Sleep

Ronnie Rowlands · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 10.59

Not matter what time I go to bed, I almost always lie awake until gone 2AM. It's not so bad on weekends because I'm able to get up at 11, which I still hate, but my mind really does race when I'm in bed and I can't settle for a long time. I'm actually in the process of searching for an aid. Do Kalms help?

Gavin Scott · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 11.10

Ebeneezer Scrooge wrote:I recently heard a sleep expert saying if you need an alarm to wake up, you're not getting enough sleep. I like that idea, but it's not very practical.

A good night's sleep for me is 9 hours, but I can manage with anything above 4. It's rare that I manage to get any pattern as my shifts kinda mess me up; especially the late shifts. I stay up until I feel sleepy so I don't wake the wife, but that then drifts later and later. I have to leave the house for a late shift at 1230, so at it's worst, I end up only getting a couple of hours before and after work at home!

According to QI, 9 hours of sleep will knock years off your life.

Although according to Alan Davies, only 4 hours a night can lead to the dismantling of the Welfare State system.

Boom boom.

I wake up every morning at 0440, no matter what time I've gone to bed. Sometimes I can get straight back to sleep, other times I'm awake for an hour or more before getting back to sleep, which can take me round to nearly the time I'm due to get up.

Hmm, the same lament my now ex-significant other has. So I'll transfer all of my worrying about that you. Not that I'm saying you need to be my significant other... but I need to worry about someone.

Steve in Pudsey · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 11.19

I'm also on an extended Christmas break, and since finishing work on the 23rd, I dont think I've woken up before 10am. Some of that is due to late nights, but not exclusively.

I'm back in on Friday, so I need to get the sleep patterns back to something approximately normal before then!

Gavin Scott · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 11.25

Ronnie Rowlands wrote:...my mind really does race when I'm in bed and I can't settle for a long time. I'm actually in the process of searching for an aid. Do Kalms help?

Not long term. Doping yourself up is never a solution.

Try and set aside a time to think about stuff. Say between 12 and 1am. Then you have to tell yourself, "that's enough now - I will think about these things again tomorrow".

I tend to think about projects or other things when I get to bed. Currently (and I'll start a thread about this soon) I've been thinking about building a house. Its suitably abstract for my mind to wander, but suitably stress-free so I don't wake myself up. Previous successful "things to think about in bed" have been travelling across the states in a very nice winnebago, or flying somewhere on a 1st class lay flat bed.

Try it. It works!

Alexia · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 12.22

Ronnie Rowlands wrote:I'm actually in the process of searching for an aid. Do Kalms help?

Nope...I tried.

Only things that ever significantly worked for me were these

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... sp?pid=436

I don't know how to describe their effect to you - they sort of drained all the energy away from the muscles so that I was physically relaxed, I.E. it was difficult to move but not unpleasantly so, and didn't toss and turn or anything. Discomfort rather than tiredness keeps me awake, so I always fluff my pillow, turn my duvet over every night and make sure my sheets are tight - wrinkles and folds feel horrible.

DVB Cornwall · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 17.15

Is it terribly bad to admt in this thread to waking briefly at 6.45am this morning, dozing off at around 7.10, then not becoming conscious again until 11.20?

I'm not working incidentally.

rts · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 17.30

My other half is a bad sleeper and rairly gets to sleep before 4am. It's not uncommon for him to just stay up all night and get through the day on coffee.

Incidentally, he has just woken up, according to his Facebook status.

I normally pull an all-nighter on one of the weekend nights, but regularly go to bed at 8pm on a Monday night to have a good 10 hour snooze.

Any other day I appreciate a good 6/7 hours sleep.

iSon · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 18.21

Well I slept awful last night, tossing and turning for a couple of hours before getting up and just watching the snow for a little bit at 3.30am. I got back into bed about half an hour later and got straight off so that obviously helped. I wasn't overjoyed when the alarm went off at 7.00am but I sprung straight out of bed and forced my head under the running water and I've been fine for the rest of the day. I imagine I'll be ready for an early(er) night tonight though.

cdd · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 18.52

There are lots of advantages to staying up late. The main one for me is that thanks to Virgin Media's unbelievably high contention ratios, internet speed during 'normal' hours is something poxy like 1000kb/s. At night, this goes up to about 7000kb/s.

Sput · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 18.59

There are also advantages to being awake in the daytime, like *going outside* cdd

Gavin Scott · Mon 05 Jan, 2009 20.30

Isonstine wrote:Well I slept awful last night, tossing and turning for a couple of hours before getting up and just watching the snow for a little bit at 3.30am. I got back into bed about half an hour later and got straight off so that obviously helped. I wasn't overjoyed when the alarm went off at 7.00am but I sprung straight out of bed and forced my head under the running water and I've been fine for the rest of the day. I imagine I'll be ready for an early(er) night tonight though.

How was your induction mister man?

Was thinking about you today.