So true, when deployed aboard the Coral Sea our berthing was under #3 arresting wire. Loud but your body adjust and you sleep like a baby.
How to get to sleep? Give me tips
- Thread starter OM605
- Start date
My vote is to try the melatonin first, I only need 1mg so far. You can buy the liquid or cut the pills to find what the proper level is for you.
My wife bought me the 6 volume set of Winston Churchill's WWII books, beginning with "The Gathering Storm". They're very well written as he won the Nobel Prize for Literature just about then.
She picked out the best copies at a used book store for $10 a volume. Each one is about 800 pages.
They're perfect for bedtime reading. They'll keep me busy for a year or more.
When my mide was running like a hampster running in a wheel cage until 2 AM, finally said out loud "I can't do this God, Please take it from me"
You cannot turn off your thoughts.
There was a club in Britain where the initiation rite was to sit in a corner and not think of a white bear. Just try. You can't do it. That white bear constantly invades your thoughts.
And that's why you have to concentrate on your breathing as you're going to sleep. The idea is to distract your brain - by thinking about something very bland - breathing: in, out (slowly, slowly) in, out ... concentrate on your breathing ..... in, out (slowly, slowly) in, out, etc.
Last edited:
I agree, a sleep study is the only way to approach this. I had many of the same symptoms as the OP, thinking it was stress related. It turns out I had severe sleep apnea and the study showed over 70 apnea events per hour! One CPAP machine later, I'm down to 1-2 apnea events per hour. The difference is literally night and day.
I put off getting a study for years because I didn't want to do it at a lab. My doctor prescribed an at home study and after three nights I send the data recorder to the lab for analysis. Easy-peasy.
Don't think you can't have apnea just because you're in good shape. Anyone can have apnea, genetics, aging, all can contrubute.
The linked blog post is interesting - the author says that most people take way too much melatonin, due to the pills typically containing way too much of the active ingredient. Executive summary: The optimum dose for most people is 0.3 mg. (I split a 1 mg pill and take half [so about 0.5 mg] several times a week, with good results.) Too high a dose has paradoxical effects; I tried 3 and 5 and maybe 10 mg years and years ago, and experienced poor sleep and crazily vivid dreams.
https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/
https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/07/10/melatonin-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/
But ... but ... I thought you were from Iowa!
Probably not recommended by professionals, but I like putting my bedroom TV on a sleep timer with the volume barely loud enough to hear the words.
I guess I was making fun of all the flatlanders (myself included!) who allegedly don't think about such things.
Unrelated, but I was in Iowa with my son in 2014, while he was attempting the Trans-Iowa bike race. We camped near Grinnell, the starting point. Beautiful state, and very nice people.
3mg is max physiological dose. As you note, more can cause issues. The highest dose I've observed a patient taking is 100mg. No typo. Wild. Yea, they had psych issues on top of physical. No, this was not a medically sound or indicated dosage. OTC be like that.
There are different kinds of apnea. Central/neurological exists as well as obesity/physical driven.
Prayer works, but I talk to my friend Jim, Jose, or even my poor friend: on sale $4.99 wine.
I turn off the toughts that keep me from sleeping. I learned how to do that. I simply change my focus. I think of surfing. Meditation doesn't work for me and it has never appealed to me. What about holding your breath until you pass out? Does that count as sleep?
Last edited:
Surfing would be good. Holding your breath, not so much.I turn off the toughts that keep me from sleeping. I learned how to do that. I simply change my focus. I think of surfing. Meditation doesn't work for me and it has never appealed to me. What about holding your breath until you pass out? Does that count as sleep?
When you go surfing you end up holding your breath a lot. When you come out of the "washing machine" its a great relief.Surfing would be good. Holding your breath, not so much.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Messages
- 29,558
Surfing is a killer workout!! After a day of surfing I totally pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow!!
I'm very sorry to hear that you have trouble sleeping, that has to suck. I have the opposite problem. I can't stay awake. I put my head down and in 15 to 30 seconds, I'm gone and immediately dreaming. If, my wife says goodnight to me after I nod-off, I can tell her about my dream and where I was, or what I was doing. She laughs at me, as somtimes they are complex stories and I've only been asleep for a minute or less.
Then as the night goes on, my wife has to shake me and yell at me to wake me up. Even then, sometimes I just have a dream of an earthquake or a boat in rough water or riding a motocross bike.... Never waking up.
Sometimes I wake up at 4:00 AM. I'll simply lie there and think only about things I like (I think you can guess at the subject) and all is well. I seem to be able to direct my thoughts and often they roll into really nice dreams.
I hope I never have trouble sleeping. One thing I will say, despite my health issues, I always wake up feeling great.
A second-favorite thing to think about:
I'm too old and wobbly to do this anymore, but I still love the memories!
Then as the night goes on, my wife has to shake me and yell at me to wake me up. Even then, sometimes I just have a dream of an earthquake or a boat in rough water or riding a motocross bike.... Never waking up.
Sometimes I wake up at 4:00 AM. I'll simply lie there and think only about things I like (I think you can guess at the subject) and all is well. I seem to be able to direct my thoughts and often they roll into really nice dreams.
I hope I never have trouble sleeping. One thing I will say, despite my health issues, I always wake up feeling great.
A second-favorite thing to think about:
I'm too old and wobbly to do this anymore, but I still love the memories!
Last edited:
Similar threads
