Friday Fun Question

I usually read in bed to help me wind down. Some nights I wake up with my Kindle on my face and beside light still on! Occasionally, I'll have more of a struggle, esp if I go to bed too late. I get overtired just like a little kid.
My husband can fall asleep in the middle of fast forwarding through commercials on a DVR'd program. Ha! My son is the same way. I tell him to go to sleep and he just lays his head down and is sleep in 15 seconds. Must be nice!

I have to read at night to shut my brain off. Otherwise, I just lay there thinking about things I need to do, things I am stressed about, things I need to remember, etc etc etc...
When I travel for work and need to get to sleep at an off time for me to avoid jet lag the next day, I usually drink a glass of red wine with dinner (or when I get to the hotel) and chamomile tea before bed. Those are usually some of my hardest nights, because I am stressed about presentations going well, did I forget anything, and how is everyone at home on top of all the usual stress!

Exhaustion is the best sleep aid I have found. I work two jobs, do community theater, and my boyfriend and I make love several times a week. Falling asleep is not a problem.

ETA:
Regarding temperature. I can NOT sleep if I am cold. I MUST be warm. My daughter cannot sleep if her room is warmer than about 72. I shiver in anything below 75 and prefer closer to 80. So I sleep under a comforter, even in the summer, and add an extra blanket and a heating pad in the winter.

I set the sleep timer on my tv for one hour and put on a show that I have pvr'd. I think I usually fall asleep within 30-45 minutes. (I try to watch the end of my program the next evening. When I was a child my parents let me have a tv in my room, so I got in the habit of falling asleep to the tv, and now I have a very hard time sleeping without a tv on. (That is why I won't let my kids have tv in their room.) I don't like the idea of medicating. When I am camping I find my e-reader works pretty well for me, or watching a movie on my tablet. Before those technologies I just tossed and turned most of the night. I do use Sleepy Time tea if I am having a particularly hard time. I also have to cut out all caffeine after about 3:00pm.

Can't do without my warm bath!

I can't take melatonin...it gives me horrible nightmares, just like it does my youngest son.

It all depends upon what's going through my head. If I have a long list for the next day? It takes me a good 30 minutes to go to sleep. Otherwise? Maybe 5 to 10.

I have changed taking my allergy meds to night time as well. That has helped a LOT. As I got drowsy in the mornings after taking it - dah - it's an antihistamine!! LOL!! Changing that has made a world of difference in my day!!

3-5 minutes. My husband tells me all the time how jealous he is that I can fall asleep as soon as the light is out.

The first thing I suggest to my patients who are having a hard time sleeping is to check the temperature in their house. It might be a great temperature for being awake, but our bodies prefer cold temperatures for sleeping. Being too warm definitely keeps me awake. The best recommended sleeping temperature is 64'F. I keep the house 63'F at night and snuggle up under heavy blankets. :-)

I don't usually notice the time it takes because I like to think at night when I go to bed. I don't mean that I'm worrying about stuff (it sucks when it happens!) but I intentionally think about silly, fictional things. For example, if I was reading a book earlier I might imagine myself in the story or setting and see what I'd do in the circumstances. I fall asleep at some point while imagining the story. Since it is such a fun thing to do, it could be 5 minutes or an hour, but I don't notice or worry.

When I'm over-tired, I get cold to the point of shivering. It even happens in the summer.I can't sleep until I'm warm again. Right now I have thick flannel sheets, a comforter, and electric blanket and an extra fleece blanket folded double on my side of the bed. I wear warm pajamas and often have socks on too. I also have a heat pad handy just in case I still can't warm up. My house isn't unusually cold, it's just me. My kids sleep in their underwear and kick off all the covers. My husband kicks off everything but sheets or a thin blanket. I'm bundled up and covered to my chin.

Hmmm...depends on where my stress level is. Most nights it's about 20 minutes, which is actually healthy. I did a detox earlier in the year where ideal sleep was discussed and if you're out in 5 minutes, it's a sign of exhaustion. A healthy sleeper takes 15-20 minutes to fall asleep. Longer than that you're either not tired or are tired but wired, short than that and you're probably pretty tired to begin with.

I do have some nights when I'm really stressed and exhausted where I toss and turn for an hour or two, or wake up earlier than I need to and can't go back to sleep.

I can fall asleep in less than 10 minutes during the day though. I'm like a pro when it comes to napping...I of course can't nap all the time due to work, but I sneak in a quick 10-20 minutes of refresher sleep when I can.

5 minutes if someone rubs my back.
otherwise 10 minutes
BUT I also have acute insomnia, while I sleep easy most of the time, I will have episodes of not sleeping or having great difficulty falling asleep, it will take hours for me to fall asleep.

It really depends on what my day has been like. IF I have gotten all of my important things done that day, I am out like a light.

If I have a major to do list or a big project that is going slow.. I will be awake for a while. Sometimes even wake up in the middle of the night fretting.

It helps me, to keep a pad of "post it notes" next to the bed. If I wake up or cannot sleep, I can jot down the things that I am concerned about.

"Sleepy Time" tea also helps to calm me down. I drink it about an hour before I am planning to go to bed. I have also discovered "Purple Stuff" It is still hot here, so I can drink this cold an hour before bed. I purchased this at Costco.

My husband is out cold in literally 20 seconds. Sometimes I count and make it a game - I'm guessing 18 seconds tonight. It's so odd. But he works hard. So sleep comes easily.

I used to have a very hard time falling asleep. I try to either sing a song or count something - usually within about 15-20 minutes I'm out.

If I'm not out within 5 minutes, I'm probably not going to sleep. I take an OTC sleep aid at night (non habit forming/non narcotic) and even then there are nights that I only get 3 - 4 hours and some nights none at all! It's worse during the winter with shorter days and longer nights. I also keep my house a cool 63 at night AND leave my bedroom window open a little (about an inch and a half.)

i very rarely have trouble sleeping but i set myself up for it well! i usually watch some tv late at night after all my chores, writing tasks, religious rituals and barn work are done. then i take a glorious hot bubbly bath and read. sometimes i fall asleep in front of the tv, and frequently in the bathtub (which alarms people when i tell 'em...... i can't imagine why. i've never slipped under the water and if i did it would wake me up!)
then i stagger into bed, displace a cat or two, and read a little more until i fall asleep. this is the only non-negotiable part of it. even if i fell asleep on the couch, crawled to the tub, and fell asleep again there i STILL HAVE TO READ for at least a minute or two before i turn off the flashlight and conk out. (flashlight so i don't disturb my dh, who has to get up at 3am.)
it's a rare bad night when i'm not out within 5 or 10 minutes of turning off the flashlight.
:) khairete
S.

I have insomnia most nights but what helps me the most right now is taking an herb called damiana. It helps with my anxiety by making my brain calm down which enables me to eventually sleep. I've always wondered what it's like to be able to fall asleep quickly unaided.

I think there are many things that make a person fall asleep easier or take longer. What you drink. If you drink pop with caffeine or coffee or even Sudafed or Albuterol breathing treatments they can all wire you up to a completely awful amount.

Thinking about how you feel when you go crawl in the bed can help you to figure out what needs to be done.

In stress management classes we were taught that bed is for sleeping and nothing else. Not reading or computer work or texting on the phone. Bed is the one place that is specific to sleep and needs to be set apart for that.

Read in a comfortable chair. Heat up some rice bags that you can make for yourself, put one or two in your bed under the covers then put a couple around you so you can get toasty warm then go crawl in bed.

When I was having insomnia I would heat some rice bags and play my stereo on the very lowest setting. My ears would work super hard to hear the music thereby distracting my brain so my body would fall asleep. Also doing relaxation techniques can relax you bone deep. You can good that.

How to make as many rice bags as you want. Go to Walmart and buy the biggest longest widest white tube socks you can find. Then go buy the biggest bag of white long cooking rice you can find.

Go home. Open the corner of the bag of rice. Pour rice into the sock. Fill it about half way. Too much makes it hard. When it's about half way full tie a big knot in the open end to close it.

For the really really big dense ones I heat 2 minutes but that is a super HOT rice bag. For smaller ones I do 1 minute.

When I lay down I put a 2 minute one in my bed around the bottoms of my feet so I can simply pull them away if they're too hot. I put another 1 minute bag on any sore spots, especially my back right above my shoulder blade.

It depends on how tired I am. Most of the time I need about 20-30 minutes to clear my head.

I can't sleep more that 3 hours in a row. I'd love to be able to sleep all night instead of nap. Sometimes I'll take 2 benedryl and I might get 3 hours.

I'm awake between 3-4am like clockwork because hubby is usually working and when he has a 6am flight which is pretty regular, he leaves the house by 4:30am.

My dream would be a solid sleep.. Just once!!

takes me forever to fall asleep. my husband falls asleep before his head hits the pillow. ugh. i have started taking half an ambient and that helps. i need my sleep!

My DH is like that too. I know they say not to have a tv in the bedroom, but it's a must for me! After a busy day if I lay there in the quiet, dark room, I just start to feel anxious and worry about everything. I need the distraction of the tv to keep calm! I usually watch one show, then no problem falling asleep. It's a good thing DH falls asleep so easily because I'd feel badly if the tv kept him up!