have gotten rid of the noise problem, I have gotten rid of sunlight problem. Well what could it be? I am out of possible causes. I only think that there is something wrong with me rather then some external cause. I am awake due to this and can NOT fall back asleep.

I spray my legs with magnesium oil and it helps me get back to sleep.

sleepinow wrote:Okay, I am not sure if I am the only one but why is it that I wake up every single night consciously knowing that I woke up more then once? I have gotten rid of the noise problem, I have gotten rid of sunlight problem. Well what could it be? I am out of possible causes. I only think that there is something wrong with me rather then some external cause. I am awake due to this and can NOT fall back asleep.

It's called sleep maintenance insomnia. And you're not alone.

Possible causes? Tension and stress in your life, including worrying about waking up and not being able to get back to sleep.

As for what to do about it: The usual starting advice is to look at the overall sleep hygiene. You've taken care of some of the problems, but you may need to also focus on such things as regular wake-up times (regardless of how much or little sleep you got), regular bedtimes (but only going to bed at bedtime if you are genuinely sleepy), making sure that you cannot see the clock when you do wake up at night, not watching the clock when you can't get back to sleep, and as counterintuititve as it sounds, getting out of bed if you can't get back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time.

A good self help book to look at is Sound Sleep, Sound Mind by Dr. Barry Krakow.

herefishy wrote:I spray my legs with magnesium oil and it helps me get back to sleep.

Interesting, what are the benefits of spraying magnesium oil on the legs? What specific product are you using?

The thing that has helped me the most was buying a tempurpedic bed that has a buzzy feature (like a baby chair). It gets me to sleep every time, and this is after 45 years of suffering from same as you.

If you can't afford a new bed, consider just the foundation which is the part that buzzes. If that's too expensive, look for after market pads or boards you can add between your mattress to make them vibrate. I've never seen any but my guess is they exist. It's like someone rocking you back to sleep and it works wonders.

Of course first and foremost I second the motion of carefully managing sleep hygiene, per the other posts. That book sounds good. There are also a lot of web articles that can give you the net net on sleep hygiene. There are about ten "musts" that will help you and lots has been written about it. (No bright screens including TV or devices within 2 hours of bed time, etc).

A few other tips:

If you can wear earplugs this helps a lot. (I can't, because I need to hear my alarm clock and also need to hear if my kids call for me). But this helps me sleep much more soundly when I do wear them, so I mention just in case you can try this.

Light blocking eye covers make a huge diff for me. I sleep more soundly the nights I wear them, often not waking at all -- surprisingly to me. Hard to find good ones though. The ones that work best do not have Velcro straps, they have small elastic double straps like what the airlines used to give out. Check travel stores or online. Look for ones that have a little flap on the bottom to block light coming in through the bottom.

Do some research and make a list of your "to do" list, then stick with it and you'll see improvement. Good luck

I second the recommendation of the Sound Sleep Sound Mind book! I use a technique I read in that book for getting back to sleep.

I have the same problem. For me, I think its either my "alpha wave intrusion" problem, or caffeine.
I have noticed that if I have any caffeine at all during the day, I routinely wake up more than once at night. I need the caffeine for other problems, but I'm trying to limit it to just early in the morning.
I wish I could give it up completely.........but I'm just not that strong.

I tried what my2twinz suggested and that was no computer/phone use and no looking at tye time when waking up. This actually worked and am quite suprised. I will continue this to see if it works.

And for the bottom poster. If you thinl caffiene is hard. Try quitting cigarettes or dairy. You will see a true addiction withdrawal.

Edit: actually dont smoke cigarettes hehe. But yeah caffiene was pretty bad too just not as bad

Quitting anything that is really important to us is hard! I had a psychopharmacologist once (an M.D. who deals with medications), tell me that we are all street pharmacists.........meaning we sort of naturally and unconsciously choose substances that balance out certain deficits we might have. I think the caffeine does that for me in some areas.........but causes problems in others.

I hadn't heard about not looking at the clock if you wake up in the middle of the night. I'll have to try that. I so enjoy watching TV until I get sleepy.......not sure I could give that up.
I do wonder about the lights in the room........from the clock, the digital converter box, etc. I love it when the room is totally dark.......but with all the electronics, that's hard to do. I guess I could put tape on them. Heck, I tape my mouth.........why not the clock, etc.?
I think we, as modern humans, are so disconnected from the knowledge of what messes up our sleep. I've always wondered what would happen if we all had to try to live a more simple life..........like going to bed when the sun goes down. Its funny to think that maybe we should be getting that much sleep (sundown to sunrise)........in relation to what we actually get.

Holy moly. If you walked into my room it would look like a full blown lab. I have taped everything that gives away a light source. I put clothes underneath my door so sunlight does not get through. I bought blackout curtains to make my room look like it is nighttime when the loghts are off. It is literally almost fully black when the door is closed. I just need to adjust a few things before tonight and the room will be night 24/7 unless the lights are on. I placed a shirt over my air purifier to block out the led lights from the panel

sleepinow wrote:Holy moly. If you walked into my room it would look like a full blown lab. I have taped everything that gives away a light source. I put clothes underneath my door so sunlight does not get through. I bought blackout curtains to make my room look like it is nighttime when the loghts are off. It is literally almost fully black when the door is closed. I just need to adjust a few things before tonight and the room will be night 24/7 unless the lights are on. I placed a shirt over my air purifier to block out the led lights from the panel

So you've addressed all the possible issues with the bedroom environment.

I tried what my2twinz suggested and that was no computer/phone use and no looking at tye time when waking up. This actually worked and am quite suprised. I will continue this to see if it works.

And you've addressed two of the most common behavior patterns that contribute to insomnia. But in addition to kicking the computer and smart phone out of the bedroom, you also need to kick the tv out. And if your insomnia is severe, you should consider not reading in bed. Do your bedtime reading in a comfy chair out in the living room or in the family room and go to bed when you start to feel sleepy. If you wake up and want to read to get back to sleep, get up out of bed and go into a different room and read there and return to your bedroom only after you are sleepy enough to get back to sleep. And don't look at the clock when you are up and about in the middle of the night---you don't need to know how long you read before going back to bed.

The remaining two important self-help for insomnia steps are:

1) Regular wake up times. It helps to get up at the same time every day of the week. It's a bummer not being able to sleep in on your days off, but you'd be surprised at how much a regular wake up time helps. And you need to force yourself to get up at wake up time regardless of how little sleep you think you've gotten during the night.

2) Regular bedtimes. It helps to have an established bedtime that you try to honor seven days a week. But you should only go to bed at your regular bedtime if you are feeling sleepy enough to get to sleep.

Sleepinow.........I thought of you when I saw this You Tube video. Maybe you could try to cut out those magnesium depleting things, and take magnesium supplements?

Someone on another forum I'm on said that it helped with her insomnia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtUn1gWgaw