Sleep

[skb]

Anything for a good night's sleep ? I'm asking because a niece is experiencing problems & I need to guide her. On YouTube I found this short lecture by Dr Mercola. I know he's more into marketing of goods now, but even then, a lot of what he says is of value

https://youtu.be/P6ZOadpNZmk

[bigskygal]

I guess this is another example of how we are all different. I am a natural born night owl. I worked grave yard for several years and everyone said I would fall asleep, never did. I sleep well even going to bed around 3 AM in the morning and getting up around 11AM.  No dark shades in my room and I do get up once in a while to pee.  I really sleep well and wake refreshed. We are all so different.

[Shanny]

I'm the same as Barb - I fought for years to sleep on society's schedule since I had to function on society's schedule, but now that I'm retired I stay up until I get drowsy & then I go to bed & sleep like a log.

What I need for good sleep is not a dark room, but a very cool room, and air moving.

[ami]

yes i agree we all are made differently,if i don't get my 6 to 7 hours of sleep i am very grumpy and unhappy ,once we had to travel to leh we  took a all night flight with a change over in Delhi, finally we reached in the morning ,but i was very disoriented and unwell all the time, plus also as leh was on a altitude, by the time i was acclimatise it was time to fly back.

[skb]

I've moved this as a separate topic away from Home Remedies, as this is generating a lot of interest & deserves it's own space.

[Shanny]

I should add that as an elderly person, I would NEVER shuffle around the house in pitch darkness. That's just asking for a fall. We keep a salt lamp on in the living room during the night, and a night light on in the upstairs bathroom, so nobody is at risk - not even the furballs, who are elderly also, and don't see as well as they used to.

[skb]

I also thought that pitch dark would be too risky. He says you shouldn't be able to see your palm in front of your face. 

Some years ago I struggled with sleep all the time. After LCHF & weight loss, and then learning about my hypothyroid issues and correcting that with thyroxine, i now fall asleep at a designated time. I get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep in the first batch, then another couple of hours, and then it's just lazing around in bed till break of dawn. And whenever I'm up, I'm here. Nowhere else to go. 

[rocky]

oh. you can beat all the drums next to me. when i sleep i sleep. 

[bigskygal]

I use salt lamps as night lights too.  I've had my share of falls even with them, I'd never go for pitch black!

[Rhiannon]

I have long been a night owl, usually not going to bed until midnight or 1:00 a.m., then getting up around 6:30 a.m. to get ready for work.  After a car accident some years ago and subsequent chronic upper back pain, I took a pain medication that helped temporarily with the pain and I could fall asleep.  The problem was that if anything disturbed me and woke me up, I couldn't fall back to sleep, sometimes for hours. 

Now I have a medical marijuana card and I take an edible about an hour before I plan to fall asleep.  It relaxes me and I feel a very natural type of drowsiness.  If I wake up in the night, I'm able to easily fall back to sleep.  So for me, that has been a real help. 

I have a string of white Chrismas lights that stay up all year round on my living room bannisters.  I leave them on at night and their glow gently lights up my bedroom at the top of the stairs.  I also have a night light in the bathroom. 

What also helps me fall asleep sometimes is putting on re-runs of Perry Mason or Columbo.  For whatever reason, having that as a background noise is usually very effective in helping me drift off to sleep

[BobIA41]

As a person with sleep apnea (I have had several sleep studies) I have easily adapted to my wife's evening work schedule.  About 2:00 AM I start to wind down and by 2:30 I am ready for bed.  I put my mask on, turn on the BiPAP and all lights off.  It does not take me long and I am asleep.  I seldom need to use the bathroom anymore, but if I do, I just take my mask hose off, turn off the machine and feel my way.  Once back in bed, I hook up the mask hose, turn on the machine and next thing it is 11:00 or noon.  Occasionally it is 1:00 PM and then I need to move to be ready to take her to work at 2:45 PM. 

I am with Shanny, I like it cool and air moving.  We have a ceiling fan and a fan near the bedroom door to pull the cool air in if the windows can be open, or bring in the coolness of the air conditioner if it is too warm outside.

Lately, I have not slept too well with the VA saying I have prostate cancer, and my urologist finally pulling a biopsy and proving I do not have prostate cancer.  VA still claiming I must have cancer because of the PSA test being high, but I sent them a copy of the biopsy results the urologist had done and even then they argue I should should have an operation.  BS to them - I trust my urologist on this.

[Shanny]

Oh yeah! I love my CPAP & usually can't fall asleep without it - it's my 'blankie'!

[Grammabear]

Oh yeah! I love my CPAP & usually can't fall asleep without it - it's my 'blankie'!

Count me as another person who can't usually fall asleep without my CPAP machine.  On the rare occasion that the electricity is out at my house, I have to try sleeping by sitting up in the recliner rocker in the living room.  I used to be a day person awake at the crack of dawn because I had kids to get off to school and my husband worked first shift.

Now that the young-uns are grown and the hubby is working second shift simply because he likes going to work, I find myself staying awake until I am drowsy and then I go to bed waking at 9 or 10 a.m.

[starsign]

I had serious GERD problems for many years. I was so afraid of sleep that I used to dread when it got dark. I literally slept in a sitting position. A small tip by skb put many years of sleeplessness away for good. He asked me to have a half cup of ghee every evening. And I just love the taste of ghee. That, really worked wonders for me. On two occasions, I traveled without my ghee and the problems surfaced all over again. SO I know that it is the ghee that has helped. I don't travel without some, anymore.

I sleep well, but I'm a very light sleeper and an early riser. A few hours is enough. And I always have a small light on. I wouldn't sleep without it.   

[Shanny]

I did the same, starsign. For years I slept upright in a recliner/rocking chair - I was diagnosed with GERD back in the early 90s. The magic of LCHF lowers my blood sugar, my cholesterol & remedies several other maladies, but the REAL magic is that it eliminated GERD altogether. I was astounded when I realized it. If I were to recover from diabetes, I would continue LCHF just because it healed the GERD. It was too many carbs & not enough fats all along! Would that gastroenterologists the world over cound understand this simple truth and treat their patients accordingly!