When You Can't Sleep, What Do You Do?

[Tobra]

I don't generally have that problem. If you do, try being more active during daylight hours. If I am tired and go to bed too early, I wake up early and get up.

[aigel]

Rarely happens - if it does I wake up my wife. . I'm averaging 1+ hours cardio a day and generally sleep too little. That combination has me unconscious 8 hours straight. On weekends I can still sleep 10 - 11 straight.

But I am a lot younger than most you farts. Good news is that my famy all are
soumd sleepers into high age.

One thing I see with oldsters is that they get bored and go sleep at 8 pm. Of course, nobody can sleep past 4 am if you keep that up.

G

[porsche4life]

Try to wake up the missus...



In the last 6 months or so I find myself waking up around 3 or 4 to go pee, but I usually have no trouble getting back to sleep. I used to have terrible insomnia, but it's gotten much better in the last few years, only have trouble string to sleep once every few months now.

[ForBell]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

That's pretty sweet, Don. Well done!

Don, next time muse gives you an audience ask him just what the hell he had in mind there.
nicely done, though. your work is pleasing to look at, in a weird way. knowing you, that beautifully polished brass rod is precision press fitted into that base.
btw, i'm one of you oldies who wakes up at all hours and can't sleep. i read - or watch tv. no "conjugation" (the other meaning) going on over here at 3 - 4 AM.
get this, it's now 2:30 AM and here i am, up and awake - reading PPOT.

[tabs]

Guess

[sc_rufctr]

When I can't sleep I sit up in bed and lean forward. Then I completely relax my neck so me head slumps forward... I hold this position trying to relax as much as possible.
Try this position for about 5 minutes and then lie down. You should be nice and relaxed with a "loose" neck ready for sleep.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Try to wake up the missus...



In the last 6 months or so I find myself waking up around 3 or 4 to go pee, but I usually have no trouble getting back to sleep. I used to have terrible insomnia, but it's gotten much better in the last few years, only have trouble string to sleep once every few months now.

That's like waking a bear!

[74-911]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

3 am is when I go to sleep.

Well I guess that is one way to avoid waking up at 3 AM ??

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

.
There's something about being able to fall asleep on a sofa...never figured that one out.

A beer and a baseball game on tv puts me out on the sofa. Hard to find a baseball game at 3 Am.

[GH85Carrera]

I rarely have trouble going to sleep. If I ever get to where I have trouble sleeping I will get the book Ivanhoe. I had to read that in high school. I swear it would put me to sleep in just a paragraph. I never could read the entire thing. I had to buy the cliff-notes version to pass the test.

[oldE]

I usually wake up a couple of times through the night and go back to sleep after the requisite bathroom trip.
If I have something on my mind, I have to deal with it. Sometimes it's a project I've been thinking about. If so, I may do drawings, materials lists, whatever (but I've never gotten up and gone to the workshop like the OP.)
Sometimes it's song lyrics. I have written parts of several songs which have come to me at 2 AM. The lyrics invariably get revised in the light of day, but I have several songs in my play lists which have come out of a sleepless night.
The last time I couldn't sleep was two months ago, the night after I received news a brother had passed. I couldn't return to sleep until after I had written a eulogy.
In any case, I find the act of recording my thoughts allows my brain to 're-set' and I can sleep again.

Best
Les

[wdfifteen]

I used to wake up two or three times a night. I used to think I was laying there awake and couldn't get to sleep, but I would really wake up and realize it was 3 hours later and I had been dreaming I was awake. I did a sleep study and found out I had sleep apnea. I very, very reluctantly started using a CPAP breather. It took a few nights to get used to it. Now it's my best friend. I wake up maybe once in a night to go pee, and get back to sleep fairly quickly. I've never had another one of those dreams that I was awake and couldn't get to sleep.

[Evans, Marv]

Another thing you might consider are meds you are taking. I had a friend who took a mild antidepressant for about fifteen years. The last few years of that, he had problems getting to sleep or staying asleep although he said he didn't feel tired during the days. For some reason, he decided to kick the antidepressant and tapered off on it to nothing. He said he really didn't feel different and his sleep improved immensely.

[A930Rocket]

I take some Benadryl every night. If I can't sleep, I take a couple more. Works every time unless I'm really stressed about something.

[recycled sixtie]

If I am really having trouble sleeping then I read Tabs economic forecasts. Then if that does not work then I read all about the theory of narcissistic behaviour. Could be a relationship between the two I am not sure. Correlation or causation? Nap time.......

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I used to have trouble sleeping, until our 2nd child was born. Now with 3 rugrats I'm so exhausted all the time that I can conk out at 9pm. If I'm allowed to, that is...

[wdfifteen]

After going through the whole sleep study and CPAP thing I know more about sleep than I ever wanted to. There are 5 stages of sleep, and to get restorative rest you need to cycle through all 5 three or four times a night. Drugs make you unconscious, but they don't necessarily make you cycle through the 5 stages. It's best to avoid any kind of sleep-inducing drug if possible. They may make you unconscious, but you're not fully asleep.

Stages of Sleep

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

That's like waking a bear!

I said TRY... I didn't say it always worked!

[craigster59]

I usually just crack open this book. After a few paragraphs I'm sleeping like a baby:
















Just kidding Lubey!!!

[wdfifteen]

Ouch!!