Please tell me how to break my awful sleep habits

[QueenoftheDay]

It’s nearly half one. I am up for work at 6.30 tomorrow. I feel exhausted all day long. Then it gets to 10pm. I get a second wind and that’s it.

I enjoy the time after the kids are in bed. I usually catch up with work/housework but tonight I just poured a glass of wine and watched tv.

Why am I doing this? I will sleep in tomorrow. The morning will be a stressful rush. I will be exhausted at work and rinse and repeat

Take a phenergen25mg about an hour before you want to sleep-(its a great side effect of a fantastic antihistamine)-its non-habit forming&can help reset a off kilter body clock..

I've found that cutting down on tea and coffee has helped me sleep better. I get up at 5.50am for work and I aim to be in bed at 9.30pm whether I am tired or not.

I went through a period of not being able to sleep when I started the peri menopause so I can understand how exhausted you must feel.

Much as it’s tempting not to I try to keep the same bedtime and getting up time all through the week including weekends. I found I was having a massive lie in on weekends then going to bed so late and it threw off the whole week following. Annoyingly routine really does help.

When I’m in a bad phase I take sleeping tablets for a few nights then taper down, if I stop suddenly I’ll have an awful night. So even if just Nytol I’ll go to a half then a quarter etc

A good night is a stretch of 4 hours then maybe another 2/3 hours broken sleep. Bad night can be 2 hours broken sleep. I seem to get more awake if I read so often listen to podcasts, that relaxes me more.

Sympathies, insomnia is a pain in the arse

I am the same. Second wind at 10pm, can easily stay up til 2am. Kids up at 6am every day without fail. I'm exhausted and snappy most of the time! But I need that alone time. Following for ideas.

Yes here I am. Up at 0600 bed at 2345 (which is early for me) shattered.

I'd love to break this too. I've always gone to bed around 1am, but the earlier my commute gets, the later I seem to go to bed. I get up just before 5am yet never asleep before 1am.
I'm up multiple times in the night too so barely get 3hrs. No idea how to break the cycle at all and now I'm pregnant my sleep is getting worse and worse.

Feels like there's no point going to bed earlier as I wouldn't sleep anyway.

Carbs with dinner, no caffeine in the evening, no tablets, devices or TV for an hour prior to sleep, valerian tea half hour before bed and go to bed earlier (works for me and I regularly switch day/night sleeping for work so have to get back in sync a lot). Some people also use calming music, white noise or audiobooks to keep their mind from fretting over stuff from the day/they need to do which prevents sleep. This helps DH who is insomniac.

Try the below 2 methods

1. Read a book (not an interesting novel) and stay away from your phone and you will find you prefer sleeping to learning.

1. Lying on bed, thinking I can reply to the messages 10 minutes later instead of right now. Everytime I fall asleep quickly as I am really tired after a day's work and dealing with my little boy.

I have a tip! I listen to yoga nidra - i use the insight timmer app.

I live with a night owl but I'm not so i tend to claim the bedroom for relaxing in in the evening- it means I don't get sucked into stuff downstairs.

Don't drink wine.
Go to bed earlier. If you get into bed at 9.30 and wake up at 1.30 that's 4 hours sleep. Then at 1.30 listen to a meditation app until you drift off again
Don't mumsnet
Don't drink coffee apart from one first thing
Never lay in
Exercise every day even if its a brisk walk
Hrt if you are old

Vogels Dormesan is amazing. It really works but literally tastes like poison.

I am out like a light between 10 and 10.30 but used to wake in the early hours and not get back to sleep. Magnesium has saved my sleep - I take it like a sleeping tablet before bed now and even if I wake, I go back off again. Very rarely have a bad night now, touch wood.

Ooh yes Magnesium is good

Also alcohol breaks down in your body after a few hours and becomes a stimulant, which is why you often wake a few hours after falling asleep

Stop the mindset that you need 'me time'. If your kids are in bed by 8 then 1.5 hours is enough 'me time'. The best thing you can give yourself is sleep, not wine and Netflix!

I second the audiobook thing, or rather comedy shows I've heard hundreds of times before - important not to matter if you drop off and miss anything.

I put on, say, Cabin Pressure or Dad's Army, settle down and really look forward to listening. Usually I'm asleep in less than 5 mins, I have been known to fall asleep before the opening music ends.

I'm an early bird mind: in bed by 9pm, I sleep between 7.5-9hrs each night and always up by 6ish.

My tip may sound really silly, I'm not sure how best to explain it but when I can't sleep I try to think of nothing.. well as in try to make my mind go blank. So I find imagining just blackness and nothing else. When something pops into my head I go back to the blackness. I've actually found it helps me fall asleep! Sorry if that sounds really silly. I had huge problems trying to fall asleep and found that helped a lot.

I'm an early bird mind: in bed by 9pm, I sleep between 7.5-9hrs each night and always up by 6ish me too! In bed by 10 and always up by 6 (horses)

Stop the mindset that you need 'me time'. If your kids are in bed by 8 then 1.5 hours is enough 'me time'. The best thing you can give yourself is sleep, not wine and Netflix!

Sounds pretty grim though. There must be a happy medium?

In any event I don’t watch Netflix and drink wine every night I am usually working or doing housework

Also, if the kids are in bed by 8, I then have to sone times eat, wash up, make packed lunches, tidy the house, washing, get school stuff ready, bath. That will easily take an hour or more depending. So after I've done all the stuff, I want some time to myself.

Sounds pretty grim though. There must be a happy medium?

Yes and you can experiment with that once you've sorted your sleeping out.

No alcohol (or caffeine of course) in the evenings, even a small glass makes a difference.
Going to try Magnesium though.

I could have written this! Every night I'm the same, not helped by DH being away all week every week so all the 'jobs' are on me. I love my Netflix time and a glass of wine/cup of tea depending on my mood.

I eat with dc and shut up the kitchen in kid time!

Page marking to read through tomorrow for tips as I really, really need to get to bed now. Totally agree with the second wind about 9.30, 10.00. My life would be so much better if I could only reset my body clock and get to bed earlier.

I've decided to wide things forwards instead of back. So I haven't slept yet xD

I'm gonna ho to bed around 1pmish (and hopefully 3ish tomorrow, 5ish the next day ect...worth a try lol).

...my eyes hurt xD