to ask how you all sleep

[nikon1968]

Posted this elsewhere got no response

I can get to sleep in about ten minutes when I go to bed which could be 9pm, 10pm, 11pm or midnight.

The prob is I always wake up somewhere between 3am and 4am and I can never get back to sleep.

Any ideas that will help me?

I sleep for about 6 hours. It doesnt matter if I go to bed at 9pm or 3am, and I can usually get to sleep easily. I read for about 15 minutes, put the book down, turn the light off, and I am asleep in less than 10 minutes normally.

blood sugar problem?

www.drbriffa.com/2007/02/09/high-gi-foods-aid-sleep-dream-on/

I fall asleep fairly quickly and then get rudely wakened by the alarm at 6 am.

My husband had sleep problems similar to yours and I suggested he might not be getting anough seratonin. If he is working from home he goes out for a walk in broad daylight each day. This has helped a lot.

I get a lot of sunlight during the day but will check out the blood sugar thing.....thanks

I've just posted on your other thread - don't rush to read it because I'm in the same boat

This used to be my sleep pattern for years.
Settle down ,nice and sleepy and drift off quite easily (most of the time) but wake up around 3o'clock and struggle to get back to sleep.
Always took about 2 hours to get back to sleep-rough when I woke at 4 am and the alarm went off at 6.30am.

I tried everything I could think off -always made sure that I caught whatever sun there was to help increase my serotonin levels for example.

But one day I tried ear plugs -because of my Dhs horrible cough that kept me (but not him) awake most of the night. I was averse to them previously because I have tinnitus . But needs must and I gave them a whirl. What a revelation.For one thing they didn't make the tinnitus worse at all-in fact they seem to reduce the noise longer term.

But the best is that I rarely have those lie-awake-nights any more. I drift off and stay asleep much more often . If I feel that I need extra help I revert back to my trusty ear plugs and Im soon sorted again.

I feel like being an ear plug = sleep evangelist

I am sorry I started two threads on this............................

anymore answers or words of advice if you have the time could you go to the other thread ......sorry to be a pain.

Another thing - make sure your bedroom is dark. I used to sleep with the light on but we undergo a photosynathis type process at night which needs darkness to work effectively. Difference was astonishing.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/sleep/1352877-Adult-sleep-prob

This is the other thread

My bedroom is pitch black and oh works nights so not comfotable wearing ear plugs...athough oh swears by them during the day.

I rely on an audiobook / podcast being on to lul me to sleep. Sort of 'conditioned' to it now. Although DH seems to think it's odd that I have to rely on this to fall asleep, I find it really helps, especially as if I wake in the middle of the night, putting it back on will just send me straight off to sleep again.

I have tried countless times to sleep in silence, and my brain just tick ticks!

Awful, convinced I only get about 3 or 4 hours, always been like that.

I remember going through a phase of waking at 3/4am, feeling very anxious, and being unable to get back to sleep. Chatting to the office secretary, she said she had the same problem.

We put 2 and 2 together and decided to look for new jobs. My sleep problem disappeared when I moved to another, far less stressful, company.

I didn't even realise I was feeling stressed, but waking at around that time is apparently a classic sign.

I used to have a similar sleep pattern. I cracked the not getting to sleep when I bought a kindle and read for a while every night (previously couldn't read in bed because holding a book open hurt my hands too much.) The early waking has gone down to just one night awake since starting on Amitriptyline for the chronic pain that stopped me getting back to sleep again.

So, not helpful to you, I'm afraid, but proof that identifying the cause of the problem can sometimes lead to a solution.

How is your life otherwise? Disturbed sleep patterns (more or less than usual) can be one of the first signs of anxiety or depression.

I had exactly this last year and got very down and stressed - sleeping pills weren't a good solution and didn't work after a while then I used a sort of hypno app on my iPhone

I've used this sort of thing before and they were rubbish but this guy's voice I found incredibly calming and he sorted a problem where I was close to total breakdown I think he does cds as well

Admittedly though a huge amount of stress at work was reduced at the same time as I started using them

if you use iTunes search for Deep Sleep and the guys initials are AJ or I'll pm you if you like

Good luck though it is a horrible thing when it happens

I am not depressed or anything.

work 16 hours a week in an easy job........plenty of exercise with the dog.

oh no probs

son ...no probs.

No money probs etc etc etc

just wake up at 3-4 and cant get back to sleep..........

I might take the ipod to bed and if i wake up put on some soft music........

I read before i sleep....but gwtting off to sleep is not the prob.....

thanks for all your replies....

I've had insomnia for years. I now have a White noise app on my iPod and listen to that at bedtime and if I wake in the night (earphones) worked wonders and I have tried everything else over the long sleepless years.

Go to sleep at the same time every night.

I have tried the same time every night and too be honest it makes no difference.

I have the same problem.

I found the article linked on GI food VERY interesting!

Especially as one thing that works for me is to "accept" the sleeplessness and go downstairs, have a snack (banana or some crackers. I don't even really fancy any food, but I know it will send me back to sleep).

Incidentally, I am very sensitive to blood sugar during the day, and find I'm best on wholemeal bread and other good GI foods. I prefer having a snack before bedtime though (Ryevita crackers, dried fruit) and wean myself of night time snacks!

Another thing that really really helps me is an article I read about sleep patterns, which explained that mankind has historically always slept in chunks, rather than 8 hours straight. So waking at 3, then going back to sleep an hour later is actually quite normal human behaviour. It stopped me stressing about "not getting my 8 hours sleep".

ironically, not being stressed about it, and the realisation that I am fine, completely fine, even if I have only 5 or 6 hours sleep, makes me feel relaxed enough to have less and less of these episodes (I go through weeks of waking though, and just when I despair I sleep "normal" again).

I sympathise totally, but no advice I'm afraid as I'm even worse! I would LOVE to be able to get to sleep in 10 minutes. Takes me 2-3 hours at least. Then I wake up and can't get back to sleep.

I know what my problem is though. Worry. Worry, worry worry :(

nikon this may sound silly, but perhaps you aren't tired. I'm not a big sleeper, left to my own devices, I will go to sleep about 1am and sleep lightly for about 6 hrs. When I'm getting a lot of exercise, it's a different story.
I'm fascinated by comments upthread about serotonin as I also work from home and could go for days without going anywhere.

I have bizarre sleep patterns, much like OP. It's just normal for me, always has been, nothing to do with anything I can fix. I have met loads of people over the years with even more strange sleep patterns than mine, all natural for them, too. I hate it when it's implied we're all "supposed" to sleep the same.

Before I had DC and when they are grown things were/will be fine, my insomnia is not a problem, truly. When DC not so much part of my life I can sleep when I need to. The hard part for now is having to be awake when I feel like sleeping.