How can I find my old pictures?

[soapdragon]

Following on from comments on the Christmas thread there seem to be several of us who are sleep deprived and having sleep problems so I thought a separate sleep related thread might be useful

 

Before children I used to have no probs with sleeping restfully and deeply for at least 8 hours...usually 9 or 10; oh happy days (or rather nights!)

 

Since having the boys I am a much lighter sleeper (makes sense, I suppose ) by the time that ES was 3 I was getting back into the old routine but YS was born at 29 weeks and in SCBU for 8.5 weeks. With ES at home and OH working flat out, I spent every night (7pm till 5am usually) at the hospital dozing by the incubator when I could. This seems to have completely thrown the old sleeping patterns out of sync.

 

Now, tho feeling sleepy, I go to bed around 10pm and immediatly feel wide awake....read for half an hour or so then try and settle. Usually drift off about 11.30pm but often wake around 2/3am then decide to get up and go to the loo whilst I am awake. OH gets up around 5.30am and crashes around quietly for an hour or so...awake again. Sometimes snooze till alarm goes off at 7am, sometimes don't.

 

Do others have a similar pattern Just wondering if there is a specific time that people seem to wake/if its the same every night/what might have set that pattern? How do you all overcome/cope with the zombie head in the morning? Could this be age related, I wonder? Anything to do with the menopause? Does ANYTHING help ?

[mullethunter]

I don't have children or menopause.

 

For the last two years or so but particularly the last few months my sleep follows the same pattern. I'm sleepy and ready for bed not long after 10, go to bed, read for 15 mins or so and then go to sleep quickly. I sleep until I think 4 ish, then just doze fitfully and cannot get back to sleep until just before the alarm (usually 6:30ish).

 

At the moment I'm sure it's made worse by worrying, but that doesn't explain the timings...

[Blackrocksrock]

Slept well - too well when first got married - used to sleep in!! - after kids woke at every sound - got over that and then had teenagers coming in late etc and always was listening for them and when my mother came to stay I again woke at every sound. Now we are two only again and menopause started 11 years ago - as did the insomnia - along with arthritis of my knee which will require a replacement in the future - now I have pain keeping me awake as well as just plain insomnia.

 

When I go on holiday the doctor gives me sleeping pills so when I stay in the same room as my friend I stay with I can get some sleep- I usually only take half a pill and it works - I take half now and again here too to ensure I get some sleep after a while - most days very zomboid here!! Hubby in spare room so I read during the night a while before I get off again and an electric underblanket I can switch on when I wake up to keep me really cosy helps a lot! I long for the days of long long sleeps!

[bluekarin]

Another problem sleeper here too I know it's because I have a lot going on in my mind. All silly stuff, to do with feeling anxious about flying to Chicago in one week. I feel myself drifting off to sleep, and then I'll get an itch, and another (actually, that was keeping me awake for days at a time and went to the dr who said it was due to eczema) and then be tossing and turning for ages. I have got up to take some herbal sleeping tablets, and go to the loo, and eventually get to sleep for a few hours until the alarm goes off at 7am.

One thing that doesn't help is my hubby usually goes to bed at the same time as me, but sometimes he doesn't and so I am half awake waiting for him. He plays computer games until the wee hours, so I then get used to him not coming up and when he gets back into the routine again, I find I can't get to sleep as he is there! Poor chap can't win! Well, maybe if he didn't stay up late then I wouldn't have this issue

My kids weren't awful sleepers. Apart from eldest daughter who was a nightmare1 My son slept very well and youngest daughter was a prem baby and I used to have to set an alarm to feed her through the night as she wasn't gaining weight as much as they'd like, and she would just sleep and sleep. Still does now, and she's 15 That all said, I don't think they affected my sleep pattern too much. I have noticed my body clock wakes me at 7am all the time now, no matter what time I went to sleep

[Lavenders_Blue]

I'm a fitful sleeper. I drift off to sleep easily, usually around 10.30-11.00pm, but then wake multiple times during the night. I often wake, turn over, then go back to sleep again. It doesn't sound that bad but when it's 15/20 times a night it gets a bit wearing When it gets to 4am onwards I sleep very lightly and often just doze rather than sleep. Come morning I'm often shattered but have to get up and get going at 7am. I would love nothing more than a good night's sleep where I fall asleep and stay asleep - I honestly cannot remember the last time this happened.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I've always been a very heavy sleeper and could sleep in happily till mid morning. Slept more lightly when the kids were wee but once they grew up I managed to sleep deeply again.

 

I'm now suffering with menopausal hot flushes and sweats, especially at night, which wake me at 2 or 3am and I struggle to get back to sleep. I've been taking Menopace Plus tablets for about a month now and they really seem to make a difference. I've had 2 or 3 disturbed nights this week but slept well again last night - time will tell if there's any pattern developing.

[Egluntyne]

I love the idea of someone 'crashing around quietly'.

Another problem sleeper here. As you will see from the timing of my post!

I have no problem falling asleep, but every so often I will wake in the small hours and find it impossible to drop back to sleep, so I end up coming downstairs and read, surf the net, or log on remotely to work and tackle some task or other, depending on my mood. Sometimes I do a bit of yoga.

[gavclojak]

Same here guys, I wake every morning at 5am, alarm or not and am up and showered by 6, this would be fine if I didn't wake multiple times in the night for one reason or another.

I have no problem going off to sleep but this seems to be a recurring theme, OH sleeps like a log! Could it be that after years of sleepless nights with babies, waiting for teenagers to come home etc our bodies are just in that hightened state of awareness?

I wake several times and always go for a pee ( sorry) and thought I woke because I needed to pee but having spent the last 10 days in the guest bedroom with a chest infection I woke up coughing but didn't need to pee so I think I wake and then think I will pee just in case, a self fulfilling prophecy I think.

I get hot flushes but even when I'm not getting them I still wake

I have tried TV on/off, all the usual suspect but am resigned to the fact that it's my lot

[The Dogmother]

Another one who wakes in the smallish hours. Not hormonal as the patches really helped with hot flushes etc, I think it may be age related or inherited as I remember my mother and grandfather doing the same.

 

I crash out as soon as my head hits the pillow, and in all honesty would probably benefit from going to bed earlier, but with all the chores to be done after I get in in the evening, there just isn't the time I too, was a brilliant sleeper until having Rosie; she was an abominable sleeper until she was about 3 years old. The 4am mark is my nemesis, and I sleep fitfully after that, my lower back tends to get achy if I lie for too long (regardless of which bed I am in) so I end up getting up and pottering or taking the dogs out.

 

Anyone got any tips for stopping an over-active mind from whirling at 4am?

[Geoid]

dr who said it was due to eczema

 

My eczema used to keep me awake all the time, saw my GP who prescribed me some Atarax. Knocks me right out, I can easily sleep throughout the entire night now (did manage to sleep for 24 hours once too...)

[Chickendoodle]

Anyone got any tips for stopping an over-active mind from whirling at 4am

 

I am a pretty good sleeper except for odd nights when my mind whirls. I am sure a tip was on here a while ago which I use when that happens and it really seems to work. You need to stop your mind going at breakneck speed thinking of (usually) needless worries and thoughts. Concentrate just on your toes and making them relax and work your way up each little bit of your body doing the same. I don't think I have ever got past my knees before I fall asleep again.

[Valkyrie]

I've always been a light sleeper. Although after 5am and I'd be in a solid deep sleep. Children (well they are in their 20's now) come in at different times of the early hours and hey ho there goes the front door. I used to think it was because I was listening in for them to come in before I went off to sleep properly. Then OH snores. Most nights. Sometimes not at all and then I can drop off easily. When I broke my ankle I hardly slept at all even with a cumbersome boot on it was hard to turn over (it wasn't until we had the all clear and bye bye boot that we found we could have taken it off at night ) but the moment I was free of it I slept soundly as soon as my head hit the pillow. And it stayed like that for nearly 2 years. Any noise I blocked out, but now it's the snoring. Or it'll be so loud when I am in a deep sleep that I wake up confused and ready to escape the jungle animal - oh it's HIM again! So as he's up early I've stayed up so that I don't disturb him for a little while. When it gets 11-ish or later I'll turn in. Sometimes I can drop off and other times I'll be shifting him around to stop the snoring. As long as he doesn't do a midnight roar I can usually sleep right through till the alarm. Dark mornings make it harder for me to get up as that's my deep sleep time and I've slept right through the alarm only to hear DD come out of the bathroom. This morning OH had already gone to work and I woke up at 5, listened to the dawn chorus - well one robin - and feeling very awake. Half an hour later and I'm asleep and wake up to the alarm not feeling quite as chirpy as I was earlier.

I am and always have been an "owl" because I cannot get to sleep if I go to bed early (unless not well) and I did like to have a lay-in. Now I rarely get a lay-in because OH has been up for hours and wants to go out somewhere and he's fidgeting until we get out of the door.

 

Edited to add that the hot flushes in bed were a nuisance, but stopped for a long while. They are back again and on/off the covers go!

[Cinnamon]

I have been having HORRIBLE sleep problems for the past few weeks. I drop off initially with no problem, but then wake between 2 & 3am (for a pee), but cannot get back to sleep.

It is just awful.

Luckily I don't start work until 11, so can manage to snooze until quite late on work days, but now work want me to start at 9 instead, & I am just not sure I can do it.

 

It seems to be that the more I know that I desperately NEED to sleep, the more het up I get about it, tossing & turning until I figure I just may as well get out of bed. If I know I have an early shift I can only see it exasperating the whole thing.

I think I may have restless legs also.

 

The only thing that seems to help is an hour of reading with my Kindle Paperwhite (so I don't have to turn the lights on) & a good spritz of The Body Shops sleep spray

[Groovychook]

I go through phases of insomnia and am going through a spell of it at the moment

 

I'm busy all day long and like to pack as much into my days & evenings as possible. I'm hopeless at sitting still and doing nothing, even though I need to relax and learn to be still!

 

I read in bed before I go to sleep and normally drop off at about midnight. At the moment, I'm into a pattern of waking at 2am and end up tossing and turning until 6am. I then drop off until 7am when I hear my 18mth old stirring. My problem is that when I'm awake in the wee small hours, my mind is very busy and I can't stop running things around in my head. If I'm stressed,it's much harder to get back to sleep. Intermittent hot flushes don't help either although I take a tincture of Menosan before bed and that helps a little. I've tried getting up, reading something boring, having a milky drink etc. all to no avail.

 

I've never been able to nap in the day to catch up on a few zzz's. I just wait until I'm so exhausted after a few sleepless nights that I manage a good solid sleep.

 

When I was going through a stressy time after losing my Mum, a councillor gave me a relaxation cd which helped a little (although I found the voice really irritating and distracting ) I might see if I can find a relaxation app for my phone and give that a whirl.

 

Fellow insomniacs, you have my sympathy!!!

[soapdragon]

Wow, its amazing how many of us are struggling with sleep! I get so het up when I wake around 2/3am and keep thinking 'Why, oh why can't I sleep when I am so tired?' Seems so darn obvious really! Sleeping just seems the most natural and normal thing in the world and its so irritating that I can't even manage to do that

 

Reading through the posts there seem to be lots of us waking in the early hours.......I wonder if this is at the end of the first cycle of sleep with the body somehow thinking that 'thats that, OK now!' without automatically repeating the cycle?

 

My mum gave me some valerian tabs but I read an article recently that said they may do more harm than good I used to use lavender oil and will try it again to see if that helps. A bath with lavender oil in is lovely but you have to go straight to bed thereafter without getting sidetracked

[The Dogmother]

Val, have you tried earplugs? I always have some by the bed as I sleep with the window open, and can get disturbed by noises outside. Both my folks snore, and that's how they ended up in separate rooms.

 

I don't get stressed about not sleeping, but it is mildly irritating. I don't have problems sleeping during the day, just lack of opportunity. Phil has an amazing knack of dropping straight off into deep sleep for 10 minutes and waking up totally refreshed - wish I could do that!

[Willow]

Another one here with sleep problems. Mine started when I had a job where I was on escalation call out so I was only rung if the problem was so bad no one could fix it

 

Years since I did that job and now I'm consulting I shouldn't get rung out of hours but I still struggle I guess not helped my ridiculously early alarm call Mon am and a night away every week.

 

The menopause made it worse however hrt improved things again. But last night was dreadful, I don't know if it's because I still need to buy my mother a Christmas present and have no clue what to get her

 

I try warm milk with cinnamon which helps, Paul McKenna hypnosis which sometimes works - used to work better. Sometimes I listen to Enya on my iPod and that helps (except if it comes on the car radio when I'm driving I have to turn the radio off now )

 

I'm really at a bit of a loss, best present ever would be 8 hrs uninterrupted sleep

[HarrisonFamily]

My sleep was never too bad used to wake a few times and occasionally would take hours to get back to sleep...but since I started aqua aerobics on the nights that I go I sleep like a rock for 7 hours...I am however always awake by 6am - always have been...just my natural time to get up.

 

Apparently camping for a couple of nights with no electric gadgets is suppose to reset your body clock....

[Lavenders_Blue]

I made the mistake of looking at the clock when I woke up for the first time last night -12.30am I don't normally allow myself to look at the clock when I wake up. I then spent the rest of the night waking/sleeping/waking/sleeping.

 

I don't have children, and at 32 years old am pretty sure I'm not menopausal, so goodness only knows why I can't sleep

[Valkyrie]

Tried different ear plugs but they hurt my ears - that little k"Ooops, word censored!"by bit, or rather just below there. I also can't wear the ear pieces for music and have to wear the big Princess Leia big things! A couple of things I don't do is have a bath late - that refreshes me and I can't sleep, so I have to bathe early. I don't have milky drinks because they seem to cause a lot of mucus and I end up coughing. I also have a problem there because sometimes when I've dropped off to sleep I wake up coughing myself silly! I do not read because that also keeps me awake - mind is activated and the imagination goes on an adventure! However if his lordship is quiet and there's a programme on TV that I enjoy, I will fantasize by replaying the programme in my head and give myself a part to play - I never get far as I drop off soon after scene setting! I'm lucky that I don't often have to get up to the loo, but on the odd occasion I will lie there and um and ahh whether to get up or not. Helps if you "sleepwalk" to the bathroom - if your eyes are partly closed it seems easier to get back to sleep.

[The Dogmother]

Have you tried the children's airplane earplugs from Boots? I have small ear canals and can't tolerate most designs, but these are perfect.

[Groovychook]

Have you tried the children's airplane earplugs from Boots? I have small ear canals and can't tolerate most designs, but these are perfect.

Thanks for that tip DM, I have the same problem with my ears too. Will seek some out!

[bluekarin]

So last night, just drifting off to sleep after my head was whirling with lots of stuff, including a tune my ED is learning on her cello, when my pillow knocked a full large glass of water over and onto the floor. In my haste to switch on the light, I knocked over the lamp which knocked a mug onto the floor. Cue 2.30am cleaning up water from books etc Bit tired now

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Oh dear . Not conducive to a good night's sleep!

[Valkyrie]

My neighbour gave me some waxy stuff that is soft and you pull a bit off and roll it around so that you can mould it to your ears. Can't even have that - I have no idea why but I just have stupid ears. Last night was good. Until OH did something unmentionable and I awoke spluttering and him laughing. I'm dimly aware that I said "I hate you!" but pulled the covers around my neck and dropped right off until the alarm!