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How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

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Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#21

Post by v7engine »

submeta wrote: post #17

Tangential: Have had sleep disorders my whole life. Until I read an article here about melatonin (an article that was about substances that have an effect on longevity). So I started taking melatonin every night, 0.5mg. I must say: Never had this kind of deep sleep. Over such a long period of weeks (since I started taking it). My Garmin watch has a sleep tracker. And it confirms that I get way more deep sleep.

I am considering taking melatonin supplements. Could you recommend any? I wake up several times in the night.

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#22

Post by tmountain »

submeta wrote: post #17

Tangential: Have had sleep disorders my whole life. Until I read an article here about melatonin (an article that was about substances that have an effect on longevity). So I started taking melatonin every night, 0.5mg. I must say: Never had this kind of deep sleep. Over such a long period of weeks (since I started taking it). My Garmin watch has a sleep tracker. And it confirms that I get way more deep sleep.

My understanding has always been that you habituate to melatonin after a few days. Is this not true?

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#23

Post by Ylpertnodi »

oldestofsports wrote: post #20
jansan wrote: post #2

Only slightly related, but I often try to find ways to fall asleep faster. One thing that seems to work in some situations is trying to imagine a void (like a white or gray plane) for a while. However, often enough this does not work and I wonder if anyone knows of tricks that work for her/him (without using Melantonin or other drugs).

I have had sleep issues my whole life, but what works for me is: - Get up same time every day - Moderate excersize every other day - Stable diet, homecooked healthy food and no soda/beer/candy whatsoever. - Dim the lights after dinner - No screens after 8pm (e-ink screens are allowed), no podcasts, no digital content consuming. - Actively aim to be bored everyday - Read a good book before bedtime May sound like a lot…

>No screens after 8pm (e-ink screens are allowed), no podcasts, no digital content consuming.

Who needs the exception of e-ink screens are OK?

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#24

Post by submeta »

tmountain wrote: post #22
submeta wrote: post #17

Tangential: Have had sleep disorders my whole life. Until I read an article here about melatonin (an article that was about substances that have an effect on longevity). So I started taking melatonin every night, 0.5mg. I must say: Never had this kind of deep sleep. Over such a long period of weeks (since I started taking it). My Garmin watch has a sleep tracker. And it confirms that I get way more deep sleep.

My understanding has always been that you habituate to melatonin after a few days. Is this not true?

Not in my case. Never had this sleep quality. But maybe it's placebo after a few weeks? :)

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#25

Post by submeta »

v7engine wrote: post #21
submeta wrote: post #17

Tangential: Have had sleep disorders my whole life. Until I read an article here about melatonin (an article that was about substances that have an effect on longevity). So I started taking melatonin every night, 0.5mg. I must say: Never had this kind of deep sleep. Over such a long period of weeks (since I started taking it). My Garmin watch has a sleep tracker. And it confirms that I get way more deep sleep.

I am considering taking melatonin supplements. Could you recommend any? I wake up several times in the night.

I am in Germany, so I cannot recommend any. Just one without any supplements, just melatonin.

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#26

Post by nervousvarun »

submeta wrote: post #24
tmountain wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding has always been that you habituate to melatonin after a few days. Is this not true?

Not in my case. Never had this sleep quality. But maybe it's placebo after a few weeks? :)

FYI it's unlikely you will eventually develop a tolerance, but it's important to not increase dosage: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-mi...

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#27

Post by dev_hugepages »

MarcelOlsz wrote: post #9
Pawamoy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend shared his technique with me, and after adapting it to my needs, it works well. None of the other commonly mentioned techniques ever worked for me, because they ask for focus, which is the opposite of what my brain needs to fall asleep. Here's his technique: pick a letter of the alphabet, and find as much words that start with this letter as you can. Once you can't find words anymore, pick the next letter. D…

I live at a 36-hours-at-a-time rhythm and it's absolutely brutal seeing as its 5:30am and I should have been in bed a long time ago. Going to give this a go and report back. I did the lucid dream thing for awhile but holding a heavy object in my hand and then dropping it got quite annoying (to train yourself to be more aware of when you enter a hypnagogic state).

Non 24h sleep syndrome or something else?

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#28

Post by nervousvarun »

Propelloni wrote: post #18
jansan wrote: post #2

Only slightly related, but I often try to find ways to fall asleep faster. One thing that seems to work in some situations is trying to imagine a void (like a white or gray plane) for a while. However, often enough this does not work and I wonder if anyone knows of tricks that work for her/him (without using Melantonin or other drugs).

What works best for me is to take a book, on paper, preferably on a boring topic (depends on you, obviously) and just start reading. Usually my eyes drop in a matter of minutes. Once I wake up, startled by the book falling over, I kill the lights and go to sleep. Works every time, any time. If I lie in bed and just think stuff, it takes much longer.

Seconding this...also works well when I wake up in the middle of the night to get back to sleep which unfortunately seems to happen more and more every year.

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#29

Post by amaccuish »

tmountain wrote: post #22
submeta wrote: post #17

Tangential: Have had sleep disorders my whole life. Until I read an article here about melatonin (an article that was about substances that have an effect on longevity). So I started taking melatonin every night, 0.5mg. I must say: Never had this kind of deep sleep. Over such a long period of weeks (since I started taking it). My Garmin watch has a sleep tracker. And it confirms that I get way more deep sleep.

My understanding has always been that you habituate to melatonin after a few days. Is this not true?

I don't believe there is any evidence that you develop a tolerance. As a side note, Melatonin changed my life.

Re: How the brain's activity, energy use and blood flow change as people fall asleep

#30

Post by elric »

submeta wrote: post #17

Tangential: Have had sleep disorders my whole life. Until I read an article here about melatonin (an article that was about substances that have an effect on longevity). So I started taking melatonin every night, 0.5mg. I must say: Never had this kind of deep sleep. Over such a long period of weeks (since I started taking it). My Garmin watch has a sleep tracker. And it confirms that I get way more deep sleep.

Two things:

1. Too much deep sleep might not be desirable.

2. Sleep staging by activity trackers is generally pretty inaccurate. Garmin is no exception.

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