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Sleep Aid??

Yammer Dan

By Yammer Dan
in Watering Hole

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Yammer Dan

Yammer Dan

Posted
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First I hate to take any kind of drugs!! Just not me. I have a medicane cabinet full of Pain killers that would probally do this but won't take them unless I'm ready to start screaming. I have eaten enough of the things. Problem is this stupid leg & foot is waking me up at all times of the night and when it does I'm usually up for hours. Has my schedule so upside down I can't stay awake in the daytime and can't sleep at night. I have a hard time getting up to do anything when I am awake. No energy at all. What I'm trying to say is there any way I can return to sleep without drugs? Most of the time the leg settles down I just cannot return to sleep. Any natural way I can get back to sleep?

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SaltyDawg

SaltyDawg

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Sorry to hear of your problems Dan. I don't know of any "Natural" way of getting to sleep. With all the stress I have been under lately I was having a real hard time falling asleep. Staying awake to 3 in the morning at times when I have to get up at 4. Or waking up shortly after falling asleep and not being able to get back to sleep.

 

I don't know you feelings on booze but I have found that a couple fingers of Red Stag on the rocks a half hour before bed has been letting me sleep through the night. It's been the first time in years. For me it just allows my mind to rest because for some reason when I go to bed my mind won't shut down.

 

I don't drink to get drunk, and unless it's a Friday or Saturday night I don't have more than one drink.

 

Everyone has different feelings on booze and I don't mean to offend anyone. This is what I have found and it has been very helpful in my case.

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Condor

Condor

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I'm with you on the pills Dan. I gotta be dieing before going to a pain killer..... However... Lately when I'm having trouble getting a full nights sleep I'll pop 800mg of Motrin, and about a half hour later a couple of asperin. That'll get me through a solid 8 hours. Neither the Motrin or the Asperin are narcotic, and that's a good thing....

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Bubber

Bubber

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Posted (edited)

I havn't tried any of the sleep aids either, but I agree with saltydag. when I go to sleep I start to dream immediately and I dream all night long. That doesn't make for a very restful sleep. Always tired during the day. I think it has to do with the stress and other things that are going on in your life that you just can't seem to shut them off when you go to sleep.

 

Good luck with a cure.

 

 

PS Three fingers of Jack Daniels is sounding pretty good.:Avatars_Gee_George:

Edited by Bubber
Because some people's minds were in the wrong place. LOL
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LilBeaver

LilBeaver

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OH YEA I can think of a few things that puts me out like a light. Just can't get the wife to cooperate anymore...

 

Yep, I have to agree here, best sleep aid in the world. Sometimes I have to be awakened to finish!!

RandyA

 

 

I'm confused, :think:, why you can't get the wife to talk to you anymore?

 

 

Dan:

In all seriousness, if you do not want to resort to drugs of some sort then the best thing you can do, from a psychological standpoint, is find a way to get your self to relax. Now, I know that is much easier said than done for most people, especially if you are getting frustrated because you cannot get to sleep. There are various mental exercises you can do for this, or things you can physically do to get your mind off of things.

Your environment may have an awful lot to do with it too. Some environmental items to check are:

1) Make sure your sleeping quarters are as dark and quiet as possible (Ear plugs and those goofy eye covers some people wear on airplanes could be in order)

2) If you have an alarm clock that stares you in the face, move it so you cannot see it from where you lay trying to get to sleep (even the light from the clock is enough to be distracting to the brain).

 

From a behavioral standpoint, depending on how long this has been going on, you may have conditioned yourself out of being able to go back to sleep right away. I will spare you the bahavioral theory, unless you really want to know. Summary of the theory is that you may have basically trained your self to stay awake at those times. There are a few easy things to try to break this 'non-sleep' cycle you've gotten yourself into.

 

1) If this has been going onFrom here on out try to mix up your going to bed routine or the 'getting back to sleep' routine. Something as simple as changing the order of which you brush your teeth and take a leak or take a shower or whatever may be enough to do it. If you usually have some sort of snack before you go to bed, try eating it an hour or two ealier than you usually do then do not have anything to eat or drink after that. I think you may get the picture. Basically - do whatever you can to change your routine.

For your waking back up and not being able to get back to sleep, you need to do the same thing; change the routine of which you have gotten yourself into when you wake up in the middle of the night

2) If you cannot fall asleep (once you've woken back up) within 20 minutes or so, GET UP and go read a book, play cards, clean your ears, watch tv, listen to some music - do something that is relatively simple and easy on the mind that allows you to not think about how much you would rather be sleeping. It is important that whichever activity you choose is one that does not require much thought to do. For example, if you choose to play cards, make it a simple game that requires little to no thoght, strategy or planning. This causes your mind to focus on the game without 'working' too hard. Then when you start getting tired, STOP what you are doing and go back to bed.

3) Something that also ought to help is ensuring that you get to bed around the same time every night and trying to get up around the same time every morning. Establishing a consistent sleep cycle or rythem is important to make sure that the sleep you do get is good sleep. Try not to sleep in to much in the morning. Establish a time to be up by, and then try to get up by that time. Oversleeping can disrupt your daily cycle and confuse the body as to when it should shut down.

4) Whatever you do, DO NOT nap during the day! Napping during the day is about the worst thing you can do to try to solve nightly sleep issues. I do not care how tired you are, if you can stay up and stay tired through the day then at night you ought to be able to rest well.

 

I think I'll stop here. Of course none of this is gaurunteed to work, but they are definite alternatives to drugs.

By the way, I have a degree in Psychology (emphasis was in behavioral psychology).

 

Hope this helps, or at least gives you some ideas.

 

By the way, physiologically speaking, if you have not had some sort of head trauma or have not had this problem before your brain is probably producing the seratonin it needs in order to put you to sleep so while drugs that indcue the production (or overproduction) of seritonin to help put you to sleep, are redundant and unecessary my opinion. But of course, if you want them, I am sure that someone would be happy to perscribe them...

 

Insomnia stinks.

Good luck buddy.

 

Rick

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LilBeaver

LilBeaver

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go to the local gnc store and purchase a dietary supplement called "MELATONIN 3"

it is all natural and will act as a sleep aid.

mike

 

Melatonin is 'all natural' because it induced the production of serotonin. The prescription deals that are not considered 'all natural' pretty much do the same thing.

 

 

Also, make sure that you take a good look at your eating habits. Having a well and balanced nutritional habits work wonders on fixing the body's quirky behavior.

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RandyR

RandyR

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Nyquil, tastes bad but it works....

 

Yep. I couldn't sleep and when I took some generic nyquil when I had a cold, I found I could sleep better. The cold is gone, but I have a shot of nyquil before bed most nights.

 

It keeps me from snoring too, which was part of the sleep problem, I'd wake myself up.

 

I get 2-fer packs of the Walmart generic.

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Yammer Dan

Yammer Dan

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I think 13 yrs of nightshift is not helping as Bever said, Habits that are hard to break. Being injured so much last few years I had to do the drugs to make it at all. Got me all out of wack. I have always been a go-getter type now find myself looking for excuses not to do things. I feel lazy. Melatonin sounds worth checking as does changing habits. Because of not getting sleep sometime I will lie back down at 3 or 4 in the morning and then sleep til 10 or so. That is probally not helping. Lack of energy?? Probally because I've already had my 39th birthday!!

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painterman67

painterman67

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my wife says you need to try to meditate. She looked it up on the internet and did some reading in books to learn how to do it. Now if she is haveing a sleeping prob , juist 20 or 30 minutes and shes out like a llight. I have actually found her asleep on her excersize mat once or twice.

 

 

David

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jburrell

jburrell

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Posted
go to the local gnc store and purchase a dietary supplement called "MELATONIN 3"

it is all natural and will act as a sleep aid.

mike

 

My wife and I use this and it works great. Wife won't use sleeping pills as they leave her feeling "drugged" the next day where the Melatonin doesnt bother her. Take 2 and give it about 20minutes tops. You can get it at Wally World. Get some b12 pills for the "tiredness" Ihave a b12 defeciency and it makes me feel a lot better.

Hope this helps

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