So tired!

It might be worth trying different kinds of tablets but the lighter one can run out by about 4am so you might have to take them again.
Sometimes I just give in to it and get up and make a cup of tea and watch TV a bit. Then I sometimes fall asleep about 5am. Luckily it doesn't matter what time I get up but I prefer to get up by 8ish.
If you try all the usual things together, winding down, no drink after 9pm (or even 8), hot bath half hour before going to bed, making sure the bed is comfortable etc. it can make it easier but I find most things only work temporarily.
People do sleep less when they are older. If I go to bed early, I wake up at 5am.

1. Counting backwards every alternative letter from 299 and if you hesitate or get it wrong you have to start all over again from the beginning.

2. Repeating a single word at random intervals.

Both methods, repeated silently in your mind, succeed in clearing your mind as you are unable to think clearly while concentrating more on ‘boring’ yourself to sleep, as I call it. Got me through nearly 30 years of shift work.

Last night I tried everything I could think of to send me to sleep. Nothing worked, counting, reciting poetry, sleep sounds on Alexa (which is usually good).
I went to bed as usual. Nothing different. I wasn't hungry, didn't have reflux, thought I was tired, ha! No sleep came until after 4am.
Consequently, I didn't get up until nearly 11am.
It's okay for me as I don't have work to go to, and DH is very understanding. However, it's really annoying, and I was getting angry with myself.
Fortunately it isn't every night.
My DGC have melatonin as they have autism and lack the sleep inducing hormone. I tried it once, it didn't help.
I'm going for a walk this afternoon to tire myself for tonight.

sunseeker
Ever considered asking your GP for a blood test ?this can in a multitude of cases answer why this, why that, and what needs doing about it.?

Hello there.
For the past month I have been taking one of these a day and for the last week or so I have been getting 7 hours of sleep on the whole.You can get them from Amazon and most chemists etc.

Sunseeker...I read your post and without reading any of the answers youve received I rushed straight to answer you myself. I average 3/4 hours of sleep a night ...and that not unbroken.. This has now gone on 23 years! I look after my invalid husband (23 years)...and worked 6 hours a day til recently. I tried every remedy in the book and some that weren’t. So I just stop fighting my sleep patterns and let it happen. If I sleep ....all well and good ...if I dont...I don’t! But when I stopped fighting it I stopped caring. I still nurse my husband ( who is becoming more tiresome daily) ...and I find he gives me more stress than the lack of sleep. I know it’s easier said than done but too much is talked about how much sleep we have. I am fit...healthy...try to walk three miles a day( time allowing) look after grandkids twice a week...on those days I cycle or walk 8 miles. I am better physically than I was before the sleep ‘problem’ kicked in! I’m saying that the stress you give yourself through what you consider lack of sleep...is causing you problems , not the lack of sleep itself. If you can ... just let it all wash over you...it worked for me! And at 4.30 in the morning ( my usual time to get up) I could quote you Pythagoras !!

Melatonin is what the body produces to enable sleep. I have a melatonin capsule and sleep much better than I used to, without having that sleeping pill ‘hang over’ feeling the next day.
The capsules are available to buy on the internet and will be with you within a week.
I no longer get RLS either, which used to drive me crackers.

Good luck, I hope you get a decent sleeping pattern soon, it’s awful trying to function on such little sleep xx

I had RLS all my life that drove me crazy. I decided to give up caffeine for others reasons (forget why now) but the difference it made to my RLS was amazing. I now very rarely get it. The prebiotic that Michael Mosley used was called ‘Bimuno’.

I’m a pretty good sleeper most of the time but occasionally I have real difficulty falling asleep. What works for me is a bit of reverse psychology.
Instead of lying awake with my eyes shut trying to doze off, I force myself to keep them open. Gradually, they become heavier and heavier and start to close and each time this happens I open them again. Eventually, it all becomes too much of a struggle to keep them open and I stop fighting to stay awake and fall fast asleep. It may not work for everyone but it may help.

CBD, cHemp oil is now legal.
cbd.co.uk/collections/cbd-oil-drops
The 1000 mg drops, nice flavours. Put 2 or 3 drops on your tongue. You can experiment and see how many works. It relaxes you. It is not a sleep remedy always but it removes the discomfort of pain, like arthritis, and stops you worrying if you were. It is not hallucinogenic, it just has the part of the oil that is not. Not psychoactive.

My husband was prescribed iron tablets for his RLS and they have worked.

Are you well enough to take regular outdoor exercise ? That often helps.

One thing you didn't mention is getting up and doing something for an hour or so then going back to bed. I find it helpful.

i only get 3-4 hours a night sleep,i also go to work at 3.30 am. I have an hours sleep when I get home then I am back in bed at 6 o clock in the evening. I cannot remember the last time I slept more than 4 hours at night ,even when I have been away. now I am getting told it may be the menopause causing this now what do I do.

I really feel for you, lack of sleep is so draining. I have no advice medical wise but I do find reading a good book before turning off the light really helps me. I hope you find something that works for you.

Three ideas which might work.
1) Make yourself a hop flower pillow.
(I don’t know why smelling of beer works but it does)
2) Switch off. Clear your mind.Don’t think of anything at all
Your brain gives up and you will get to sleep!
3) If they don’t work, get up and make a cup of tea ,read a book for a short while and then go back to bed.

Bar of toilet soap in bed has cured RLS for me. Sounds nuts, I know, but I was desperate and read an article somewhere. Bingo! Also I very seldom eat after 1800 other than perhaps a milky drink. I regularly manage 5/6 hours deep sleep and the remainder fitfully which suits me fine.

Not sleeping well is so common - I also suffer from it. What makes me very angry is when we are told that not sleeping well is bad for our health. We don’t choose this problem and get very little help to alleviate it.i can only sympathise, as I have no suggestions.

I try to go to bed at roughly the same time each night. I am a cold person so I use a hot water bottle, have a shower, go to bed to read a book and stroke my cat. I try to turn out the light each night at midnight and attempt to fall asleep using the same method- ie turning on my left-hand side and I then start to count to 10. I am asleep long before 10 most nights.

I have supper around 7.30 pm have a cup of coffee and try not to drink anything after that. I only drink coffee and it does not appear to affect me.

Several people have mentioned Magnesium tablets, I use a Magnesium spray which you use on your feet and find that works.

Rescue Remedy Night works for me on many nights. Worth a try.

I use a white noise machine, I think you can also get aps that do the same thing, produce a continuous low sound. It takes a little while but your brain will associate the noise with sleeping and it helped me not only to go to sleep, but also to sleep through the neighbours getting up in the early hours every day. I also keep off the caffeine in all forms, tea as well as coffee, after late morning (use de-caff tea). Then eating three hours before bed, reading for an hour before lights out and keeping the bedroom cool and dark seem to help. If I wake up in the early hours I take a valerian tablet from Boots. I do use melatonin if I get a run of bad nights, or for jet lag. It works very well, but seems to be controversial in the UK. My son lives in the US and all their health food stores are knee deep in melatonin products, drinks, food, tablets. Apparently Americans believe its beneficial. I buy a pack of low dose tablets when I visit and make sure I only use them for three nights maximum.

I would like to know if there are any grandma ? groups that get together in my area for chats and a coffee, I live in the Wembley area of London.

Ah well if a cooling body temperature aids sleep that's why I don't sleep well. As soon as I lay down I begin to sweat I get extremely hot my body, hair bedding etc wet through. Is it still the menopause? Even my GP doesn't know. One GP said I should be through that by now!

sunseeker I see that BradfirdLass and ginny42 have recommended magnesium, which is a muscle relaxant and I would recommend that too.

Magnesium helps to prevent night cramps, which I suffer with. Normally I would take it in tablet form but recently someone gave me magnesium powder in water and I slept all night for once; I've not investigated where I can buy it in the UK.

sunseeker I see that you tried magnesium and it didn't work

Did you try the powder?
I can't say that magnesium in tablet form helped me to sleep better but certainly I slept right through 8 hours) after taking the soluble powder.