Broken sleep

Beware Night Nurse if you have high blood pressure. it's not recommended. Ditto Day Nurse.

I used to wake up at 3.30am most nights. I'd visit the bathroom and then usually read my book until I was sleepy again. I managed to break that pattern. I don't want to suggest it's easy but here are my own ways of tackling it. They work sometimes but not every time:

1. I limit hot drinks to 9.30pm at the latest. (I go to bed around 11.30pm.) This often helps me not to wake up for the loo. Occasionally, I do have a later cup of tea and don't wake up for the loo. Weird!

2. I tell myself three times as I switch off the light, "I will wake up refreshed at 8.30am." (Or other chosen time.) This often works.

3. If I do wake up for the loo, I try not to put any lights on. Lights wake you up! Plug in night lights are good for finding the way to the bathroom and avoiding tripping over the dog! These lights don't emit the blue wavelength that stimulates wakefulness. When I get back to bed, I avoid reading. I lie down straight away and tell myself three times (mentally), "I'll go back to sleep now." That usually works because it breaks the pattern of expecting you'll not get back to sleep.

4. I try my best not to worry and fret about it.

5. I resist napping during the day. I'm not sure it makes a difference, though. I do it really because, as a child, we'd often visit my grandparents. One by one the adults would drop off to sleep. We children would sit under the big kitchen table and listen to the snoring and the big clock tick-tocking and were so bored. The only light relief was seeing the several sets of false teeth that slipped as the grown-ups' mouths dropped open. My nana used to surreptitiously remove hers and put them in her apron pocket to avoid this embarrassment! I vowed then that I would never nap.

6. No tech in the bedroom! No phone, e-reader or TV. You'll hear the phone if it rings in the hall or wherever. How often has it rung in the night over the last decade?

7. If all else fails, I put the light on and read my book!

Can’t help I’m afraid.... I don’t fall asleep til about 1 a.m. then awake at 3.30.... I’m full of beans and walk at least three miles a day, as well as caring for invalid husband, shopping, all the gardening, all the housework and fetching grandkids from school 2/3 times a week....all achieved without a car!

I’m still having night sweats and they sometimes wake me up several times a night, Then I can’t get back to sleep. My mind starts going over stupid things .I won’t go back on HRT because I just get sorted with it and then there’s a “problem” and they take me off it. Then the hot flushes and night sweats come back worse than ever.

GP recommended Phenergan tablets, available over the counter at pharmacies, and they helped. After a few nights, though, they can leave you a bit zonked out during the day so I don't take them every night.

I used to wake up in the night when I was so stressed about my grandson who I thought was autistic but his parents didn't seem to have any idea. Eventually, I started putting on relaxing sea sounds and deliberately doing relaxation exercises the moment I woke. The longer I left it, the harder it was to settle back to sleep. I gradually got back into the swing of sleep. Now my mother is slipping into dementia and frustrating everything we try to do for her, my adult child is having terrible problems with their family and, although I cope during the day, I am finding the stress disturbs my sleep. I think I am going to have to go back to my music and relaxation exercises.

I take Piriton (or a substitute) when I’ve had a run of bad nights... works miracles for me...!!!!

The programme about sleep is called ‘The Truth About Sleep‘ and was broadcast by the BBC in 2017. The whole programme is on Dailymotion.com. I didn’t put the link on here in case it is against forum rules but it is easy to find.

I use a space mask. They are so good. You open it up out of the sealed packet and put it over your eyes. Instantly this lovely warmth comes from it and I guarantee you will fall into a dreamy sleep. Great for migraine sufferers too, which is why I had them originally.
www.spacemasks.com

I was put on sleeping pills as a young woman of 25. My doctors routinely prescribed them. After 25 years I took myself off them and did not sleep any worse. I am now nearly 80. I'm a night owl and dont go to bed until about 1 am. It is quite a comfort to know that when I wake up at 3 or 4 am there are thousands of other people waking up too. I go back to sleep again fairly quickly and wake up at about 7 am. We have all got to an advanced age regardless of how many hours we sleep, so don't worry about it.

When I can't get back to sleep I try to think what I would do with a large lottery win. Daft really as I don't buy a ticket! But I find it sends me to sleep.

minxie

Back in I think the 17/18th century. People used to have what was called a first sleep and a second sleep. They would naturally wake up and get up and do whatever before returning back to bed for a second sleep. I sometimes wonder if this imbedded in us as sometimes I wake in the night for no reason. It’s an interesting subject

Yes, Michael Mosley did a Programme on sleep and mentioned this fact. It helped me not to feel stressed about waking after a few hours so I just read for a while then try to go back to sleep. I don’t get up and do something as I don’t want to disturb DH and our dog, if I was on my own I would get up for a while.

I have tried Melatonin in the past for jet lag and sleep problems but it didn’t have any effect at all for me. I occasionally take an antihistamine which helps to make me drowsy if I can’t get back to sleep at the second attempt.

Be careful of overdoing the lavender. If you use too much it can make you pass out. Case study was a women who used essential oils in the bath, candles, body lotion, room mist, and pillow spray. Husband called ambulance as he couldn't rouse her.

The worst thing you can do is worry about not getting enough sleep. You get the sleep you need, even if it is in two- or three-hour stretches. If you wake up, don't get out of bed and stimulate yourself by doing things like making tea or, worse still, watching tv, but use relaxation exercises to get yourself back to sleep. If ever I wake in the night (very rarely), I take myself on a journey from my holiday hotel to the beach, but I never get to the beach!

Try staying up for at least two hours longer at night.

When I do so, I then get an interrupted six hours.

When visiting an 18th house in New England (can't remember which state it was) we were told about the two sleep sessions. Apparently it was quite common for people to go out and rob people in the interim and then go home and go back to sleep! I don't advise this though Flutey1

I use valerian. It doesn't always give me a full night's sleep.
I find it cheaper to buy than Kalms.
If you Google you can get it from online chemists. Or if you're lucky enough to have a pound shop or B&M type store they often sell Sleepaid brand which is good too (and cheap).
Occasionally I use Amitriptyline if my IBS is the issue.
Valerian doesn't leave me with the hangover type effect that chemical drugs do because its the natural state. It does smell though as a down side.
You can also try CBD. Its expensive though.

I tend to manoeuvre to the very edge of the bed. I find I soon drop off.

I have downloaded the speeches of Sir Keir Starmer. If I wake in the night I switch them on. I am asleep again in minutes.

There is an excellent series of very short TED talks on sleep by someone who has researched it in depth and written a book for general readers. You can get a lot of his ideas by looking at the talks. Here is a link to one of them www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_6_tips_for_better_sleep
He doesn't think any 'sleep aids' are a good idea - they don't give you natural sleep, but there are lots of good ideas he offers. Good luck!

One a day Nytol is great. Buy it from the pharmacist. They recommend not taking it for more than a week but to be honest if I’ve had a bad run of not sleeping and feel desperate I take one for maybe two days at most and get back on track. Took one last night and slept like a baby ?

sounds like we should all come here and chat!

I read a chapter or two of my book, usually works to take my mind of all the things I've remembered I should be doing or shouldn't have done!!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I used to get up and do the ironing or do paperwork -now the thought of doing that sends me back to sleep just to avoid it. Seriously I find a banana at bedtime helps me stay asleep and my kindle or an audio book fill in the time pleasantly if I wake up. Try to enjoy the awake time.