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The Stages of Insomnia

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Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#71

Post by aitchnyu »

raducu wrote: post #58
scrooched_moose wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine is similar. Can easily fall into a light sleep which lasts about 30 minutes, then I wake up. I've never been able to figure out of it's something environmental pulling me out, or just me. Those 30 minutes are just enough of a power nap I'm up until 4:00am. At this point I know trying to go back to sleep is futile so I just get up and go do something productive.

Try 300-450 mcg of melatonin -- I get 5 hours of good sleep this way. I hope I can find some slow release, 300mcg melatonin to take after my melatonin drops to extend this great sleep to 8 hours.

Where do you get 300 mcg slow release? I struggle to get a 500 mcg spray in India and they recommend 2000-4000 mcg (4-8 sprays) and there are 5000 mcg pills. I suspect they are an order of magnitude more than the body produces so I get withdrawals when I'm off them.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#72

Post by BrendanD »

kabdib wrote: post #41
ineedasername wrote: post #34

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.

This is precisely what I do. Pretty much anything that sends my mind off into a cool direction works well. Some narrators are better than others (Stefan Rudnicki has a great voice, and William Dufris does a wonderful job of voicing characters). I searched high and low for headphones that I can sleep in. I can't sleep on my back, so big cans are right out. I hate earbuds and things that poke into my ear canal, and hea…

My bedphone experience was not good. Spouse complained about noise leakage, and they stopped working within a month. Otherwise, they _could_ be more comfortable than ear buds depending how well they fit. Most wired earbuds survive Wearing silicon tipped in-earbuds all night is likely courting ear infection. I have settled on JBL T205 Earbud Headphones. They are in-ear but without silicon tips (i.e. ear canal is not sealed shut all night), are comfortable enough, last 6-12 months and are cheap.

Wish someone would make a pair that would last at least a couple years. Hate the waste.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#73

Post by raducu »

aitchnyu wrote: post #71
raducu wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try 300-450 mcg of melatonin -- I get 5 hours of good sleep this way. I hope I can find some slow release, 300mcg melatonin to take after my melatonin drops to extend this great sleep to 8 hours.

Where do you get 300 mcg slow release? I struggle to get a 500 mcg spray in India and they recommend 2000-4000 mcg (4-8 sprays) and there are 5000 mcg pills. I suspect they are an order of magnitude more than the body produces so I get withdrawals when I'm off them.

I did not yet find a source for 300mcg slow release, I take 300 mcg vanilla melatonin.

I take melatonin in syrup/drops form -- it is jus that I take 2 or 3 drops (150mcg each) instead of 10 or 20, as is advertised.

I was saying that I'd love to find a source for slow release, because then I could first take the melatonin drops, and just as I would be about to sleep, I would take the slow release melatonin -- that way, I'd extend the 5 hours to 6 or 8 hours of good sleep.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#74

Post by watertom »

I have both insomnia and delayed sleep syndrome, and I was born with both. As a newborn I was only sleeping 1-2 hours a day. I almost destroyed my family, if you've had children imagine having a baby that's awake 22 or 23 hours per day, everyday.

I've been in sleep studies and what they've learned is that the normal fall asleep process for me happens very quickly and it's very easy to to disrupt.

During my teenage years I was averaging 4-5 hours sleep every 2-5 days. In my 20's, 30's, 40's and early 50's I averaged 1-2 hours of sleep a day. With a lot of 2 and 3 days of no sleep.

A few years ago I started using an app on my iphone called Brainwave, it's a binaural beats program. This program has saved my life. Since I've started using the program I'm getting about 4-5 hours of sleep per day.

I use small wireless ear buds, and I use the deep sleep program. It runs for the entire time I'm in bed, the program will put me down, keep me asleep, and then wake me up.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#75

Post by radu_floricica »

raducu wrote: post #62
ineedasername wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I love zolpidem too much, that's why I don't use it. The best functional case for zolpidem/ambien that I've found is to first fall asleep with melatonin, and if I waked up before 4 AM, I'd take 5mg of zolpidem and be back to sleep in 30 minutes. However, if I take 10mg of zolpidem and don't immediately go to sleep, I start hallucinating and I quite like it: first colors go away and the fonts seem to lose texture/wash…

Same here, I just never go to the 10 mg dose. I ration zolpidem as much as I can - only got to tolerance (for the 5 mg dose) after over 2 years of sparing use.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#76

Post by nefitty »

phobosanomaly wrote: post #25
nefitty wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rubber duck your brain. Take a drive, turn on voice recording and pretend you’re expressing your problem to someone else.

That's a really cool idea. Do you listen to the recordings? What do you do with them?

I don’t usually listen back. I think the act of recording makes my brain take it more seriously. This was sparked by research I heard about regarding thinking out loud: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/smarter-living/benefits-o...

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#77

Post by BrandoElFollito »

I fall asleep quickly (a few minutes at most). If I don't then I code/debug in my head (this is not a joke, I do that and I like to code) and usually sleep within minutes.

Then comes 2 am and I often wake up. If there is no stress then I fall asleep and it's fine. If there is stress then I digest it and cannot fall asleep.

To that I found a solution that sometimes work: I have a pen and paper next to the bed and I write inthe night that thing I am thinking about to not forget it in the morning. My brain acknowledges and I can fall asleep.

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#78

Post by ineedasername »

kabdib wrote: post #41
ineedasername wrote: post #34

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.

This is precisely what I do. Pretty much anything that sends my mind off into a cool direction works well. Some narrators are better than others (Stefan Rudnicki has a great voice, and William Dufris does a wonderful job of voicing characters). I searched high and low for headphones that I can sleep in. I can't sleep on my back, so big cans are right out. I hate earbuds and things that poke into my ear canal, and hea…

Stefan Rudnicki is fantastic! Dufris less so, but still very good.

There's a series by Ken Scholes that uses both of them (along with others, it's a full cast!) and it's amazing: https://www.audible.com/pd/Lamentation-Audiobook/B002V0RHPI

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#79

Post by ineedasername »

climb_stealth wrote: post #42
kabdib wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is precisely what I do. Pretty much anything that sends my mind off into a cool direction works well. Some narrators are better than others (Stefan Rudnicki has a great voice, and William Dufris does a wonderful job of voicing characters). I searched high and low for headphones that I can sleep in. I can't sleep on my back, so big cans are right out. I hate earbuds and things that poke into my ear canal, and hea…

Please do mention the actual product! I like to listen to music in bed sometimes but having to lie on my back stops me from really enjoying it. There is no issue with recommending products on HN AFAIK. I have come across some great products after recommendations on here in the past.

I use these [0] and they're pretty high quality, very reasonable price, very long battery life, and low-profile enough that you can even lay on your side and it doesn't feel uncomfortable (for me at least) though I still only use it in one ear at a time, the one not on my pillow.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q7SVYBQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

Re: The Stages of Insomnia

#80

Post by ineedasername »

vinni2 wrote: post #40
ineedasername wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When my buds run out of battery I put my phone on very low volume half under my pillow. I can hear it pretty easily, but my partner can't.
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