I have to get up early for classes a few days a week. Never have I found it easy to drift off to sleep when the need arises, but recently it’s become somewhat annoying. For the past 6 weeks I have been consistently working with 1-4 (occasionally zero) hours of sleep per night prior to my two class-heavy days of the school week. These are crucial days throughout which long classes and labs are spread.
Melatonin doesn’t help although it gives me bizzaro-land dreams when I can get some sleep.
On those nights, I keep the room as dark as possible leading up to bedtime, restricting cell phone/screen usage after 10pm unless it’s homework, etc. Basically I do the common-sense things. I also can get to sleep without incident on weekends and on the eves of days with a lighter class load. A psychologist I am not, but I think that stressing about the next heavy day of classes clamps my head in a vice grip.
Does any one know if a shot or three of whiskey (or similar alcohol) as part of a bedtime routine helps with this kind of sleep problem? Would it blunt the edge of my apprehension? I would greatly appreciate any advice you guys have on getting to sleep.
I’ve learned to function—albeit robotically—with poor/no sleep but I swear I’d be a damn wizard if I could sleep halfway right!
I am also aware that inebriation actually leads to crappy sleep, but getting sh!t-hammered off my rocker is not the goal. I drink about a dozen beers a year so I’d like to hear from people that may have more experience with this sort of thing.
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked gets the job done for me most nights. You might asked you medical professional about Trazodone. It helped me through a rough patch of insomnia a few years back and still use occasionally after a particularly stressful day. It won’t make you sleepy, but if you take one when you first start getting tired, it helps me relax enough to actually fall asleep.
You should also consider non-chemical methods like meditation. It has done wonders for my overall stress level and quality of life.
A couple of tots might, alcohol effects different people different ways.
I’m a long time insomniac and was advised by my doctor that {barring any other medication) a small tumbler of spirit could relax me but any more would likely have the other effect of keeping my mind going and difficulty getting to sleep.
If it’s for a short time try asking a doctor if he thinks a relaxant might help.
In-ear earphones playing music you like may help, it does me.
@cellguy
Woodford Reserve looks downright fancy. I’ll have to give it a whirl sometime! Meditation sounds like an avenue I should explore.
@rojos
I’ve heard that about Faulkner. I have a friend who adores his work—maybe I’ll borrow his copy of The Sound and the Fury and give it a shot :bigsmile:
@jack, kevin
I don’t drink beer often-but when I do, I prefer to try something I haven’t had before. Thanks!
Alcohol inhibits delta sleep which makes things worse over time, the longer you use it the more your cognitive function will deteriorate. The worse part is that you don’t realize it, our brains are very bad at judging the level of cognitive impairment caused by chronic sleep loss or chemicals.
The only way to deal with stress is to handle it, that may mean meditation, distraction, or simply spending time doing things with people that hold meaning to you.
All sleeping pills are addictive, and those that claim they are not really mean their addictiveness has not been proven yet. Alcohol is cross tolerant to benzodiazepine sleeping pills
I've been suffering through insomnia all my life. My problem is not in staying asleep, once I'm asleep, it takes quite a bit to wake me up, but like you in falling asleep.
Few things that help me, though I rarely use all at once;
Room must be dark. I mean completely dark. (At most one flashlight turned to sub lumen level :p)
White noise, personally I prefer a fan.
Some air circulation in the room, specifically a bit on my head/face.
Shower, and take care of other ablutions least 1 hour, but preferably 2 hours before bedtime.
Don't eat at least 3 hours before sleep. Try not to drink either, except water, and use the restroom half hour to an hour before you go to bed.
Lower light level an hour to half hour before sleep time.
Earplugs. This may seem redundant, but they really do help, even when things are seemingly quiet. The sound of your own heartbeat will also help you settle yourself. (Try a bit of bio-feedback see if you can slow your heart by slowing your breathing, and this will in turn calm you down.)
Set everything possible to timers to turn off. Or at the very least make sure you can turn off the light from your bed.
Select an activity that you find to be interesting but not too stimulating - another words something that will keep your brain from going into high gear but no so interesting that it will keep you up. Reruns of an old favorite show, or a book usually work for me.
With regards to alcohol, for sleep, I'm not a fan of it. If I drink enough to where it makes me drowsy, it will also be so much that it will affect the quality of sleep.
OTC pills, diphenhydramine variants mostly, don't help in my experience. I'm also not a fan of stronger medications, ambien can have the opposite effect, and actually keep you awake. Trazadone left me feeling like a zombie. The one I had the least trouble with was Sonata.
Also came across a few articles when I was looking for cheap options, and decided to try them out with that purpose.
The ones from Blublocker are actually not bad either, more comfortable, though not quite as good for lasers. And you end up looking geriatric with them on.
so what are these glasses for…to only block out blue light? or to just see everything in orange , and that helps put us to sleep? before i clicked on the link, i was expecting to see some really dark shades or one of those eye masks thingys.
Basically to block out light in the visible spectrum from roughly 390nm to 532nm. Blue light works to wake us up/keep up alert. Eliminating it helps reduce eye strain, promote relaxation. Also helps a great deal in that we're now days exposed to a lot more blue light than people in the past - every computer, tablet, and cell phone screen, you're seeing a significantly blue component.
I wanted to make a thread about it, try free f.lux software it will slowly change the color balance of your screen depending of your time zone.
Daylight is 6500k then goes to 3400k halogen light but you can very easily change the default values, I prefer 4500k color but its depend of your monitor and preference.
