Best night's sleep for months

I am a terrible sleeper and I can remember my mother bitterly complaining to me about it when she was in her sixties. I retorted (probably quite smugly) that one needs less sleep as one ages and it is entirely natural, blah blah. Oh, how those words have come back to haunt me!

I know not to have electronic devices in the bedroom or to use them for 30-60 minutes before retiring. I know about sleep hygiene (being in daylight for enough hours/don't nap during the day/have good bed-routines etc., and cut out caffeine after 7.00pm for a midnight bedtime) and practice it all but nothing works.

Well, drugs do - sometimes! Like Marmight, an antihistamine does make me sleepy and this sometimes helps me nod off but not always.

I decided some years ago not to let define my sleep and that I would not worry about it but daily (nightly?) being awake for many hours does define me as I drag myself around for some of the day!

My DH tells me that I am probably asleep when I think I am awake, so I have asked for a 'Fitbit' thingy which tracks sleep (based on heartbeats, apparently) from Santa - just to see who is correct!

Perhaps I should do as grandMattie does, and take a nap midway through the day. Although problem here is that it takes me hours to drop off to sleep (I can still remember all the little beds being put out in infant school and all the children trailing in for their afternoon nap. I lay there looking around as everyone else slept, only to be rudely woken up just as I nodded off!).

Oh, I do read before turning the light off but this doesn't help much either. I shall just go off and shoot myself!

Don't use iPads or kindles before going to sleep; i read a 'real' book. that doesn't stop me from sleeping very badly. i normally wake hourly, until about 3 am, then get fed up so get up around 5 am most days. When I take a 'holiday' from DH and sleep in the spare bed, i can read or listen to the radio, which usually sends me to sleep. DH is so appalled at the idea of me having a separate room, that I can only do it when I'm poorly.
i do have a nap for no more than 30 minutes most days, after lunch...
I have stopped worrying about the lack of sleep and find that that has helped, oddly enough

I did know about blue light affecting sleep patterns and did restrict my children with their hand held devices . However a few years down the road I have laptops and kindke... I didn't realize how it was affecting me. So now no kindke after 3pm... and it works!!! Sleeping better.

I agree with you indinana about the paperwhite. I have one and I turn it down really low if I'm reading in bed and I don't think it keeps me awake, whereas if I go on the computer after about 9 o'clock I don't get to sleep till the early hours.

Alea I think you are right. I always used to fall asleep straight away when I went to bed but now I spend more time on the iPad in the evenings and just befor I go to bed I find that I have trouble getting to sleep. I also get a bit of a headache and tension round the eyes which I think is related to flicking through pages too quickly and also the backlit screen. I am going to try and either read a book or listen to some music without looking at the iPad to see if that helps.

Aeroplane Mode is ON on my Kindle, unless I am actually purchasing and downloading a book. Leaving it turned OFF at any other time means it is just running down the battery charge to no purpose.

If your Kindle isn't "back lit" i.e. You still need the light on to read by, it shouldn't make a difference, but if it's a Paperwhite or similar, I believe that is the same effect as an iPad.
I don't think the Paperwhite is the same as an iPad, Alea. I have both and the Paperwhite display is entirely different. It is lit, it's true, but from what I can gather the iPad is backlit, whilst the Paperwhite uses a front light, which is reflected from the front of the screen back through the device. It has been likened to using a reading lamp and will strain the eyes less than backlit devices, which shine the light from the back of the device straight into the eyes. Also, the light on the Paperwhite can be turned off if you are reading in good light, something you can't do with iPads or, I think, other Kindles (though I'm not sure of that).

I read a book for at least an hour before I feel the need for sleep. I would sleep all night if my bladder did not waken me 2-3 hourly!

I suppose that I have 3-4 sleepless nights a year but I try not to get too stressed as I am no longer working, does it matter? I lie in bed reading and sometimes that helps, other times I want to doze off when it is time that I would normally surface- around 8am.

Think-I am a night watchman-I MUST keep awake-strangely effective.(Reader's Digest: 1950's) Remember It?

A friend of mine was once told to remove ALL electronic equipment from the bedroom including clock radios. I tried it and found it did work up to a point but not sure if it was more of a placebo effect.

As for putting things on charge overnight I have been told this morning when I was buying a new camera that batteries in cameras, phones etc should not be left on charge overnight as it 'cooks' the battery and reduces its effectiveness.

I am guilty of using my little tablet in bed even though I know it keeps me awake. I couldn't do it if I was still at work.

It is a godsend though for distracting me from pain - an excuse.

I never check anything online once i've gone to bed and don't have a tv in the bedroom neither. I normally sleep like a log.

I have recently used my iPad rather than reading a book. Like Alea and others, I found it affected my sleep and I now leave it downstairs to avoid temptation.
It does make you worry about youngsters and teenagers, whose phones and tablets seem to be attached to them 24 hours a day.

I know iPads/iPhones/telly etc.. are no-no's when trying to sleep, but what else should you do when waking up in the middle of the night, as I do about 4 out of 7?? Eyes and brain too tired to concentrate on the latest tome, too lazy to go downstairs to make a hot drink or do the ironing! When I just know I am going to have a sleepless night, I take a Paracetamol Night Pain pill - works wonders .......

I had a bout of enthusiastic pinterest-ing just before bed recently and I know that ruined my sleep. My poor brain was too charged. Now I deliberately put the iPad away an hour so before bedtime and let myself slowly wind down. Anything that helps has to be worth trying...

I play freecell on my tablet before going to bed and if awake in the night. I don't think that is what is responsible for my poor sleeping though.

Don't leave your ipads, phones etc downstairs charging. We were burgled two years ago this month and they took the lot whilst we slept. We plug them in upstairs now but out of sight of our bed!!! if you put on do not disturb or flight mode, you don't get any pinging!!

I listen to the radio at night and have no trouble dropping off. It's particularly effective when it's a programme I really want to hear!

I definitely find reading my iPad in bed affects my sleep - I'll nod off but be wide awake at 2 or 3 o'clock.

If I can't sleep I find going through the alphabet thinking of a boy's name for each letter (or girl's name, vegetables, animals, country etc) really works too. I do it at the dentist too to distract myself.

In one of Jane Smiley's recent book, a character go to sleep by counting backwards in 5s from 1000 ( I've 995, 990, 985 etc). I was very sceptical, but have found that it often works, though not always. Usually I fall asleep sometime between 400 and zero.

During the day if I start doing a suduko I often start yawning and have often done them just before going to sleep as well as a bit of reading. More recently I have tried to stop doing that as i don't feel it helps sleep. Also if you have an easy to read page turner book that doesn't help. I am trying to limit myself to five minutes reading so that don't get over tired which I think can often inhibit sleep. Also I sometimes play a hand or two of patience before going up to bed. BUT there are a few times it doesn't work. There are times I wake in the night and go straight back to sleep and other times I'm awake for ages. So will be interested to hear what others say but definitely feel one should keep away from iPads and the computer.

Thank you Alea. I spent hours yesterday evening on Ipad, and couldn't get to sleep til 4.30am, so, as I had to be up by 8, I'm now mega grumpy and tired.

Thank you Alea

If your Kindle isn't "back lit" i.e. You still need the light on to read by, it shouldn't make a difference, but if it's a Paperwhite or similar, I believe that is the same effect as an iPad.
I also used to read the (online) newspaper when I woke in the early hours which left little for the next morning. Putting the mobile on to "flight mode" stops odd pings and buzzes to disturb my sleep.
Give it a try!

So do you think giving up a kindle at night is good as well? I don't use the iPad but didn't think about kindle. I'm sleeping badly at the moment.