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Hi Jem,
Pleased to “meet” you. I'm Caz and I live in Scotland, near Edinburgh to be exact. You might ask why i'm replying with sleep advice at 4am in the morning…LOL! Well, I came home exhausted from work last night and went to bed at 7pm (woke twice) but otherwise had a fitful nights sleep last night, getting 9 broken hours, so it was pretty good.
A lot of people with sleep issues find they don't have the same experience every night. Sometimes I can go for 4 or 5 days and get 6-7 hours of decent sleep them wham i'm into a fortnight of 2-3 hours broken sleep, feeling like a walking zombie and I could never figure out why.
Everyone is different and it will take time to work out what are the triggers for you for getting a good or bad nights sleep. Personally I find if I get a decent amount (at least an hour) of fresh air exercise and I watch the amount of coffee / tea / sodas and junk going into my body then I feel better. That along with doing some mind calming exercises, where all I do is focus on breathing steadily for 15 minutes and I usually find I sleep so much better than on the days am too busy to manage it.
When I am stressed with work or the kids I feel unhappy. When I am unhappy I don't sleep well. I've learned to listen to my body and be aware of my triggers and thats helped me a huge amount. I don't take any meds at all. Some members on this site do take quite a few, so i'll leave it to someone else to give you advice about that!
So anyways, best finish up here – glad you've joined us 🙂
Take care
Caz x
Hi,
I don't know about happiness being the cure but I am 100% sure that stress is the cause of my sleep probs! I guess if i'm not stressed then i'm more happy, so that makes sense. Been up since 3am today, so got 4 broken hours last night. Not sure what went wrong. I had a nice day, went for acupuncture, sorted out some wee niggles, bought my hubby's birthday present, took the kids to see Warhorse (a must see film BTW) and then out for dinner afterwards. You'd think that would set me up for a nice night of slumber…but no! Oh well…will take the dog for a long walk today and see if the fresh air doesn't make me sleep better tonight.
But to go back, yes I think happiness / depression / stress interplaying have a lot to do with sleeping well.
Cx
Hiya,
Just chiming in here about the background noise…I agree.
Absolutely against all rules and advice I have put a meditation
CD onto my Iphone and I've played it most nights when I wake up
through the night. t a gentle wave type melody with Esther Hicks
talking over top. She says you're meant to sit upright etc etc…
however I've found it amazing for getting me back to sleep at 3am.
I used to end up just getting up at 1am / 2am / 3am whenever I
woke up because I couldn't get back to sleep but now I find I can
get an extra 2-3 hours of zzzzz and it's made a huge difference!
Cx
Hiya,
Sounds like things are a lot different in the USA to here in the UK. I moan about the NHS over here but they do look after us.
I bought a CD of meditation. I've always thought they were a bit “hokey” you know, cheesey! LOL! But anyways you have got to listen to this!!!!! I downloaded it onto my iphone and put in the headphones, went to bed last night at 10.30pm listening to it, and apart from the dog waking me up at 12.45am for a pee (I got back to sleep within minutes by listeninhg to the meditation) anyways I WAS SHOCKED when I woke up at 6.30am this morning. Now to be honest I feel exhausted, it wasn't a brilliant sleep, but it was long, it was comfy and I am going to try it again tonight to see if I manage another night.
I'll let you know…and by the way, you made me howl laughing at your comment about selling your husband to buy accupuncture!
Caz x
Hi,
I was at my wits end March 2011. I had been to the doctors and was offered antidepressants. I cried all time and felt like I was drowning, and a lot of it was to do with bad sleep patterns / lack of sleep. I felt like I had reached rock bottom, physically and emotionally, then one of my customers who has since become a very good friend) suggested I go and see her acupuncturist, Brian. I was VERY sceptical, but I went along. 9 months later, hand on heart I feel like a different person. Everyones needs are different, but for me it worked. For me it was obvious that I was completely out of alignment with who I really was, but with the help of Brian I have sorted myself out. He gave me reading homework, which I did (and enjoyed) and meditation CDs to listen to. It talked a lot about The Law of Attraction – the more you pay attention to a problem the more the problem seems to get worse. At the time it was not sleep I was bothering about, it was work stresses. At first I thought it was a lot of hocus pocus but now I am convinced 100%. After I have the needle therepy I feel different, light and energised. But it's not all about needles, it's about your head as well. Talking to Brian helps me work out what I want and what I need. Its put me in a good place emotionally to help people around me better too. I have also noticed people around me changing their behaviour because I have changed. Its been quite empowering! I guess I am lucky to have found something that works for me. The last piece of the jigsaw is my sleep pattern. For example Friday night I got 4.5 hours broken but last night i got a whopping 10 hours of deep lovely slumber (right after having acupuncture – coincidence?)
I know all of my issues stem from a huge amount of external stress and medicine side effects. I can't do much about the latter but as for stress I find that acupuncture helps me enormously and there is (for me) a correlation between sleeping better and having acupuncture.
Thats my story, I hope it helps someone out there!
Caz x
Hi Alli…Oh yes! I TOTALLY AGREE! I have been seeing various doctors for an autoimmune problem since I was 17 (i'm 38 now) and there's such a wide variety of care strategies within the NHS. It's quite scary how you can go to one specialist who prescribes drug A then you go to see another doctor about another problem and they prescribe drug B…then drug A and B clash and you end up sicker than a dog! The cut backs in the NHS are becoming more and more obvious. I had to literally fight with my GP for 10 days there to get a steroid ointment I have been using since 2009. They just flat out refused me it. Then I threatened to go and park myself in the emergency room until I got it before they relented. I think you have to fight and battle to get anything done in the NHS. If I ran my private company that way i'd have no business!
I've found a book and meditation CD i've been using for the past 5 days and I've noticed my sleep is much better. I'm probably getting 4-6 hours, albeit broken, but that's a massive improvement on the 2-3 hours I was surviving on. I might do a proper post about it after a few more days just to be sure it's working. I think A LOT of my sleep issues come from a) stress in the extended family (alcoholism) …:cool: stress in my work, running a company, and c) medicine I take to maintain my eyesight (steroids and IV drips). Well, my head is telling me that this new mental approach is working for me, so i'll wait and see how it pans out!
Take care of yourself
Caz x
Hi Alli,
I enjoyed reading your post. I too don't sleep well and I live in Scotland…yes we
Scottish lassies can be wicked! LOL!
Reading the replies there does seem to be a correlation building between the stories doesn't there. From what I can gleam everyone here seems to be an active creative person, with a
decent intellect. The second thing i've noticed is that everyone seems to have a more stressful existence than what might be deemed “normal”!
My husband is Canadian. He moved here 20 years ago (we met at uni) and he tells me all the time that “The British are not a logical people…and how on earth did you guys ever win a war!”. It's funny to hear from other people about our mad methods and ways! I know what you mean about our NHS service. There's no continuity of medicine brands being dished out.
I hope you have a great day today!
Caz x
Hi Matt,
If I were you i'd have a go at doing gentle exercise later on in the day like a
stroll in the park. I believe that fresh air helps with the quality of sleep
doesn't it? Definitely not a good plan to do cardio in the hours before bedtime.
I do all my cardio in the morning and my calming down exercise in the evening.
I defo notice a better sleep ensues if I get some fresh air 2 hours before bedtime.
Common sense? Maybe!
Also, sweating when you are sleeping is usually a sign of something. It might be an
infection, inflammation, or thyroid issue for example, something totally treatable.
Just get yourself to your docs for a check up…it's defo not “normal” to wake up with
hot sweats as a young fit bloke.
Caz x
