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Dealing with Insomnia

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Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#121

Post by baby »

lbayes wrote: post #117

I've struggled with brutal insomnia (getting to sleep and staying asleep) my entire life (45 years old now). Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at forcing myself to get to work early and just made due with 4-6 hours on most nights and trying to make it up on the weekends. Early this year I discovered medical marijuana. It's completely game changing. A few puffs from a vaporizer (with flower, not the terrible oil…

This is the best answer IMO. It's not for nothing that people say things like "one glass a day keep the doctor away". We have plants that we've discovered a long time ago that help us sleep, and we make all sorts of tea with it, why not use this?

If it's illegal where you live, then sure, but if it's legal then what's the big deal?

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#122

Post by bamboozled »

There is way too much pressure on people to get enough sleep. We are told it's scientifically and medically important, but it doesn't help people feel more relaxed thinking that their brains are turning into a disheveled walnut from not getting the perfect 8 hours of sleep each night.

Why We sleep provides some good insights and tips but it can also make one feel quite scared of not getting enough sleep. We should stop feeling so pressured and ashamed if we don't get the prefect 8 hours.

Thinking of it objectively, what was sleeping really like hundreds or thousands of years ago? Did we ever have a time where the perfect sleep was attainable, purely free of stresses, in 100% darkness with no interference, or is that just an idea we have?

Personally what makes sleeping harder for me, is all the anxiety around getting great sleep and the negative feelings I have towards that experience the next day. Usually by lunchtime I forgot I had a bad sleep and all the negative feelings associated with it and just get on with life, and I feel ok.

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#123

Post by hank_z »

I had the same issue. The way I solve it is to get rid of all digital gadgets in my bedroom and turn down the light as much as can. It’s simple but works for me.

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#124

Post by Krasnol »

lbayes wrote: post #117

I've struggled with brutal insomnia (getting to sleep and staying asleep) my entire life (45 years old now). Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at forcing myself to get to work early and just made due with 4-6 hours on most nights and trying to make it up on the weekends. Early this year I discovered medical marijuana. It's completely game changing. A few puffs from a vaporizer (with flower, not the terrible oil…

I've been using Marijuana for sleep too until a few years ago. I had to stop when I wasn't able anymore to come up with a source for it (it's illegal here).

After a terrible phase of sweat and insomnia, I started to sleep normally again and I realized: I started dreaming again and I needed less sleep now than with M. I also felt really relaxed and refreshed so I didn't need that much time to be ready to go (stopped drinking coffee because of it too).

You should try some phases without it from time to time.

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#125

Post by nashalo_nighly »

If you struggle with bad sleep I encourage you to get tested by a sleep doctor. I was diagnosed with delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD) and honestly reading the Wikipedia page made me cry.

All my life I thought I was just a lazy person because I couldn’t achieve anything in the morning (even if working at night is perfectly fine for me).

Lockdown really changed my life for the better. I was lucky enough in my job to be able to set no alarm at all in the morning and I was able to follow my internal sleep schedule. I began to have dreams again, and I feel actually alive during the day. It’s wonderful but now I worry a lot about the time when I won’t be able to wfh.

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#126

Post by acituan »

DenisM wrote: post #118
acituan wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sleep problems are largely caused by anxiety, once treated it gives way to solid sleep. Surely you mean anxiety disorders , not anxiety itself. Anxiety is a part of healthy human psyche. In that, having anxiety in response to improper schedule/environment/diet is a sign of health and changing those would be the primary way to "treat" it. By the same token, only taking pills or going to therapy while schedule/enviro…

You're arguing with a lot of thins I did not say.

You've equivocated anxiety with anxiety disorders and dismissed the suggestions on improving environmental factors. I posited even if a person presents with anxiety, fixing environmental factors should be the first thing to consider.

Sure I went ahead and criticized pill pushing as a first option which you didn't openly suggest, but you made a vague suggestion of "treating anxiety without changing environmental factors" which leaves pills and talk therapy as the only remaining solutions as far as I can tell anyway.

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#127

Post by flowerlad »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #98
flowerlad wrote: post #46

Try magnesium. Stress depletes magnesium. The cells in our body need magnesium and calcium for their operation. When you're low on magnesium your cells can't go into off state. When that happens your muscles become stiffer and you can't sleep. Magnesium supplementation is the solution. "Supplementation of 500 mg of Mg has been associated with significant improvement in the insomnia severity index, sleep time, sleep e…

Magnesium had zero noticeable effect for me until I tried Magnesium Glycinate. I later tried pure Glycine without magnesium and realized that it was the Glycine that helped my insomnia, not the magnesium component. There are several studies showing positive effects of Glycine on sleep induction. Magnesium is harmless to try at low doses, but be warned that there is a substantial amount of low quality information abou…

> Despite what you might read, it is possible to consume too much magnesium. Magnesium accumulates in the body with a very long elimination time (days or weeks) which means overdose can occur after months of supplementing at the same level.

You have not supported this with links to credible sources.

Too much magnesium from food does not pose a health risk in healthy individuals because the kidneys eliminate excess amounts in the urine.

Source: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/%20magnesium-HealthProfess...

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#129

Post by pedalpete »

I've been an insomniac my entire life (46 years) and in December started working on a wearable monitor my brain-waves and interact with them using sound in order to induce sleep and optimize sleep states.

There are two similar products on the market already (Dreem and SmartSleep) but I have a different approach.

I'd be keen to hear who in this community may be interested (I'll be posting our webpage with more info soon) and if anybody has experience with Dreem or SmartSleep, I'd be keen to hear of your experiences.

Re: Dealing with Insomnia

#130

Post by ThrowawayP »

lbayes wrote: post #117

I've struggled with brutal insomnia (getting to sleep and staying asleep) my entire life (45 years old now). Over the years, I've gotten pretty good at forcing myself to get to work early and just made due with 4-6 hours on most nights and trying to make it up on the weekends. Early this year I discovered medical marijuana. It's completely game changing. A few puffs from a vaporizer (with flower, not the terrible oil…

> "Early this year I discovered medical marijuana. It's completely game changing."

Not to be a wet blanket or anything but, like any other form of medication, watch out for buildup of tolerance. You may wind up having to "dry out" for several months or so if tolerance gets too high.

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