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Suggestions for sleep aids?

09:59 / 11.06.03

Exactly what it says on the tin. Anyone any ideas/experiences?

10:16 / 11.06.03

Valium.

Or you could try The Baby Soother tape.

10:19 / 11.06.03

Do something physical that tires you out during the day. Swimming is the best bet, I reckon. Or learn some yoga style relaxation tecniques and try these before sleeping. I was going to write steer clear of sleeping pills but I dunno - anyone had any good experiences with these?

10:25 / 11.06.03

Valium's maybe a tad extreme. Excercise I'm not great, but pretty good at. Doesn't really make a difference. I can work 10 hours, go to the gym, and then go clubbing on a Friday night. And still wake up and be exhausted but wide awake by 8:30 at the latest.

Arse... I'll try the Chinese herbal store down the road.

10:26 / 11.06.03

homeopathy? works for me, usually.

10:41 / 11.06.03

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.
Any suggestions on where to go/what to do, etc?

unheimlich manoeuvre

10:51 / 11.06.03

benelyn, night nurse or good old fashioned marijuana. you'll sleep like a baby.

10:52 / 11.06.03

Camomile tea sometimes helps, but if your problem is waking too early, you may have something interrupting your sleep which you do not yet realise is doing so. Do you live in a flat? Is someone in another flat perhaps getting up early? Is there a car that starts up near to you at the same time everyday? Have you got dark curtains? You can buy blackout blinds fairly cheaply.

It may be that your body is now 'set' to wake up at 8.30, in which case you can re-train it, by getting up at the time you wake on the first day, then the next day, stay in bed for 10 more minutes and then get up, then the next 20 more minutes and so on. You should eventually find you start to sleep longer. Of course this only works if you have a spare week or two where you don't have to get to work or anything.

The other alternative of course is to go to bed earlier because then 8.30 will be fine, ha ha, but as I am the Queen of Insomnia I can't recommend it as a technique I have practiced...

10:56 / 11.06.03

You could try Valerian tea. I had a very manic friend and it did the trick for her. Also, skullcap and passionflower are supposed to have sedative effects. It is quite easy to find herbal teas that contain one or more of these herbs.
Hops are also supposed to have a sedative effect, but you'd probably have to go to a proper herbalist to tell you exactly how to take these. Hops, Beer - it sounds promising doesn't it.
Also, if you like oils then a few drops of lavender on the pillow can be tried too. One downside is that you may end up smelling like your Gran.

11:26 / 11.06.03

Thanks guys, this is very much appreciated. It's been a problem for a good while now.

Tried Camomile tea, no joy (though it is soothingly tasty). I'll give Valerian a go. I presume I can pick that up in a standard tea-shop like Whittards?

Thought it might be 'body clock' stuff. But weekdays I get up at 6:50. Weekends/days off, I'm often awake by that time, but can usually manage to force myself back to sleep til around 8:00 or so. Trouble is, is that this has nothing to do with the time I go to sleep at. Be it 11 at night or 6 in the morning.

Light does wake me very easily, but I've been using eye-blinds for a while (and, yes I do look ridiculous in bed as a result), and while I no longer wake at dawn (thank bloody christ), I still wake very very early.

Listened out for regular sounds, disturbances, etc. I don't think there are any. I am a fairly light sleeper, and do get woken very easily by sound. But there's nothing that's apparent on a morning-by-morning basis. Though I am going to pick up ear-plugs this afternoon. Which will leave me in some crazy non-sensory world ripe to be picked off by the neighbourhood Freddy Kreuger....

Tried aromatherapy to no result.

Tried beer. Huge huge amounts of beer. And stout. Huge huge amounts of stout. Again, I just wake up at the same time feeling very tired and sleepy.

...

Stress is a likely cause, and I am trying to deal with that. But, in the mean time, insomnia isn't really helping to reduce it any.

Drugs & Science! were kinda my last shot, which is why I posted here rather than Conversation. But, as said, I'd rather try other things first.

13:40 / 11.06.03

Hey waxy,
I don't think that you'll be able to get Valerian tea from Whittards. Try a natural health food shop.
Good luck with it.

13:46 / 11.06.03

Homeopathy - you can buy anti-insomnia tablets in health food shops and they've worked for me in the past - or you could actually go and se a homeopath and do it properly, I suppose.

Unfortunately, there's no easy answer and you just have to try to find ways that work for you. Good luck.

13:47 / 11.06.03

Well, I've read on medical sites (especially the Mayo Clinic, although they appear to have taken that page down) a few things about insomnia.

This list, although it seems cheesy, hits most of the points.

If you're drinking tea, stop. Especially in the afternoon. And avoid alcohol, too.

Keep your bedroom cool, quiet and very dark. The temperature is key.

Bear in mind that sleep isn't a movable feast - your body is going to stick to a schedule and only give you a couple hours variance in either direction (earlier or later) for the weekend.

However, you might find some ways to hack your sleep system.

Melatonin will do it, if you can get it straight.

There's a whole list of melatonin-containing foods you can try in the evenings(or foods which contain L-tryptophan, a melatonin precursor):
* Milk (yogurt, cottage cheese)
* Malted milk (Ovaltine!)
* Turkey
* Bananas
* Ginger
* Rice
* Oats
* Barley
* Pumpkin seeds, Almonds, Peanuts
* Tofu/soybeans

Marijuana, St. John's Wort and MAO inhibitors (passionflower, hops, Syrian rue) will also raise melatonin levels.

Bear in mind, by using melatonin, you're basically fooling your brain into thinking it's time to shut down for eight hours or so. Neurologists don't really understand whether it's directly causing sleep or if it's just triggering a sleep response, Pavlov-style. This is a pineal gland hormone - mysterious stuff.

Also bear in mind that if you readjust your sleep schedule for the weekend, then have to go back to waking up just as early on the weekdays, it's going to really hurt.

14:47 / 11.06.03

You absolute stars. Thanks loads

20:29 / 13.06.03

The melatonin works, by the way. It works best if you take it at the same time every day, to set the clock.

Though taking it during the day in combo with 5-HTP and Ephedrine can cause a curious sort of waking dream state, though that sort of thing is probably not the healthiest of ideas

Just watch that for some folks have a real hard time getting up in the morning when they take melatonin, as they are not able to process enough of it during the night and have a bit of a hangover from it.

And the Valerian is a pretty potent sedative too, if you can find a good extract. Much stronger than chamomile. Takes me about 3 cups of that to get enough of a buzz for it to work on me.

20:10 / 16.06.03

If you're a light sleeper, you might consider a white noise generator (tune a radio to static for a test) instead of earplugs, which can seem to amplify the noises you make moving around in bed. It may take a couple of days to get used to white noise, but some light sleepers I've known swear by them. I sleep like a rock so I've never tried it myself.

A white noise generator and blinders make for nice sensory deprivation, though.

23:15 / 19.06.03

Just an off thought, but as a semi-reformed insomniac who underwent a bunch of stupid tests that proved nothing (except that the goop they use to attach electrodes to your head with in the sleep disorder clinic causes hair loss), I thought I'd share my own findings. After nearly 25 years of sleep deprivation, I got a prescription for Nasonex spray, and some saline nasal spray. I use the saline when I wake up and before bed, and the Nasonex when I still can't sleep. For the most part, I now sleep like the dead. If you have trouble sleeping (and especially if you have allergies), it may have something to do with what's going on in your sinuses - if your sleeping environment is a bit dry, your sinuses may get irritated and drain when you lie down, making it harder for you to breathe, so your respiration rate stays high to accomodate, and then you can't sleep. If none of the other suggestions works, try some saline nasal spray (and maybe a humidifier in your room). You can get the spray at a drugstore, and it's cheap.

17:43 / 20.06.03

I would second the idea of melatonin, although I only used it to get over jet lag.

Have you thought about getting a new mattress or bed? It makes such a difference. Also, make sure you have light tight blinds or curtains. I think set and setting can help with some people.

13:45 / 23.06.03

Boil half a cup of water, add one teaspoon of honey and then fill up with milk. This made me sleep like a baby when I had problems with sleep, but I guess your problem is a little bit more severe. Diazepam is not so bad either, but if you don't want to use chemicals I suppose the herbal alternative is just as good.

14:19 / 23.06.03

Have you tried Kalms?

10:30 / 24.06.03

Nah, really don't like the idea of relying on an external substance to relieve stress. It's something I should be able to do myself. Thanks though.

.. with the exception of beer of course. I'll always rely on that. My one true friend through thick and thin.

...

Okay, got ear plugs and eye-blinds. Located a Holland Barrats, so going for Valerian and Melatonin over the weekend. I'll file a report.

Thanks again for all the suggestions

10:47 / 24.06.03

I don't think you can buy melatonin in the UK, unfortunately. Book yourself a trip to the US, and add jetlag to your troubles.

11:49 / 24.06.03

Bastarding health laws!!!!

I'll see them destroyed when I re-imerge from the radiated vitamin-vat as Pharmactor!!