Posted by sb417 on September 10, 2004, at 1:37:13
In reply to Trouble sleeping - please help, posted by KaraS on September 9, 2004, at 20:16:18
Hi Kara,
Do you have trouble falling asleep? Or are you able to fall asleep easily but you can't stay asleep? Also, you mentioned that you got sick from Trazodone and Neurontin. Can you elaborate? In what way were you sick on those meds?
I also have a lot of sleep difficulties. I don't have trouble falling asleep, but I have a phase shift (delayed sleep phase syndrome), and lately I have some trouble staying asleep (probably hormonal). I have definitely not overcome my sleep problems, but the following things seem to help:
1) Getting regular exercise fairly early in the day. It doesn't have to be first thing in the morning, but I think it helps to exercise before noon or 2 p.m. I've read that exercise suppresses melatonin for about 12 hours or so, so if you exercise too late, it might keep you up. Of course, I know many people who exercise after work and have no trouble falling asleep, so that is highly variable. For me, however, I find it's best to exercise between 30-40 minutes per day, no later than about 12-2 pm.
2) Use the bright lights early in the morning.
3) Eat higher protein meals earlier in the day, and higher carbohydrate meals later in the day. I try to have a bedtime snack with carbohydrate and either milk or yogurt. I take my magnesium glycinate or magnesium citrate right before bed, too. If I'm feeling really "wired," I try to make sure I have a high carbohydrate dinner like pasta or pizza. That turns me into a slug, and I tend to sleep better when I'm a carbohydrate-laden slug. When I'm premenstrual, I allow myself some extra sweets, and the sweets seem to help me sleep better also.
4) Take B vitamins during the day, but not too close to bedtime. I imagine a lot of people will disagree with me on this point, but I find that B vitamins too close to bedtime tend to wake me up, although a tiny chip of Vitamin B6 along with the magnesium can relax me.
5) This next point is probably the most difficult. You have to be compulsive and rigid about bedtime and awake time. You have to set a schedule and be very strict. I think the idea is that if you're on a regular schedule and you force yourself to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time, eventually you'll get tired enough to go to bed at the right time. I gather that you're still not on a regular routine as far as school or a job, so this can be difficult to put into practice, but it's worth a try.
6)Is it possible that some of the supplements you're taking might be causing you to have difficulty sleeping?
7) Unfortunately, I have found that both late-night TV and late-night computer use (which I'm doing now) tend to be too stimulating. I think the lights from the TV and the computer can further suppress melatonin and wreak more havoc with the circadian rhythms. When I'm away from home and without my computer, I tend to go to bed much earlier.
There are some other things I'll probably think of later, but I think item #5 is probably the most important one and the most difficult one to put into practice. I put up a lot of resistance to being rigid about bedtime and morning alarm time, but when I am strict about it, it really does seem to work. By the way, I posted on PB Books to you about two biographies that might interest you. These two are in addition to the Kitty Kelly book.
poster:sb417
thread:388936
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040909/msgs/389069.html