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The Stages of Insomnia

mcsweeneys.net

31–40 of 82 posts

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#31
post #27

If you live where it’s legal, a micro dose of THC has done wonders for my Insomnia. For me, my insomnia manifests with a difficulty in falling asleep. Completely sleepless nights are not uncommon. 2-4 hours of waiting to fall asleep was the norm. 2-5mg edible thc about 2 hours before bed and 0.5 mg melatonin 20 minutes before bedtime and I am able to quiet the mind and drift off to sleep on about 20 minutes. Keeping…

Have you ever tracked your deep sleep? I found thc wrecks my deep sleep cycles.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#32
post #12

Pick up phone. Check email. Regret screen exposure. Bury phone.

I don't know if that's just for sake of the joke or if you are living this problem yourself, but you can try apps like Digital Detox (for Android), or any other app that locks you out of your device. Also, keeping the device(s) outside of the bedroom is quite efficient.

I turn my phone completely off at night. There's maybe a little bit of anxiety (what if there's an emergency and someone tries to call?) But then of course, they can't call because my phone is off and whatever the crisis is it will still be there in the morning.

When I wake up and have that urge to check my phone "real quick" to answer some insane question in the middle of the night, I remember that I have to wait while the thing boots up first, so I grumble, roll over, and go back to sleep.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can confirm the magnesium and meditation has done wonders for my insomnia

As a side there has been some interesting studies around Magnesium L-Threonate with regards to sleep and memory, which I am curious about - but it is possible to become "addicted" to it which has me cautious.

I found a few anecdotes on reddit about how a user had “withdrawals”. I’ve used bottles of the stuff, have randomly run out and not re-ordered for months/years, and never noticed any withdrawal symptoms. If you have any studies, I’d be interested, but I think this is just reddit lore at this point.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#35

I've been using something called Intermezzo, which is basically 'baby Ambien'. It's a crazy mild dose, sublingual so you don't need to even get up and swallow a pill. Knocks you out for maybe 4 hours on a good day. The idea is to knock you out just enough to get you into a sleeping habit on your own, not sedate you into oblivion. It works OK, I guess, but every now and then I power through it and end up having not so…

It actually is literally Ambien, or at least the identical active ingredient, just at a lower dose. Also taking it sublingually gives it a more rapid onset of action.

Ambien never did much for me, but I'd be curious if the sublingual delivery worked better.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#36
Most of the comments here seem to focus on one type of insomnia — falling asleep. Most of the time I can easily fall asleep but I often wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning for no reason and I can’t go back to sleep.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#37

This is why I listen to audiobooks when trying to fall asleep. If I can't fall asleep, I'd rather someone read me a bedtime story than have my own thoughts bouncing around the inside of my head all night.

I do that as well, I tend to listen more to non-fiction since many fiction audio books have "acting" in them instead of just reading :(

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#38

This is why I listen to audiobooks when trying to fall asleep. If I can't fall asleep, I'd rather someone read me a bedtime story than have my own thoughts bouncing around the inside of my head all night.

Audiobooks work for me too but my insomnia is mostly waking up in the middle of the night or waking up too early in the morning and can’t go back to sleep. So I end up sleep deprived. And with my partner sleeping next to me it is not an option to listen to audiobooks and fall asleep.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#39
post #38

This is why I listen to audiobooks when trying to fall asleep. If I can't fall asleep, I'd rather someone read me a bedtime story than have my own thoughts bouncing around the inside of my head all night.

Audiobooks work for me too but my insomnia is mostly waking up in the middle of the night or waking up too early in the morning and can’t go back to sleep. So I end up sleep deprived. And with my partner sleeping next to me it is not an option to listen to audiobooks and fall asleep.

My partner never hears it: I use a pair of bluetooth earbuds, but I leave one out of my ear on the side I lay on. I fall asleep that way, with a sleep timer on the audiobook player. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I just start it up again.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#40
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audiobooks work for me too but my insomnia is mostly waking up in the middle of the night or waking up too early in the morning and can’t go back to sleep. So I end up sleep deprived. And with my partner sleeping next to me it is not an option to listen to audiobooks and fall asleep.

My partner never hears it: I use a pair of bluetooth earbuds, but I leave one out of my ear on the side I lay on. I fall asleep that way, with a sleep timer on the audiobook player. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I just start it up again.

Good for you but I can’t fall asleep with earbuds in my ears.
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