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'bleach152332' wrote on '31:
I would suggest some of the following which has helped me a little bit….try doing the following before bed…
*Reading a book
*Avoiding coffee or tea
*Getting some exercise/get your body working
Above all else, I have to be comfortable–the sheets not rough or itchy, the right amount of covers for the temperature, no breathing issues or coughing, no nagging pain anywhere, and at night, dark enough. I have the phone in my room on ring-off, although it has a nightmode setting, I really don't like phones ringing right next to me. My iPhone is my clock and alarm, but it's dark when not actively engaged. In addition, I have my “sleep snake”, a 24×9″ lavendar and seed filled pillow (of sorts) that drapes over my eyes and ears. As a side sleeper and a migraineur, any binding on my head leads to headache (so the masks with elastic are out) and the short eye pillows don't work on your sidesleeper. It's time to refill my snake, as you can no longer smell any trace of lavendar.
I've found that getting my body working too near bedtime is a bad idea, but earlier, not an issue. However, exercise has seldom enabled me to sleep–nor has it, if done earlier in the day, kept me from sleep, either. It's just not a factor for me–YMMV.
Certainly, avoiding caffeine seems to help many of us have fewer problems with sleep, but there are folk like my husband who drink it right up until bedtime, all through the day, and nary a problem does it give them. Hates them, I do. However, in Europe, one often has a late night cuppa to settle oneself for sleep. It turns out that lattes in Italy are frequently sipped by “kids and grannies” at bedtime, to help them sleep. Wouldn't work for me, even with the amount of milk I take in mine. Green tea or a tisane is useful when I'm chilled and up later, and doesn't impact my sleep, unless I've had too much, when it's going to be my bladder keeping me awake.
If milk at any temperature helps you sleep, it may be the feeling of a fuller stomach, as it is for me. Tryptophans never did anything for me–again, YMMV.
If I'm achy all over, I'll turn the hot tub on and soak for 20 minutes, more if there's company. In the winter, it does warm me up enough to get into a somewhat chilly bed. When the nights are still too hot late at night, I will go immerse myself in the cold water, or if I don't want to walk that far, take a cold shower until I'm cool enough to drop off before i warm up again. Sometimes, a sarong cloth gets wet & wrung out, and draped over me to prolong the coolth.
Very little non-fiction will work for me at bedtime–I have to read that earlier in the day, because it DOES get my mind active. Fiction of the non-depressing variety is good, and I will usually start getting drowsy enough to actually drop off. The downside is when the book is too engaging, and you read through the night!
Shy, if you'll look at some of the forum contents, you may see my post on how PopCap's Bejeweled2 game for the iPhone allowed me to turn off my active brain (which was my problem all along) and get to sleep earlier and more soundly. These days, my main problem, no matter how well I've slept, is getting unglued from the bed, with or without the sleepyon-generating small dogs on the bed. I will wake, and drift back off to sleep, often several times in a row. This is almost as bad as the insomnia!
Hope you get lots of interesting responses!
'Martin' wrote on '27:I tried Bowmore Single Malt Scotch Whisky once but I couldn't take the smokiness. It was like drinking a cigar.
I do like Aberlour. I don't really know much about whiskey – I need to try more different types.
Aberlour is favored by Scots folksinger Archie Fisher–I tend to ask Scots I like what their favored malt is, which is why I know this. I want to try A'bunadh from Aberlour, made the way whiskey was produced in the 1800's, un-chill-filtered and bottled at cask strength 59.5%. Slowly matured in rare Oloroso sherry butts.
Bowmore is what my husband fancies. I think if it's an Islay malt, it'll be too smoky for you, as it's the nature of those malts.
The best way to try more malts is to find a restaurant/bar/pub which offers a large selection AND has a knowledgeable barkeep. Another way is to find a shop that has a really good selection (not BevMo) of minis. Trader Joe's has only a few malts to essay, alas foryou, as their prices are good.
Quote:That's brilliant! Did you get to meet the owners of the house?! 😆Yes, did you?
'Remy' wrote on '26:Yeah, essentially the sleep study was conducted on the public health system, which is great cos it's free, but there's not a lot of testing and retesting to be done. They only did me because one time I stayed awake for ten days and they wanted to know why the frack I wasn't sleeping. (In between pumping me full of haldol… Mmm haldol.)
The sleep study I endured was considerably after the bad stretch I had–took that long to get an appt., and it was absolutly useless, because none of the symptoms were present. The doctor thought I was faking it. He was primarily a pulmonologist, anyway, which study has nothing to do with my insomnia patterns.
Quote:I've rarely shared a bed with someone else, I find it's okay for me so long as I have my own duvet and my standard earplugs/super dark/lots of drugs routine. Not so flash for the other person who watches me thump my head into the pillow for fifteen minutes as I fall asleep.My husband and I are both wrappers-of-duvets. Strangely enough, any kind of earplug only allows me to FEEL the sound as well as hear it. Like I said, overactive tactile sense.
Quote:I'm also a no-sock person. Its not temperature as it can be literally freezing in my flat and I can't wear socks.In addition to the to-swiftly-too-hot-ness of socks for me, there's the feeling of suffocation or of claustrophobia in my feet. [tangent: if I'm in a very fast elevator, my feet feel dizzy. Don't grok it, just accept it…]
I usually wear a pair of open-heeled sheepskin clogs (with a fleece footpad liner) in the winter. One day, a little girl asked me why my shoes didn't have heels, and I told her a little about how my feet get too hot, and how having the heels bare helps stop that. She was very confused, because what I was doing was apparently something her mother said she couldn't do.
'Martin' wrote on '26:Have you tried Glenfiddich? I love that stuff.
If that's the one in the triangular bottle, that was my first, poured for me by a physics prof who'd been playing his bagpipe on the roof of a very small observatory, in part of which he lived. I thought it was tasty, until I met the Islay malts. Glenfiddich is a Highland (if not a Speyside) malt, and they don't do much for me. Can't remember if Glenmorangie is a Highland or not, but it's rather more brandy-ish than most malts. Rather nice.
BTW, if you ever try any Rhum Agricole, it will not be smooth and sweet. I found out by trying some, and thinking it was Islay singlemalt. I took it to my pusher today, and he told me, no, it was rhum, after it had been aged in certain barrel woods. It depends on whether the casks are new, or previously filled, as to what elements will end up in the spirit. I opted to exchange it (he had a customer who lusted after this item, which is in short supply) for another rum (yes, the 'h' does mean something, I just forget what), a Demarara (like the sugar–same ingredient). If only I could find a rum that tasted like Butter Rum Lifesavers, I could be very happy.
'yamerias' wrote on '26:My eyes are a hazel/gold/brown colour normally…..and they apparently go green when I am angry!
My police record says I have green eyes too…when I don't….and I've never worn contacts.
I dated a guy with hazel eyes, but I don't recall paying enough attention to any shifts in his eye color, possibly due to his hair being in the way.
I had a friend in college who I realized, one day, had spring-leaf-green eyes.
'yamerias' wrote on '12:Yup, another thread…
Thanks for the prompt!
1. I collect and organize lightbulb jokes, and I have a smaller collection of organized “Chicken and Causality” (Why did the chicken…) jokes as well.
2. I went from liqueurs and sweet cocktails only to Islay singlemalt whisky in one fell swoop. It was love at first sip with Laphroaig. Peaty, phenolic alcoholic bog water!
3. My ethnic heritage is very much Heinz 57: half Lebanese, 1/4 French Canadian (most likely originally from Normandy, instead of Britanny, where I'd like to have been from), 1/8 each English & German, with a very small bit (not known just how far back it happened) more French, possibly Basque), and was born at a USAF base, now decommissioned, where orthopedic furniture (so I'm told) is made.
4. I bought gas in 1987 at Le Supermarche Des Druides just outside Carnac. It was very surreal.
5. I am a member of a Wiccan religious tradition which, had the founding members thought it would take off and stick around, would have named it something more interesting and easier to remember than what it has nearly 45 years later: The New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn. We're not New Reformed anything, or Orthodox, nor do we have anything to do, or take inspiration from, the Golden Dawn movement of the late 19th century. We write good ritual, though, and to celebrate Beltane each May, we have a Maypole and an 'Obby 'Oss of the Morris Dance traditions of Padstow and Minehead UK. The folks in Padstow were recently kind enough to send us a retired Teaser's Paddle, with which the Teaser guides the nearly-blinded person inside the 'Oss. Our Beltane/May Day celebration seldom has any of the “mummers” beyond the 'Oss, Teaser, and Sootwife (often played by a man), Jack in the Green and the May Queen.
Local Morris sides (teams) in this area will often have a Fool, and occasionally a Betty (we do have a local Molly team, but the dancers & musicians are female) or a Man-Woman (usually bearded, too). I do get up way too early every 1st May, drag myself to a coffeshop that's open at 5 am (or earlier, if I could find one), get two travel mugs full of latte, and dash off to a wetlands park east of Palo Alto, on the Bay. Some years, it's colder than others, and the participants & audience varies in number. About 7am, the sun will have crested the East Bay mountains, and it will be officially Summer, in the old agricultural year (sumer is ycomen in). Sane peole then get something to eat with friends, or simply go home to get more sleep. Often, the Morris sides travel throughout the day giving performances, until dinner time, when they convene at a brewery, brewpub, or someone's home. When we lived in Santa Cruz proper for about six years, we'd host a rest stop for the teams on the Day of Dance, which may have been May Day, or another date in May. We had a very long driveway to a standalone garage where teams could dance (one team danced a bit in our gallery kitchen one year–we were impressed). The neighbors were always invited, but mostly they watched over the fence, enjoying the performances.
Wordy, me?
'yamerias' wrote on '12:- [*]Apparently, my eyes change colour when I'm angry!
From what color(s) to what other color(s)?
'Martin' wrote on '12:1. I once ran naked through the woods in Finland and jumped into an icy cold lake during a sauna session
Were birch twigs involved, too? I've heard that Finns do sauna the way you've described it, and I think after the dip, return to the sauna and use the birch twigs for something I've managed to forget. I'm afraid what I know of Finnish sauna practice came from a monologue decades ago, by Garrison Keillor, before he recited a poem about The Finn Who Would Not Take A Sauna. Me, I can't breathe air that hot, and I am not ever likely to join the 200 Degree Club in Antarctica.
ack! The last person was from NZ, you're from Canada, Sahara. I don't know how your Health Service treats migraineurs, either.
'Sahara' wrote on '04:And then there are all the 'helpful' tips that work for them so should work for me, right? A shot of brandy, glass of warm milk, warm shower, couple of Gravol, relaxation techniques, any of these before bed are sure to fix me. Right? Sure, I'll try it, I'll try anything, since the strongest meds don't work I'm sure a glass of milk will!
Sing Hallelujah, Sister! I see you too have a sense of sarcasm on this topic.
Sometimes a warm soak in winter will keep me warm enough until I get to bed so that popsicle toes are not keeping me awake, but I could also wear slippers. On those summer days where the heat has bled into the night, I'll go out to the pool we don't heat, and dunk myself until I get chilly enough, then go up to bed, hoping to fall asleep before I start getting warm again. If I have to do that a couple of times a night, I may decide to hop into the nearer shower for the same effect. But these aren't ways to get to sleep, these are ways attempting to circumvent a known problem factor, and that's not the same.
If you also get migraines, you're probably equally annoyed with those who don't, and fail to understand the level of pain and disruption of executive brain function that accompanies the truly bad ones. You may also be annoyed (but maybe not, if you're in NZ) in being thought, all the time, to be “drug shopping” in order to get enough pain relief, or enough of the medication in a month, to take care of that mnth's migraines. In the US, with our current insurance plan, we get to pay USD150 for EIGHT Relpax tablets. Highway robbery AND cluelessness, if you get more than eight migraines a month, as many do, even with migraine prevention meds/practices.
Welcome, and I hope you get lots of info and fellowship here. I'm not on the forums often, and at this point, can't even keep up with my email many days, due to lack of enough hours in the days.
'Remy' wrote on '01:Do any of you inomniacs have other sleep disorders as well? Things like Nocturnal Lagophthalmos (sleeping with the eyes open), Rhythmic Movement Disorder, sleepwalking, sleeptalking or night terrors?
Our younger dog, a poodle/bichon mix, has Nocturnal Lagophthalmos–didn't know there was a name for it. His eyes never quite close when he's asleep.
I'm one with Restless Leg, but I need to see if the vitamin/mineral path shows whether it is, in my case, a vitamin deficiency.
My sister sleepwalked and talked, but my first semester frosh roommate talked and *whistled* in her sleep. I was amazed. I know I slept better the next semester when I was in a single room. We were from completely different backgrounds, and she used language TO her mother on the phone which I didn't dare use in front of mine (not that I used it anyway).
It would have been nicer for the techs at the sleep study to have referred your case to the local sleep uber-specialist, who then could have written a paper about you, and possibly from that, attracted the attention of someone who might have an idea of what to do.
My major problem in sharing a bed with another human is breathing noise over a certain level preventing me from dropping off. Then there was the issue of my brain screaming “there's someone else in the bed!” when I had a new lover, in the dawn of time. Would typically take me at least a month to get used to the other person's presence. I can't sleep snuggled up with someone due to tactile oversensitivity and general need to be free to move (or something: I couldn't stand footed pjs as a child, can't stand socks (more a temperature issue) or shoes I can't easily get out of, which is more like phsyical claustrophobia), and these days, temperature issues.
I hope you get some good ideas here, or find some reference which leads to a solution for your sleep disturbances.
Your doctor doesn't get the picture very well, I see.
I don't know if your schedule permits, but you might try a yoga class, if this appeals to you at all. It's said to be very helpful, partly due to the stretching, and much due to the breathing exercises. I admit, it hasn't appealed to me, but my problem wasn't physical or mental relaxation, for the most part: *I* needed to turn my active brain off, and nothing would get me to sleep, all things being otherwise fine, without it. Last night, it was not being able to get my internal thermostat controlled AND an earworm I couldn't shut out of my brain, no matter what other song or tune I ran through. Grrr.
What is your body or mind telling you it needs in order to sleep, if anything like that is happening? Is there something in particular annoying you? I can see that a cop for a husband, a newly escaped student, and one's own business is enough to keep you in annoyances aplenty, so is there anything other than those three intruding itself in when you need to sleep? My own brain has a very nasty habit, when I have to get up earlier than usual, to pop up waytoomanytimes when I'm trying to drift of, to tell me You have to get up earlier tomorrow! over and over. I'd strangle it if I thought it would do any good!
Some recent suggestions have been things such as going over the day to enumerate those things for which you are grateful, reading or doing something relaxing (game, a TV program, a musical exercise (unless you're a pro!)) that has a satisfying ending to it, changing your temperature via a shower or bath (get cool in summer, warm in winter)…if there is something specific that keeps bugging you, I'd get advice from a peer or an advisor you trust (or find one, if possible) to see if there's anything available to change the situation. Since I don't know you, this is just what's off the top of my head.
'PatO' wrote on '08:Does anyone experience numbness in their hands when in bed for the night. I have read of people who wake up and realize that their hands are numb, but my situation is a little different because I am typically not sleeping and therefore notice the condition all the time.
Interesting you should ask that. I lie and sleep on my side quite a lot. While I was pregnant ages and aye ago, the arm *above* me would get numb–not all of it, but enough to be noticed and thought weird. I never thought to ask any Dr about this, but maybe I will. It does happen now and then, and I have no idea why, or what the mechanism might be.
What really bugs me is when my hands go numb while I'm driving. Not a blood sugar/pressure issue, I think.
Some enterprising person could modify the existing microchip for pets to do that, for reearch at least, I expect. That WOULD be interesting. Until Mithril had to become an inside cat, due to age impacting her ability for the outside stairs (we lived in what we referred to as The Stairmaster with a View, with a reverse floor plan, so it was up two stories for her from the ground), and then in another house, her deafness and inability to defend herself against other cats, she did wander a lot.
'Martin' wrote on '09:I'd say something that can limit and ration oxygen. Imagine having to pay for the right to breathe air. Let's hope nothing like that is ever invented.
Last sudden thought: if we settle the moon or any other barely habitable place, or have asteroid miners (lots of SF fiction has them), oxygen/breathable air will cost them a lot. Think of the cost of getting it to them…
