Getting a good nights sleep

[contrarymary]

What do other members do when the rest of the household is asleep and they are wide awake.

I go to bed same time most nights fall asleep quite easily but wake up about an hour later thinking I have been asleep for hours and then can't get back to sleep, have tried getting up and making tea or reading.

usually I end up lying awake for hours clock watching and then fall asleep again.

i am a type 2 diabetic and 65 spoke to GP says it's because I am getting older so need less sleep but it's now impacting on my life.

have tried going to bed later did not make much difference and because I lie awake I get agitated because I can't sleep

anyone with similar issue and what have they found helps

[Nimi]

Hi Mary!

Ah, yes. I have the same problem! I hope you are doing okay, it's certainly really frustrating.

Something that I have found helps me is keeping a book near me so that I can read it and take my mind off of thinking "I can't sleep!" Other times I like to write down in a journal some things that are on my mind, so that way my brain will hopefully leave me alone and let me sleep.

I've read a few things about how coming up with a 'sleeping ritual' will help, like slowly powering yourself down in the evening by doing activities that remind you of sleep, such as having hot tea or more reading in bed. I haven't found those work for me, but I suppose it is different for everyone!

I hope some of those ideas are helpful and wish you all the best!

[Ggrand]

Hello Mary..

I used to have the same problem...

What works for me is listening to gentle sleep stories for adults...which is spoken in a soft voice which are about beautiful peaceful places...The children’s sleep stories are really animated voiced and hard to relax....Maybe Mary..you could search you tube...Dan Jones sleep stories...and give that a try.....I hope it works for you as much as it does for me...

We also have a thread topic “sleep” which has some brilliant ideas from other community members to what they found helpful.....just search “sleep” in the search bar top right hand corner of this page...Feel free to contribute, read or join in the conversation....

I hope I’ve helped you a bit Mary...

My Care, kindness and hugs beautiful lady..🦋🌹🤗..

Grandy..

[ecomama]

Hi Mary

I remedied these by:

* removing all clocks from my bedroom.

* doing alot of physical activity during the day till found the 'right' balance to help me sleep. Gardening is great!

* if I wake up with thoughts going on, then without turning on any lights, I reach over and scribble one word for me to look at tomorrow and solve.

* having a long hot bath with relaxing music is HIGHLY recommended lol. I like hang drum music.

* eating dinner around 4-5 hours before bedtime. Make it a light enough dinner till the 'right' balance is found.

* having a piece of fresh fruit for dessert about an hour before bed.

* turning all lights in the house down low around 2h before bed time.

* since I've avoided all caffeine, even black tea, and replaced with herbal teas, things have greatly improved.

🙂
EM

[SarahZ]

Hello Contrarymary,

Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry to hear you have been having some sleep difficulties recently. I can also relate from previous experience!

I find what works best for me is, rather than lying awake and waiting to fall back asleep, I usually get up and go into another room and read a book. After reading for a short time I find myself naturally feeling tired and heading back to bed. Previously I would just lie in bed and turn back and forth until I fell asleep; however, sometimes this took hours and made me feel somewhat distressed that I couldn’t fall back asleep. I found by physically getting up and relocating to another room and engaging in some reading made me sleep better. Obviously moving to another room disrupts your sleep patterns quite a bit so maybe experiment with different methods to see what suits best for you.

Wishing you all the best and sending you positive thoughts!