Sleep?!?! How do you do it?

Been waiting a bit to chime in to see what the general consensus was so far.

About 4-5 years ago I work up with tinnitus and 30% loss of hearing in my left ear. No idea where or why it happened and no way to fix it after several specialists and a bunch of tests. So I just live with it.

This correlates to the onset of my early insomnia where I would fall asleep briefly on the recliner too early (like before or after dinner) and then I can’t get to bed until 1,2,3 am and I am wide awake. Then during the day I would often feel like I had narcolepsy at the worst times of the day (i.e. at work, driving home).

Started off using white noise app, weighted blanket , tried the military fall asleep exercise drills (google it) and nothing helped.

About 2 years ago started taking Melatonin and/or 1 Zzquil at night about an hour before bed. I also switched to decaf tea for my evening wind down instead of regular (duh) and also had a revelation that wearing an eye mask really helps block out the ambient light when you end up kinda halfway waking up. Wifey got me a white noise machine/clock that I set with the static noise sound for about 2 hours, and I run this while I am settling down in bed and make sure I go up and get settled at least 30-45 minutes before I want to be asleep.

It's not been perfect but this combination seemed to really help settle into a better sleep pattern. I would say I avg 5-7 hours a night depending on whats going on in my life. The main thing is once I am asleep usually I can stay asleep. This is still not great, but compared to where I was a few years ago with having terrible sleep its been much better.

I still need to learn to stop using the phone before bed, and eating less snacks or crap after 8-9PM and I am sure my sleep would improve.

I don't really drink much alcohol anymore so this is not an issue for me, but if nothing else you need to stop using it to go to bed, its having the opposite effect among other things long term.
 
Okay so I've read this whole thread now and have to totally agree with the alcohol comments, I do enjoy my glass or two of wine in the evenings. CBD has helped me in the past, THC definitely not. My issue like many on here is the mind wont shut off at night, it races with crazy thoughts. Any form of sleep aid helps but I don't want to be dependent on them. I put up Christmas yesterday, up all night with my mind racing with thoughts about what I may have missed and when I'll be putting the outside lights up. I just can't turn it off sometimes!! Going to try to go this whole week with no alcohol and post up the results. I feel like a zombie today, Uggggg....
 
I'm also going to say something really obvious but I think as we get older, it becomes less so.

Be more active, as active as possible.

Yeah yeah, I know we're on a bike site but the reality is that most people get older and do less. So you ride your bike for 1, maybe 2 hours a day. Do you spend the remaining 22-23 hours doing as little as possible? It can be argued that just being active 12 hours a day in some form is far more useful than 2 hours on/22 hours off. It's a mindset change for many people, as we've been conditioned our whole lives to take the easy way out.

Get up out of the chair as much as possible. If something can be done in less than 5 minutes, just do it now. Go outside, throw the ball with the dog for 15 minutes. Build a wooden berm in hour back yard. Learn to juggle.

Don't watch TV from 5pm to midnight.
 
Norm said:
I'm also going to say something really obvious but I think as we get older, it becomes less so.

Be more active, as active as possible.

Yeah yeah, I know we're on a bike site but the reality is that most people get older and do less. So you ride your bike for 1, maybe 2 hours a day. Do you spend the remaining 22-23 hours doing as little as possible? It can be argued that just being active 12 hours a day in some form is far more useful than 2 hours on/22 hours off. It's a mindset change for many people, as we've been conditioned our whole lives to take the easy way out.

Get up out of the chair as much as possible. If something can be done in less than 5 minutes, just do it now. Go outside, throw the ball with the dog for 15 minutes. Build a wooden berm in hour back yard. Learn to juggle.

Don't watch TV from 5pm to midnight.
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One of the best things I've done is installing a dumb program called "Big Stretch Reminder" which just has a popup on the screen every X minutes (I have it set for 15) as a reminder to get out of my seat. I'll cancel it if I'm in deep work, but if it's regular work I'll get up and take a break of any sort. Body feels way better with mini-breaks.

Most people are definitely not doing functional movements during the day, and cycling is definitely not functional. Many people just wake and sit in a chair eating breakfast, sit in their seat in their car, sit in the seat at their office, car seat again, then couch for the rest of the night.

@Dave Taylor Have you gone through the typical Sleep Hygiene stuff? What have you not done?

-No electronics before bed.
-Only use bedroom for sleep and fun time with partner.
-Dark, no light coming through windows, LEDs on clocks/devices, etc.
-Quiet, at the very least no disruptive noises.
-Cool Temperature
-No late day naps or long naps.
-No exercise at least 2 hours before sleep.
-At least 8-12 hours of no caffeine.


I'm probably missing something.
 
Racing thoughts at night keeping you up is a possible sign of anxiety disorder. I too suffer from this and it takes a bit of time working through it with someone to develop techniques to quiet the mind. I also can fall asleep at night since i am tired most nights but most nights then wake up after a few hours and then my night is wrecked. Maybe i fall back in an hour, but if there is a lot going on, i might never fall back asleep. Last friday i fell asleep at 930, woke up at 12 and never fall back asleep again. Sat was f*cked. If its too bad, i pop a k-pin but not sure if thats on your list of no-go substances. Best to consult a doctor to dig deeper into that.
 
rick81721 said:
Seriously? It's legal in half the country. What kind of license has zero tolerance?
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anything sponosored by the federal governemnt who still classifys it as illegal in the United States.

wrong thread for this but someone really needs to explain how this legalization thing works (someone with a legal background plz)
 
JonF said:
Also, if you're on spotify, this podcast has a lot of good info about improving your quality of sleep. From habits, to techniques to legal substances.

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I’ve found that just listening to Huberman talk about anything puts me to sleep. 💤
 
JonF said:
Racing thoughts at night keeping you up is a possible sign of anxiety disorder. I too suffer from this and it takes a bit of time working through it with someone to develop techniques to quiet the mind. I also can fall asleep at night since i am tired most nights but most nights then wake up after a few hours and then my night is wrecked. Maybe i fall back in an hour, but if there is a lot going on, i might never fall back asleep. Last friday i fell asleep at 930, woke up at 12 and never fall back asleep again. Sat was f*cked. If its too bad, i pop a k-pin but not sure if thats on your list of no-go substances. Best to consult a doctor to dig deeper into that.
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So this is something that affects me too......I fall asleep easily and I usually stay asleep until 2-3...then I have to get up and pee...or since my wife gets up at 4:15 for work, her alarm wakes me up.....then I struggle falling back to sleep. Brain is turned on a running. One thing that works id say 60-70% of the time....ill find something boring to listen too...in the summer sirius has the baseball report running over and over all night and that usually does it, or sometimes the news, or a podcast im not that interested in, sports talk....whatever, just background noise.
 
JonF said:
Weed isn't the sleep panacea that people make it out to be either. For some it can cause even more paranoia/anxiety thus rendering it counterproductive.
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This is true. It can help you initially fall asleep but is really disruptive to a full nights sleep. All forms….flower, edibles, vape cartridges whatever.

This was a really good read on the subject and included a lot about cannabis.

IMG_0071.jpeg
 
jShort said:
This is true. It can help you initially fall asleep but is really disruptive to a full nights sleep. All forms….flower, edibles, vape cartridges whatever.

This was a really good read on the subject and included a lot about cannabis.

View attachment 228531
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While I did not read this, I did a MasterClass with this guy. He's really good and you'll learn a lot from him.
 
A key for me is not thinking “word thoughts” when it’s time to sleep.

I often put myself to sleep visualizing a ride on familiar trails. I “ride” into Allaire/Hartshorne/Huber/Chimney Rock and visualize a loop I usually ride.

Better than counting sheep.
 
rick81721 said:
Really? So even tho DoD and DoT (truckers, pilots, etc) can have less than 50 ng/ml initially and 15 ng/ml on retest and are fine, your job is zero?
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As someone employed by a private company, there is probably some level that I might be able to get an lawyer and go to court with.....However, I have never found any noticeable or positive results from weed or CBD in my life, so its not really an issue for me. But our conduct policy is pretty clear, if they test you and it shows up, you're fucked. That said, I would be MIND blown if they ever tested anyone in my company.
 
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