Insomnia

I haven't even managed to sleep for 5 minutes. I went to bed around 11.30pm after a fairly active day and feeling tired, then my brain went into overdrive! I may as well just get up, make a cup of tea and have a shower.

Can't Sleep Won't Sleep thread seems to have disappeared, so here I am at 1.30am full of the joys of spring but knowing I'm going to feel rough tomorrow, all because I had an afternoon nap

Has anyone tried cutting out cups of tea before bed?
Did it work? I hope it helped somebody.

Yawn! Am SO tired, usual busy day, fresh air, walk, some work for a few hours, listened to elderly neighbour for half an hour (til I could takes no more!) then another of my "strays" on the phone for a little while.
Just watched Billy Connolly's train journey across the States.
Must paint my nails, off to visit DD2's in laws in Warks for lunch tomorrow-don't want to let the side down
Not worrying about anything, wouldn't you think I would sleep?
I must try the decaf tea after 6pm see if that helps. I usually have a hot chocolate about now.
Night night gransnetters, hope you get a rested night ready to face tomorrow

Well, as you can see, it's 02. 40 and I have just popped in to see who's about.
Went to sleep around midnight, but consciousness pounced about an hour ago.
Wish I had read the comment about tea/caffeine before making myself a mug of tea!
I'll pop off and see if the forum for night-owls has opened yet. See you there.
.

Charly - I empathise with your dh, I have had rls 24/7 these past 35 years and keep a sleep diary which shows I average 3 hours sleep per night. This is while using a sleeping pill. No naps during the day.

Off to bed now!

Like Victoria, I too listen to L B C at night, it usually works for me, the public phone in from over the U K and occasionally from abroad (usually ex pats) This is a digital station not sure if they still operate on other bands.
I usually go to sleep with Ian Collins and wake up with Nick Ferrari.

I listen through an ear bud because I am very hard of hearing and I would not want to broadcast to the street, although D H is almost completely deaf without his hearing aids in so it would not disturb him anyway.

Don't know if this will help anyone but DH has been an insomniac for many years.
I am the opposite as I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. A friend asked if DH had anything to drink before bed. Just a cup of tea he said. Try cutting that out, - we forget that tea has caffeine and can be a stimulant. To our amazement it worked. He now has decaf tea and a good nights sleep.
If it worked for DH it might help someone else. We couldn't believe such a simple answer could do the trick but it did. Good luck!

Oh aepgirl and funny gran how I sympathise!
I try to get my face off early enough (when I hope no-one will come round and I'll scare them!) into PJs, bed ready, pills ready, wheat bag downstairs ready to warm up, fleece across my knees while I watch some telly so that when I start to feel tired in theory I can just get into bed and fall asleep-Ho! Ho!
Yes I feel the same that I shall never again sleep through.
At least they won't have to ponder over what to put on my tombstone. Asleep-at last! Lol!

I get about 3 hours a night if I'm lucky. Have tried everything, go to bed early, go to bed late, read, don't read, watch tv etc. I don't go to sleep at all sometimes. Downstairs most nights at about 4 having a cup of tea. Back to bed, still no sleep, read a book, go to sleep about 5.30 up again at 8. I take medication which says it may make me drowsy, oh yes please. I used to sleep like a log, but no sleep or very little sleep is no fun.

That is exactly me Aeopgirl! I usually drop off to sleep watching a programme I've been waiting for, and DH wakes me up to finish watching. An hour later, makeup removed, teeth brushed and I'm wide awake again. Going downstairs isn't really an option as it disturbs the dog so I often resort to reading in another bedroom. I don't know when I last slept all night and have given up hoping it will ever happen again.

It seems to me that most of us grans are awake at some time during the night. Sometimes I feel like turning my life upside down and sleep during the day - however that wouldn't make for a very good social life.

What makes me really cross is that I am really active during the day, feel tired at about 10pm, and feel wide awake by the time I've taken my makeup off and got ready for bed.

I think the worst thing that you can do is worry that you won't be able to cope the next day because of tiredness, but of course we DO cope.

Listen to Steve Alan on LBC from 4.00 am till 6.30 am. You will either be in fits of laughter or go back to sleep - guaranteed.

I wake up at 4.30 or5 5 every day, whatever time I go to bed, so I try to go at 9. I am creative and productive early in the morning, so I have just accepted it! Have you tried sleep meditation? Just google 'talk me to sleep' with Hason Stephendpn or Jody Whitely. Great for an a afternoon power nap

I wake in the middle of the night and read until I'm exhausted. Then if I'm lucky I get another few hours sleep. We usually sleep apart because my snoring keeps him awake. Oh, the joys of getting older.

I recognise the 1 to 2am waking and the 4am waking then feeling really tired when having to get up at 7am which was my normal waking time.
I knew my hormones were out of whack but doctors not at all helpful and I don't do pharma drugs. A very knowledgable naturopath immediately flagged up adrenal glands and bingo my tests showed up cortisol levels out of whack at end of day yet my DHEA levels were fine. Been working on it with natural supplements and a hard slog, and not at all speedy return to good sleep - however all sorts of other things that I had taken for granted as old age now being revitalised . . . and hoping that the sleep will turn around too. The one thing re the sleep even if not sorted yet, is that I no longer wake up exhausted as before so things must be on the mend.
Most GP's not interested in testing adrenal tests and go straight for the thyroid tests, which are not even entirely reliable. And if they treat for thyroid when adrenals are out of whack that can make the situation even worse.
If you have an approachable GP I really recommend doing the easy saliva test for the adrenals. I don't see why because of our age, we should endure what can be avoided quite naturally. Living with poor quality sleep is so debilitating and squeezes a lot of joy out of life I think.

So good to be able to link up with other insoms. Not that I'm happy you're struggling too, of course, but I'm sure you understand my meaning.

Anyway, I find circulating small bits of 'helper tablets' throughout the week does make a difference for me- , eg, about a half a Piriton, a third or quarter of a Kirkland Sleep Aid (those are very strong & I get them from the US), a third of a Nurofen Plus and sometimes just a paracetamol. This way my body doesn't get too used to any one drug and I keep the amounts each night as low as poss. The amounts may well need to go up as I get older however....I'm 55.

I also ensure my bedroom remains dark - particularly important in spring and summer - with use of blackout blinds and thick scarves all around the edges!

As to screens, computer goggles that black out much of the harmful white / blue are very handy in last two hours or so before bedtime, or whenever.

My OH has struggled with Restless Legs Syndrome for many years but now it keeps him awake when he wakes to go to the loo. He's 69. We have sleep apart for years because although the RLS and accompanying kicking, and banging of arms on the mattress, in his sleep didn't wake HIM up in those earlier years, it was a lost cause for me.

I would love for him to be able to sleep better nowadays, but very hard to find a cure-all for RLS symptoms. He knows he's not alone, which is something!

I'm just about to go and have my first sleep....

hildaj, I was going to post a link to the very same article! I've only caught up with this thread tonight and as soon as I started to read it, I remembered that article and was going to find it and link it. But you got there first . It is indeed an excellent and very interesting read.

the original thread's "anyone else awake" - I'll bump it......

Good idea MiniMouse can we start it tonight, it's going to be a long one.

What keeps me awake is being near to a noisey pump at night, but thankfully that is only a few days a year, one being now. When we lived in the city we also lived not far from industry, such a difference from the quiet Kent that I used to know.

If not, so far I seem to get to sleep well, just put my mind on one subject and keep it there, so the brain quietens down, or listen to the noise that you can hear outside, if it isn't noisey!

Bohemian I've just posted on the other thread that's running. Was wondering if HQ could set up a permanently open thread for insomniacs, rather than trawling through loads of threads to find the right one. That way, chats can continue, especially if the same people are awake. Just a thought!

It would be good to have Gransnetters to "talk" to during the night Boheminan but I avoid screens-I thought they were supposed to keep you awake?
Like you Collgirl1 put Radio4/world service on. I HATE hearing the shipping forecast-I know it's a valuable service "to those in peril on the sea"-but it just reminds me of how long I've been awake.
Oh Nanaandgrampy, I heard someone on a chat show once who was an insomniac and the host said he could sleep well. The insomniac said "if I'd said I were blind were you say you had 20/20 vision? Lol!