I try to look on the bright side: that I should get some quality sleep NEXT time

help me. Cheap fix.

As years go by. And anytime I have to get up early the anxiety of knowing I need to sleep early keeps me up most the night.

For instance I have a early flight to see my daughter in Texas, haven't flown since before covid and have to be at airport at 4am. Here it is 2am and been tossing and turning all night. Feel awful and I have long layover in Salt Lake city. Will be a very long day.

I started doing yoga with Adrienne on youtube, she has a bunch of easy videos for beginners and seniors. The breathing and stretching helps a bit.

Most normal nights I get 5-6hrs sleep. I have a hard time falling asleep. I set timer and listen to audible books. Sometimes works.

and it's almost like arthritis for me. It comes and goes to varying degrees. Sometimes I can't get more than 4 hours of sleep out of 36 hours. A great deal of it is age also. Another reason the real old re-runs from the '50's through the '70's are on TV from about midnight to 6:00 A.M. You can tell they're aiming at us by the kinds of commercials they run during the shows.

I've tried everything to help but really it's just muddle through for me. But at least it has provided me the opportunity to learn how to hum the opening theme to "Highway Patrol" and "Dragnet".

Also cannibus is a natural sleep aid. Had the same problem about a month ago, once you change your sleep pattern, you should have little problem

Start with a 1mg dose about 30 minutes before a consistent bedtime.

Last night, for one. Then I'll go for a spree of 6 to 7 hours of sleep.

This morning, at 3, I was startled awake by a dream. My problem is if I wake up it's very hard for me to fall back to sleep.

Melatonin, Benadryl, and Kava Kava are all helpful for me. My problem is by the time I realize I’m having a hard time falling asleep it’s too late if I want to wake up on time in the morning. Yoga definitely helps. Have you checked out CoQ10 for migraines? The research looks pretty solid on its benefits.

I fall asleep listening to one every night. When I wake, (and I usually do) I rewind or continue on. It can take a while to get through a book but that feeling of your brain being on a hamster wheel is gone. The simple fact that I wasn't sleeping and that I lay awake thinking about not sleeping was a stressor in itself.

They really just don't get it.

Ambien works, often, but not always. It can be dangerous and habit forming. My wife keeps a bottle aside, out of my sight, for emergencies, like when I have an important meeting the next day.

OTC stuff works sometimes.

When nothing works, I use the time, to read, to think, to do something useful. It doesn't make me feel better or less tired, but using the time makes my day to day life easier.

Good luck.

The idea is to stay "thoughtless" and push away any thought that tries to enter my mind, or have gotten in there. I have a little mantra "push push..." as I'm pushing away thoughts.

Before that stage I sometimes run through something that I've memorized. I've got a few of those. The main thing is to occupy one's mind with non-worrying / non-upsetting thinking.

Meditation, which I call a focus exercise, since I don’t like the religious connotation of the word meditation.

Go to Spotify or YouTube and use the search term “guided meditation binaural beat sleep”. Beware the ads on youtube, which is why I use Spotify. YouTube has a good selection, though. You will need earbuds for binaural.

Side effect is regular practice makes you happy.

I just sit on my bed and read until my eyes are so tired that I fall sleep with the book on my hand. If I happen to wake up during the early hours of the morning (02:00am -- 04:00am), I grab the book and in 15 minutes or less I am back sleep.

Meditate, it helps to calm the soul, stress causes migraine. Look also into the "4-7-8" breathing exercise, it helps.

For migraines, find out what it is that is causing them. Lack of sleep is one, make a list of what you eat during the day, then compare on days when you get the migraine and see if any particular food is causing it. I found that wine does it for me, so I don't drink wine. If its stress, then you need to meditate a few times a day, which you can do sitting down, it only takes five minutes.

Good luck, this is all under your control, I know sometimes it doesn't feel that way, but we all tend to surprise ourselves, and you will too.

By the way, read things that are fun, I have gone through all of Kurt Vonnegut's books, and I am also reading a Swedish author by the name of Jonas Jonasson ( ][link:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+100+year+old+man+that+climbed+out+the+window&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_4_20| ), very funny and creative.

And the one that is most difficult? Stop reading and watching politics, keep it to a minimum. I only read the headlines now, and if the buffoon trump is on the news I don't even read the headlines. We need to take stress out of our lives as much as we can.

Good luck.

And even though I take Ambian every night I still wake up four hours later. I take over the counter pills and smoke indica before bed. I have to do this every night and it has been like this my entire life, even as a kid and teenager. I have tried everything under the sun for decades and decades. I have 100% empathy. I have the feeling that I'll be experiencing what I have missed out on once I am dead. Peaceful sleep...I look forward to it.

a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands. It does many beneficial things to our bodies, but stress brings out more and sleeplessness is one of the side effects.

I had never even heard of that hormone, so it was interesting to learn about it's various functions in our bodies.

The bottom line advice for him was to eat better, sort out what was "eustress" (good stress) vs "distress" (bad stress), exercise more, stop online reading late at night (Democratic Underground!) and get out in nature more among other things listed in the link below:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037

Basically be more physically tired, and clear headed at the end of the day. His doctor was convinced about the huge benefit of regular exercise to correct a panoply of ailments including sleeplessness.

We'll see. I know it works for me. I do historic restoration, so working outside in all seasons mean I hit the pillow and "sleep like a log".

Good luck!

-FTC

I just accept that I only sleep about four hours at a time max. I get up and do something until I get drowsy and stumble back to bed and still I'm up for the day by 7am.

When I can't sleep I have a cup of lavender tea, that relaxes me enough to sleep and not be groggy when I awake.

It will help you sleep and reset your your life.

There are several types - this is the one I'm going to try because it would fit with my wakefulness. Why fight it? is my thinking.

First and Second Sleep
Nighttime sleep is divided into two distinct segments. An earlier bedtime starts the first sleep period, which lasts several hours, often until around midnight. One or more hours of wakefulness are followed by a second sleep of several hours. Some Middle Eastern countries follow this sleep schedule, along with certain South American and West African cultures.

More:

https://thesleepdoctor.com/how-sleep-works/biphasic-sleep/

I generally just got up at 3:00 am when I naturally woke and spent 2 hours on some work and then went back to bed for 4 more hours.

I usually get it from Vitacost, but you have to take 3 capsules to get the recommended amount. I started getting a "concentrated" form from Amazon and I just need one capsule. Bad thing is it smells like bad feet. My wife can tell when I open the bottle. Whatever works.

Boy do I know how you feel. It's rare that I get a full night's sleep. I lay there and my mind starts wondering about VERY important things. One night it was trying to think of all the reindeer names. When I FINALLY figured that out all of a sudden i'm thinking "Oh damn! Who were those dwarfs? But what keeps me up most nights is trying to figure out what Billy Joe McAllister threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. I am SOOOOOO sleepy.

a full night's sleep

I think a lot has to do with being a caretaker. My husband has severe COPD and it's an instinct like when you had a new baby, listening with one ear while asleep. I'm always listening to him cough or wheeze, anticipating a call for help, is his oxygen supply working etc... Hard to turn that off for a good nights sleep.

I have started to try an afternoon nap on days I work from home and he is awake and doing well. That helps a little bit. We do what we can for those we love because we never know when they will be taken from us.

Thanks again everyone.