Melatonin for sleep?

[GH85Carrera]

My brain must make lots of melatonin naturally. It is rare that I don't fall asleep quickly. My dreams are vivid and usually funny. I often wake up because I am giggling like a little kid. What is the opposite of a nightmare ?

[legion]

I haven't been able to fall asleep naturally since high school.

In college I used an alternate method to fall asleep. I've been suffering for the past 8 years until I found melatonin (there was another thread on it a year ago).

[Tobra]

Forgive me if this sounds like something some patchouli stink hippie might say, but Angela, you would probably do well with Yoga or Tai Chi for stress, mind and body in harmony that sort of thing.

Either that or when you are stressing put on some boxing gloves and beat the hell out of Steve.

[GH85Carrera]

It makes my wife mad that when it is time to sleep I kiss her goodnight, roll over and I am usually asleep in 10 minutes. If it was a day of physical activity I can be asleep in minutes. Usually the next thing I know is it's morning. What really pisses her off is I bound out of bed happy and awake. I do feel lucky about it.

[azasadny]

Craig,
My 7 year bout of chronic insomnia was caused by elevated liver enzymes that several MD's overlooked or downplayed as the possible cause. As soon as I got the liver enzymes under control (weight loss, no alcohol, vegetarian diet), the insomnia stopped. Get a thorough check-up just to be sure you're not overlooking a possible organic cause of your insomnia.

[legion]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

It makes my wife mad that when it is time to sleep I kiss her goodnight, roll over and I am usually asleep in 10 minutes. If it was a day of physical activity I can be asleep in minutes. Usually the next thing I know is it's morning. What really pisses her off is I bound out of bed happy and awake. I do feel lucky about it.

I hate you just hearing you describe it.

My problem is that if I stay up, I won't get tired until 1:00 or 3:00. (I should be in bed by 10:00 to get 8 hours of sleep.) If I go to bed when I'm not tired, I'll lay awake until 4:00 or 5:00. I'm not overly stressed, I just think too much. I start thinking about how to fix things, things I need to work on, future projects, etc... My brain really hits its peak at night and I have trouble shutting it down. Having the TV on helps distract me and helps my brain shut down for the night. The more mindless the better. Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force work really well, as do some boring History Channel documentaries (but these are becomming rarer). The plus side of this is that I can easily stay awake for 24 - 36 hours before getting tired, provided I actually got sleep the night before.

When I wake up in the morning, I don't want to be awake. I rarely start my day ready to go. I usually crawl into the shower/bath, lay down, and sleep for another 10-30 minutes in the shower in the morning with the water running. I've even fallen asleep sitting or standing up in the shower. I'm that tired every morning. It takes a good 2-3 hours for my brain to get going in the morning. I don't talk to ANYONE the first hour I'm at work, and everyone knows better than to talk to me.

Taking Melatonin has made the falling asleep easier. I'm usually out between 10:30 and 11:30 now. I still have trouble waking up in the morning, but it's better in that I usually have one morning a month where I wake up ready to go. (Previously it was one morning every six months.)

I don't remember having problems sleeping in high school, but I remember when I got to college all of the noise in the dorms kept me awake. I started keeping a fan running and the TV on to drown out the noise. Now I CAN'T fall asleep without background noise. My first few years in college, I did't start class until 9:00 or 11:00, so my natural rhythm of falling asleep between 1:00 and 3:00 didn't deprive me of any sleep. My senior year I worked mornings off campus from 7-12. I took to using a thing widely available on college campuses to help me fall asleep, but I soon got a job offer and had to quit that too. I've been sleep-deprived ever since.

[Tobra]

Chris, how much exercise do you get? More is better, in AM as stated above. If you are physically fatigued, you will tend to fall asleep easier.

You can reset your body clock with phototherapy. In English, this means when you wake in the morning, go outside and have the sun shine on your face, this tells your brain to wake up. The back ground noise thing is pretty common, but when you go to bed, you should not read or watch TV, go to bed to sleep. Consider going off caffeine completely, coffee, chocalate, everything.

[legion]

I swim a mile on Mondays and Thursdays, and weight lift on Tuesdays and Fridays after doing 30 mins on the eliptical and 20 mins on the treadmill. I'm a semi-serious weight lifter (see my "335" thread).

[GH85Carrera]

Chris, this sounds stupid but quit thinking!

Make a conscious effort to get your mind into a dream like mode. Forget reality, and make up a dream like situation. Build a house on top of a mountain for the great view. Don't worry about reality of how do you get electricity up there it is just there. Design the house and if you decide that the garage should be 20 cars wide not 3 just allow it to change in an instant. The weather will always be perfect, the road to your house will be 100 miles of perfect roads. Money does not exist, problems are just gone. Make it fun. Your brain will think hey this is like dreaming and soon you will be asleep.

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Forgive me if this sounds like something some patchouli stink hippie might say, but Angela, you would probably do well with Yoga or Tai Chi for stress, mind and body in harmony that sort of thing.

Either that or when you are stressing put on some boxing gloves and beat the hell out of Steve.

Oh the poor long suffering Steve - LOL! I do some Yoga and love it, especially good for my back. For me the mind/body in harmony thing comes on the mountain bike. Combination of tired, happy, relaxed after a hard ride. Normally I ride by myself so it's almost a form of meditaion. Particularly on 24 hour mountain bike rides. Definately puts me back in my groove - LOL!

angela

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Chris, this sounds stupid but quit thinking!

Make a conscious effort to get your mind into a dream like mode. Forget reality, and make up a dream like situation. Build a house on top of a mountain for the great view. Don't worry about reality of how do you get electricity up there it is just there. Design the house and if you decide that the garage should be 20 cars wide not 3 just allow it to change in an instant. The weather will always be perfect, the road to your house will be 100 miles of perfect roads. Money does not exist, problems are just gone. Make it fun. Your brain will think hey this is like dreaming and soon you will be asleep.

Just imagine you're being chased by zombies. Count 'em, whatever, you'll go to sleep faster.

[HardDrive]

I typically only us Melatonin to break a bad sleep pattern, or sleep at the proper time when coming from an overseas trip.

No problems with bad dreams.

[porsche4life]

I need to get some when school starts back up... I have a bad habit of staying up way late b/c I know when I go to bed I won't be able to sleep.

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by legion

I hate you just hearing you describe it.

My problem is that if I stay up, I won't get tired until 1:00 or 3:00. (I should be in bed by 10:00 to get 8 hours of sleep.) If I go to bed when I'm not tired, I'll lay awake until 4:00 or 5:00. I'm not overly stressed, I just think too much. I start thinking about how to fix things, things I need to work on, future projects, etc... My brain really hits its peak at night and I have trouble shutting it down. Having the TV on helps distract me and helps my brain shut down for the night. The more mindless the better. Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force work really well, as do some boring History Channel documentaries (but these are becomming rarer). The plus side of this is that I can easily stay awake for 24 - 36 hours before getting tired, provided I actually got sleep the night before.

When I wake up in the morning, I don't want to be awake. I rarely start my day ready to go. I usually crawl into the shower/bath, lay down, and sleep for another 10-30 minutes in the shower in the morning with the water running. I've even fallen asleep sitting or standing up in the shower. I'm that tired every morning. It takes a good 2-3 hours for my brain to get going in the morning. I don't talk to ANYONE the first hour I'm at work, and everyone knows better than to talk to me.

Taking Melatonin has made the falling asleep easier. I'm usually out between 10:30 and 11:30 now. I still have trouble waking up in the morning, but it's better in that I usually have one morning a month where I wake up ready to go. (Previously it was one morning every six months.)

I don't remember having problems sleeping in high school, but I remember when I got to college all of the noise in the dorms kept me awake. I started keeping a fan running and the TV on to drown out the noise. Now I CAN'T fall asleep without background noise. My first few years in college, I did't start class until 9:00 or 11:00, so my natural rhythm of falling asleep between 1:00 and 3:00 didn't deprive me of any sleep. My senior year I worked mornings off campus from 7-12. I took to using a thing widely available on college campuses to help me fall asleep, but I soon got a job offer and had to quit that too. I've been sleep-deprived ever since.

Did your sleeplessness increase around the 1st week in Nov., '08?
Just wondering.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Just imagine you're being chased by zombies. Count 'em, whatever, you'll go to sleep faster.

If that will make your brain think you are dreaming, go for it. I prefer to dream about something fun and plesant. Avoid sexual fantasies! They will not put you to sleep, just make you aroused.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Chris, this sounds stupid but quit thinking!

Make a conscious effort to get your mind into a dream like mode. Forget reality, and make up a dream like situation. Build a house on top of a mountain for the great view. Don't worry about reality of how do you get electricity up there it is just there. Design the house and if you decide that the garage should be 20 cars wide not 3 just allow it to change in an instant. The weather will always be perfect, the road to your house will be 100 miles of perfect roads. Money does not exist, problems are just gone. Make it fun. Your brain will think hey this is like dreaming and soon you will be asleep.

this is pretty good, like counting sheep only better

if you concentrate on relaxing, start at your toes, feel your calves relax, on up your leg, that can help too. I

f you dig on having background noise, you can get a white noise generator, that will sound like rain, or the ocean, whatever you like. We have a battery powered one for when we travel, because Heather can't sleep without noise.

[Schumi]

I'm not sure if I posted this already earlier in this thread or not, but if you're really aching for sleep nothing beats drowning around a hundred milligrams of dramamine crushed into a glass of scotch.

If you wake up the next morning it'll have been the best sleep you've ever had.