Sleep aid
 

About once or twice a week I wake up in the middle of the night (12-3AM)

My old school fix is/was to have a beer/shot or two and lay back down...

This freaks out my wife...

To my knowledge there are no pills you can take after midnight to help you to get back to sleep (if you have to get up a 6AM to go to work).

Does taking a couple drinks in the middle of the night unhealthy or make me an alcoholic?

If you have a problem getting to sleep what do you do?

Try some Melatonin just before bed - start at 5mg, go up to 10 if you need it, but you can't over dose on it... Helps you get to sleep and stay that way, but no grogginess. Its a natural thing, your brain produces it during REM, extra in the bloodstream helps get you there.

+1 on the Melatonin.

I can fall alseep almost anywhere and don't wake up in the night but my wife has had good luck using Melatonin, as suggested by her doctor.

How interested is your wife in helping you get back to sleep?

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I wouldn't have a beer in the middle of the night, myself... would just have to get up again to let it back out of me.

Now that is funny right there. We all know what is meant.

If she's anything like my wife, she'll strongly suggest a melatonin.

But seriously, I've been taking it for a while and it works great.

You really shouldn't have a high alcohol content in your stomach and lie down. It leads to reflux and can be very damaging to the esophagus and you can also aspirate some into your lungs. Try to go to bed on more or less an empty stomach and keep it that way.

I have taken the Melatonin and I had huge night time sweats. Don't know about that stuff. I think the wife action sounds the best. :)

You are not alone. I have been known to get out of bed at midnight, have a couple drinks, check out what's happening on Pelican and then try to get some sleep.

Melatonin helps as well.

I have been teaching myself meditation as a method of destressing when the insomnia sets in. Seems to help.

No acid reflux with Pineapple Diesel.....
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It is normal to wake up at night. We have been trained to want to sleep through. I'd just relax and try to get back to sleep without the alcohol. If you can't go to sleep, go read for 30 min and try again. For sleeping aid, I recommend daily cardio exercise.That could be as simple as a half hour walk after dinner. If you can get it right there in bed, even better. ;)

G

Another good trick I've discovered is for those restless nights, nothing sends me off to Dreamland quicker than reading a few pages of this.........:D



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I have MAJOR sleep issues and have been a 'victim' of several sleep studies. My best strategy, after years of trying, is this: a Melatonin 30 minutes to one hour before bed. Just before I go to bed, and this is the magical elixir, I take two generic Benadryl's (Diphenhydramine HCI - 25mg). These are non-habit forming unlike many of the other sleep aids. I would advise the no alcohol products (I tried this, too, for years and although you feel that you are going to sleep faster, the quality of sleep is greatly diminished). The Diphenhydramine is the active ingredient in Nyquil's sleep aid (ZzzQuil). My wife is a physician and she assigned me this regiment!

My diagnosis for you, scottmandue, is to begin with the Melatonin. After two weeks, if you are still experiencing the same problems, add a generic Benadryl to the Melatonin before retiring for the evening. Be advised that frustration/anger from work can hurt one's ability to sleep - is anything work-related happening on those days that could cause this?

I have been a poor sleeper all my life but now I am retired life is easier.
For a few years I have taken sleeping pills but I wake up with a hangover and find I am better off without them. I don't think that alcohol is a good idea as like sleeping pills you will need more and more to sleep.

I got a sleep book(sorry the title escapes me right now) and there are many good suggestions such as deep breathing, reading until you fall asleep etc.

I have been off sleeping pills for several months now and if I am tired I may nap in the afternoon. As mentioned above work issues can interfere with sleep.
Getting exercise(walking , running etc) in the early evening can help. I have restless leg syndrome and sleep apnea according to a sleep study.

A sleep study clinic can help to diagnose what sleep problems you have, how much sleep you are actually getting etc. Well worth it even if you do it once. I believe melatonin gave me hangovers as well. Hope this helps!:):)

Melatonin, if used too often will cause very strange dreams which wake you up. Never ever mix antihistamines with alcohol...Never.. Most antihistamines that are in sleep aids will leave you drowsy in the AM...

Sleep study suggestion is a good one !! Could be a sleep apnea problem...

Man, that is some powerful looking stuff :eek:

Maybe your just an alcoholic ? Try to stop drinking for one month see if that helps.

I had similar issues for years.........cut my wheat intake down to near zero........turns out the gluten farms with serotonin and melatonin levels. I sleep like a baby and fart less too!

I've taken melatonin for 20 years. It didn't/doesn't make me sleepy but seems to make me sleep more soundly. Supposedly you only have to take a small amount, rather than up to 10 mg. I take a 3 mg tablet. For times when I seem to not be sleeping well, like when I wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning & don't go back to sleep (I can get revved up and feel like starting the day), my doc prescribed 1 mg. Lorazepam for a good night's sleep. It's not a sleep aid exactly, but something they give patients before some procedures to calm and relax them. I don't depend on it and take it every night, but only if I had a lousy night sleep the night before or feel like I haven't been sleeping well for a few nights. It's supposedly not something you (supposedly) develop a dependency on, but I don't trust taking anything like that on a regular basis. Just the psychology of being used to it on a regular basis might lead to a bad night's sleep if I didn't take it. I always have a really good night's sleep when I take it and wake up feeling normal. You might give something like that a try.

I've had sleeping problems for the last 25 years, that were getting worse... Until... I started taking phenergan (promethazine). It's an antihistamine that "may make you drowsy".

Wow sure does make you drowsy, I honestly haven't slept like this since I was a kid.

When I wake up I'm a bit like "Where do they keep the coffee around this place", but I come round completely in 10 minutes and no other odd effects other than my blurry eye sight problem has improved.

I've been taking it every evening for about six months.