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I’ve been having trouble falling asleep lately so may go back to 6.5 hours and going to bed at 12:00 again. It’s my own darn fault though! For the last few weeks I slipped back into using the night cap like a sleeping pill an hour or so before going to bed. I desperately wanted to fall asleep right away and not end of lying in bed awake for who knows how long. So fleeing the sleep demons again. Well I knew that wasn’t healthy and I didn’t want to have to depend on it, so I stopped that a few nights ago. So now dealing with lying in bed again. Knew I had to face this one of these days. (I know I’m going to hear it now from Mac!)
Deb it just comes down to 2.5 years of endless knowledge and research. If I were to put something at the top of my list that I know for a fact affects sleep it wouldn’t be electronics or sugar or fatty foods before bed. It would be alcohol.
Yes, I know it’s bad. I was just so desperate to fall asleep right away. I knew though eventually I would have to face things without it. So here I am.
Sounds like a good place to begin, Delv, to cut back a half hour. Let’s hope things get better.
I know how that is. I would race downstairs and swallow whatever from melatonin, valerian, kava kava, bendryl, l-theanine etc. I used to have a few drinks almost every night and didn’t know how much it affected sleep. It would put me to sleep but I would wake up early (funny how this is still the case for me. I haven’t had a drink in 4 months). My goal is to get my sleep under control and if I decide to have a drink it would be early on in the evening. Like a glass of wine for dinner.
For my personal feel better CBT moment, I think with the 5-6 hours I am averaging now, it should be better and more restorative than the 6-8 hours on evenings before that I would have 2-5 units of alcohol. I wasn’t a heavy drinker but would have a few almost every night. There is a slight possibility that my brain is still adjusting and a factor in why sleep is blah. Either way regardless of why sleep has been more difficult, I am sticking with the plan as I have been. I have had weeks of 90%+ sleep efficiency before so I know I am capable of it!
Yeah, I got tired of the headaches from the alcohol and know that my sleep wasn’t as refreshing as it could be. But even more importantly for me, I got tired of the fear.
Like you, Delv, I’m feeling more confident that I can sleep well, but just need to get past this hump.
You’ll get past this hump!
I was reflecting my past and how I knew I would be in for a bad night but still muddle through and get back on track. For example a few years ago I went to San Francisco and the first night I stayed in a hostel. With jet lag, being away from my regular mattress and the noise of 3 other people in a dorm I had crap sleep even with a few drinks. I don’t recall the next day being that bad and the next night I was in a hotel and slept rather well if I recall.
The thing with alcohol I found was I would fall asleep pretty fast but would always need to wake up to pee. I also found even though I slept, I felt just as tired if not more tired than me now. I just feel more zoned out.
alcohol lately seem to be me last option also if the drugs don’t work but with alcohol i mean a lot the say alcohol is not a good sleep but enny sleep is better than no sleep we are all so desperate we will try anything
How are you getting on, Deb?
On another note, I thought I’d add this short Sleep Snippet video to the conversation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijXVnrgW80
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