Sleeping troubles - need suggestions!

[Maggie May]

So, I've always been the type to sleep like a rock. I mean a ROCK. In college my roomates even had a megaphone they'd use to yell things at me to see if I'd sleep through it. Yep...

Anyway, I had been living with my parents and they bought me a new mattress about 2 years ago. It's awesome. But this past September, I got married and moved in with my husband. We took my lovely mattress over so I'm still sleeping on the same bed.

Since then, I've been having the hardest time sleeping. I realize it's different sleeping with someone else in the same bed, but even before I moved in and I'd stay over on occasion, I wouldn't have this much trouble sleeping. Now, I wake up during the night, and I wake up at about 4:30-5:00am almost every day. My alarm isn't set until 6:15. GRR!!

Does anyone have any suggestions?? I usually take a 5-HTP supplement and was taking magnesium for a while - should I start taking those again?

For reference, we go to bed about 10:30 every night, and I work out in the evenings. (between 5:30-6:30pm) I've ALWAYS worked out in the evenings and it's never bothered me before. And, my job is pretty low-stress so I don't think it's that I'm super stressed out or anything.

Thoughts!?!? Thanks in advance!

[This is Seth]

Do you read before bed? As much as this is a cliche, there's actual logic behind why it works. Nowadays everyone is up watching tv or on their computer screens that are bombarding our eyes with lights and color. That's makes the brain think that it's day time and it should still stay in active mode. A book's page is much less taxing and allows the brain to start to turn off slowly.

And I've always had trouble sharing beds with people. I've always had trouble sleeping, period. I wake up every two hours and have come to think that it's normal. I just roll over and go back to sleep...

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Funny, I just found these links and sent them to my wife this morning.

http://lifehacker.com/5874249/take-breaks-during-the-day-to-help-you-sleep-better-at-night

http://lifehacker.com/309030/top-10-ways-to-sleep-smarter-and-better

http://simplelifehabits.com/healthy-habits/8-ways-to-develop-good-sleeping-habits

[Sloth the Enduring]

Zinc, magnesium, and Vit.B (I forget which one) are catalysts in the pathway that turns tryptophan into melatonin and seratonin. Taking this has worked wonders for me, much better than taking melatonin itself. If you were sleeping better when you were taking magnesium, it is definitely worth a shot to try it again.

*Zinc, Mg, & vit. B are also sold as ZMA, but it is cheaper to buy them separately and ZMA often has valerian in it which gives me a fuzzy, unrestful sleep.

[161803398874989]

Working out from 5:30 to 6:30 ought to work, but you may want to try to push that back a little bit further.

Why were you taking 5-HTP, anyway? I know it increases the vividness of dreams, but it's not like your body doesn't produce it by itself. As far as I know, magnesium doesn't really have an effect on sleeping (I don't see why it would either), but supplements is not really my area of expertise.

Also, your rhythm may be adapting. The female body is a mess of hormones (not in a bad way) and is constantly subject to change. Thus, it may be possible that this is a very natural change in your sleeping rhythm. Ask around your group of friends, maybe? Also, as you get older, the amount of time you spend sleeping gets shorter, although almost everyone can learn to sleep 10 hours per day. 10:30 to 5:00 is 6.5 hours. Some people just don't need any more than that. I know a few people that can go easily on 5 or 6 hours, while I can't get by without at least 8 hours and I know people who need longer than 8 hours. Point is, it varies a lot between people and you may want to consider staying up a bit later.

As for waking up during the night, we all do after a sleeping cycle has ended and there are around 5 of those during the night. Usually these are only microawakenings though (less than 3 minutes) and most people tend to forget them. Usually when people remember them or when they last longer it's due to motivation (some people like to journal their dreams) or to a stressor. Stressors can vary from person to person. Nightmares are a common source, but thinking about unfinished work ("I still need to finish that paper for school", "I need to send my boss that email", etc.) and the like work just as well.

My main advice would be two-fold:

1) Be consistent. If you go to bed, go to bed at the same time. If you wake up and it isn't time to get up yet, don't get up. Just close your eyes and relax. Sometimes you have to teach your body when it's time to sleep.

2) Don't stress the awakening during the night much, thinking: "oh, I'm awake again, dammit!". That just leads to a vicious cycle.

Sleeping is a relaxing activity, something you should be glad to do. Sleeping is a broad word. It doesn't always mean you close your eyes, lose consciousness, that your EEG shows theta activity, yada yada. That's 'sleep'. In bed, you can also doze a little, indulge in some fantasizing, think about random stuff, that kind of stuff. It's how I get to sleep most of the time and even though I don't need more than 8 hours of sleep (provided I wake up with daylight), it's really easy for me to sleep 12 hours.

Hope that helped a bit.

[Maggie May]

Working out from 5:30 to 6:30 ought to work, but you may want to try to push that back a little bit further.

Why were you taking 5-HTP, anyway? I know it increases the vividness of dreams, but it's not like your body doesn't produce it by itself. As far as I know, magnesium doesn't really have an effect on sleeping (I don't see why it would either), but supplements is not really my area of expertise.

Also, your rhythm may be adapting. The female body is a mess of hormones (not in a bad way) and is constantly subject to change. Thus, it may be possible that this is a very natural change in your sleeping rhythm. Ask around your group of friends, maybe? Also, as you get older, the amount of time you spend sleeping gets shorter, although almost everyone can learn to sleep 10 hours per day. 10:30 to 5:00 is 6.5 hours. Some people just don't need any more than that. I know a few people that can go easily on 5 or 6 hours, while I can't get by without at least 8 hours and I know people who need longer than 8 hours. Point is, it varies a lot between people and you may want to consider staying up a bit later.

Thanks so much everyone! And to the above, I can't really push back my workouts because I go to a CrossFit class and there are set times :/ Also, I used to go to bed closer to 11 or 11:30, but my husband gets up at 5:45, so he likes his routine of going to bed at 10:30. I suppose I could just go to bed later than him, but he's a very light sleeper and he'd wake up when I got into bed.

I will look into the zinc & magnesium & vit B, thanks! (I work for a supplement company so I have everything right here... score!)

[tazer]

i make a knockout tea for nights i have a hard time winding down:

- two parts dried catnip (from the bulk herb section of your natural foods store, not the walmart pet department!)

- two parts chamomile

- 1/2 part valerian

- 1/2 part skullcap

- 1 part lavender

- 1/2 part rose hips

you can mess around with the ratios to taste, but that is what i've found works best.

i also agree with what bunchofnumbers said - maybe your body just doesn't need that much sleep?

[161803398874989]

i also agree with what bunchofnumbers said - maybe your body just doesn't need that much sleep?

I was like: "Who's this bunchofnumbers and what's he doing, stealing my quotes?"

And then I got that it was me. You can call me Phi.

[jdanger]

GHB

[161803398874989]

GHB

Pretty much one of the better things you can do to screw up your neurochemistry and thus your sleep.

[adampm]

How do you feel when you wake up at those times? Do you feel well rested and ready to go or are you dragging?

[Maggie May]

How do you feel when you wake up at those times? Do you feel well rested and ready to go or are you dragging?

Well, I've never been the type to spring out of bed "ready to go." Haha. But, I guess I don't feel awful. I did contemplate just "getting up and staying up" when that happened... but usually I feel the magnetic pull of my bed.

[adampm]

Sounds like me on the weekends. I may wake up the first time at 7:00 or so but usually just close my eyes and crash out a few more hours.

If it's around the same time every morning it may be an external noise. (The garbage truck at my old apartment was killer). Or maybe your body is just telling you it's all rested and ready to go.

[oystergirl]

This is something you can look into. Do you have a lot of electronics in your bed room? EMR fields can cause SERIOUS sleep issues in individuals who are sensitive to them. An electric blanket that clicks on or a computer that starts to run a scan or a digital clock by your head can cause disturbances in your brain waves. Make sure your room is as dark as possible, move all electronics from the top of your bed to across the room. Check to see if there are a lot of electrical wires running through to wall behind your bed. If you slept really well before and haven't changed much up in your diet or lifestyle this is something to look into.

[Guest Snake McClain]

i havent had trouble sleeping since high school so this idea is foreign to me. literally i close my eyes and pass out. *shrug*

[Maggie May]

i havent had trouble sleeping since high school so this idea is foreign to me. literally i close my eyes and pass out. *shrug*

Yeah, I used to!! Which is why this is so frustrating to me. I can't figure it out other than the fact that I'm sleeping next to someone now. Room is pretty dark, no bright clocks or anything. I use one of those wake-up lights that gradually turns on to imitate the sunrise, too!