I have suffered from interrupted sleep and other sleep issues for years. I have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, getting back to sleep. My mind just whirls when I wake up to go to the bathroom and I can't get back to sleep.
First, it is my firm conviction that generally, a huge portion of women sleep less as they get older.
Next, some things that work for me. I mix them up, doing one on one night and another the next, and so on:
I hate milk so I take 2 calcium tablets at bedtime. They make you sleepy.
Chamomile tea...they make a new one that also has Valerian in it, I believe. They sell it at Walmart, it's one of the big tea makers.
Valerian, I have used this for a long time. It SMELLS HORRID but I just read another study on AOL about it. It gets better working over time, but also works that night. I LOVE Valerian but have to hold my breath when I take it. I'm no wimp either, this stuff stinks. But it really, really works.
I used to take another vitamin, something you get from being in the sun? I can't think of the name tho. I have read studies that say taking it can be bad for you, so I dumped it from my arsenal. lol
On nights I'm sure I wont sleep well, Benadryl. I take one tab, not two. For some reason I sleep better on one. Weird.
A sound machine on white noise and a fan to keep me cool. I bought EXPENSIVE sheets from Walmart, wow are they soft. I also keep a tablet and pen next to the bed. When I wake up at 3 or 4 am and have stupid stuff in my mind, I write it down. Then I don't have to worry I will forget it if I fall asleep.
It is interesting to read that not sleeping enough can be linked to weight gain, I had no idea but it makes sense.
On average, I probably sleep between 8 to 9 hours, having the odd day when I wake up and crawl right back into bed within half an hour and sleep another 2 or 3 hours (just did it today). I mostly work evenings, so am terrible for letting myself sleep as long as I want during the day, and sitting up half the night. I try to keep a bit of control over it though as sitting up until dawn, then sleeping until 1pm or so leads to me feeling glum and missing out on the day. Actually, I need to start winding my body clock backwards again and, thanks to this thread, I have had the trigger I need to do so!
I sleep 6 - 7 hours on a good night, but as I approach the big Change, I find that I have nights where I wake up sweating and can't go back to sleep. I was awake from 4am on this morning. I usually don't get to sleep til 1130 or midnight, so waking up at 3 or 4 makes it hard the next day. I really believe the research on the link to weight gain, if I sleep well I can stay OP so much better!
Holy cow, Photo! Is that by choice or from insomnia? Are you tired? I couldn't function (I would love to be able to do... I could be so productive .
I have never been a good sleeper and have to do all sorts of hygiene things to sleep decently (ear plugs every night, pitch dark room, TRY to go to be at same time - I don't always do great with this - I often take a benadryl or unisom and I do take the occasional half ambien maybe 4-5 nights a month).
When I do all those things, I feel good on at least 8, but my body loves 9. Unfortunately during the week (school teacher here too), I often get between 6-7, just because I'm so busy. Going to sleep is what's tough for me... I have no problem sleeping in and would LOVE to have a job where I didn't have to rise at 6am!!
I'm tired and groggy a lot... sleep is one of the banes of my life!
I probably fall into the 5-6 hours also. I Try to go to bed at 10:00, but it doesn't always work. I get up at 5:00 to try and fit in 30 minutes of treadmill. I am also a night owl and would love to stay up later. I used to watch Letterman all the time. I had to give it up in order to get up at 5
I usually get about 7 hours but almost never sleep all through the night. I have a very very old cat that gets disoriented and yowls when she doesn't quite know where she is. So I get out of bed and put her in the bed with me and my other cat and we all go back to bed. I love em so I put up with it.
I try to get 8-9 hours a night. I often don't, as I work as an on-call midwife, being on call 11 days of 14. In that time I am interrupted in my sleep 2-3 times. I do sleep well during the day afterward if I am up all night, but then need to turn around again. WHen I did shifts I chose the night shift, but had a young family and kept turning around to days. (We women are terrible about this, most men stay on shift time until they are done a rotation; they don't get up with kids etc.)
I also have sleep apnea, like many fat people, so I have to use a cpap machine to get good sleep. If your family tell you that you snore, you should consider getting tested for this. I really hoped when I was diagnosed that this would be a magic bullet, helping me to lose weight, but it wasn't, but it does help.
I tend to get insomnia a lot in middle age, usually waking up in the middle of the night to pee, and not getting back to sleep.
40stillfat discussed lots of remedies: I have used valerian well to get to sleep, but I don't always stay asleep, I find melatonin helps that.
I also find the supplement 5HTP helps make me sleepy.
I like the valerian and 5HTP better than benedryl, (can give you nightmares) but a 1/2 gravol is also good. A full tab gets me hyper or gives me nightmares too.
I really do think not sleeping affects our weight. I believe I got into really bad eating habits and weight gain working night shifts. I ate to stay awake, used a lot of caffeine to stay alert, ate sweet stuff for food energy when I needed an adrenaline kick for work.
I lost weight after having kids, but gained a lot working.
I now avoid the caffeine for the most part, use ice water to keep alert, and try to keep my meal times more normal, and eat protein foods for snacks instead of sweets when I can.
This is hard, because clients tend to have baked goods on hand for us. I now request cheese and coldcuts, whole grain crackers instead.
I try, but am often not successful.
good luck every one, have a good sleep.
fatmad
I'm happy to get 4 hours of uninterupted sleep. As a third shifter it's very difficult, infact, I have been trying to sleep now for over an hour, so I got up and hopped online here... I have to go to work in about 4 hours and with only 2 1/2 hours this AM, Im soooo tired, and frustrated. But, its not usually this bad, just one of those days..ugh
arghh.....
I had a nice group of days and nights off (Thursday evening to monday-tomorrow-8am) and have slept crummy. I get to sleep ok, but cant stay asleep, and cant get back to sleep when I wake during the night.
None of remedies are very good in this situation, since I still need to get up in the morning, and want to stay on my schedule even if I didn't need to get up.
There isn't a lot I can do in the night, no dishes, or vaccuuming,
or even office work to a most degrees, although I do some when I can.
I feel tired, and try meditation and yoga etc, but nothing seems to help. If my dh is also awake, we sometime fool around, its much better than not sleeping, anyhow.
I usually just wind up doing with out sleep, and get behind. Suggestions very welcome.
thanks
fatmad
