Any suggestions for help sleeping through the night?

[tbb113]

Timely thread. I received the following information in a mailing from the local hospital. Women are twice as likely as men to have insomnia.
Causes:
stress, trying to do to much (juggling too many roles), 30% of working women have problems sleeping, Pregnancy issues, physical and hormonal changes of meopause (2 out of 3 women experince problems sleeping because of this). Rotating and night shifts, inactivity, depression and anxiety and being overweight or obese

Get a good night's rest
Keep daily wakeup time the same, regardless of when you went to bed
Avoid long daytime nape
Use bed only for sleeping and sex
Set regular mealtimes, eat a balanced diet
Establish a bedtime routine, wear loose bed clothes
If you can't get to sleep within 30 minutes, get out of bed and read or listen to music
Get adequate daytime sunlight exposure

Follow these two rules before bed:
Avoid heavy/spicy meals, alcohol, caffeine or nicotine
Only engage in relaxing, soothing activites.

I know I read somewhere else to avoid tv and the computer before bed. The lit screen can screw up your going to bed/dark clues

[swedish cook]

I agree about avoiding the blue light from PC/laptop and TV. My electric alarm has red digits - green disturb me through closed eyelids (supposedly not just my imagination). I sleep best in a dungeon dark room

[Bawstinn]

There is also a sleep aid by Nature Made that is over by the supplements. It has melatonin as well as a few other things.

Melatonin does not work well for me (but then again I can only find 3 mg I think it is) but this works. Like melatonin I take it at least 1.5 hours before bed. No grogginess or anything in the morning.

[SusanL]

Hm, I have been taking Melantonin right before bed, I will be getting the Metarest this week-through Amazon, but will try taking Melantonin tonight 1.5hrs before bedtime. We now have the 10mg, DH has been using that. Will try that and see tonight. Thanks!

Will also look into the Magnesium, gosh, who knew all this? I do have the dark room and have been covering the alarm clock.

[wallycat]

Some people get headache relief from magnesium as well...
too much magnesium can cause diarrhea. Also if you are on blood pressure meds, monitor yourself as magnesium can lower blood pressure.
Good luck!!

[Yoga0829]

Rod Stryker's CD called Relax Into Greatness is the CD I use for yoga nidra. He has a fantastic voice that's very calming. Richard Miller also has a yoga nidra CD:

http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Yoga-...FYXe4Aod0TW5Ow

[Cherise]

I get my 10mg (and take 2 pills) on line (vitacost or swanson) but they sell 3 and 5 mg. at target or walmart or anyplace they sell vitamins. These are considered supplements even though in theory, they are hormones.

Thanks Ana. I found it this weekend and bought some 10mg for him. He's tried it the last 2 nights, and it seems like it might be helping. He said he still gets up several times in the night, but goes back to sleep, and has slept until 5am both mornings, which is good for him. Some days he's up at 2:30 or 3:00 am for the day otherwise. Will keep watching this for other ideas too. Thanks!

[Shugness]

Some people get headache relief from magnesium as well...
too much magnesium can cause diarrhea. Also if you are on blood pressure meds, monitor yourself as magnesium can lower blood pressure.
Good luck!!

I'm taking magnesium daily for muscle/joint pain I have that my doctor thinks is probably the onset of fibromyalgia. I've suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome for 20 years now, and apparently they go hand-in-hand. What I was reading then is a lot of people who have more constipation related IBS symptoms take magnesium to help with those issues, where as folks like me who have more diarrhea issues benefit from taking calcium. I read that taking Magnesium Glycinate supposedly has a more gentle affect on the digestive system than regular Magnesium - so that's what I've been taken for a few years now. It's not upsetting my stomach, has helped with muscle/joint pain, but I still have a lot of headaches although I've recently found drinking more water is helping reduce the amount of those I'm having.

ETA: The gal who originally sold the magensium glycinate at the health food store told me she takes it for restless leg syndrome and it was really helping her too!

[vbak]

Alteril! I saw this advertised on TV, and I started taking this last Saturday. The directions say to take 2 an hour or so before bed, but I only took one and that was no help. I took 2 the next night, and I'm sleeping 7-8 hours a night without feeling groggy in the morning. I wake up for a BR trip or two, and go back to sleep. Last night I slept 10 hours, although I had been up for 40 hours due to traveling. Even so, the PMs that we had been taking would not have provided that type of rest under the same conditions. It has L-tryptophan, melatonin, and something else. Just another thought for all of us sleep deprived people.

[Laurielee]

I have had sleep problem most of my life and since starting menopause two years ago it has been awful, I pretty much get no sleep 3 nights, I am so exhausted, I sleep one night. I tried melotonin and had horrible dreams. My chiro mentioned it was probably because of the dosage, the over counter was 500 mg. He said you should take no more than 100 mg.

I recently started using valerian root and it has really helped. I stillwake up at my usual 3 am but do go right back to sleep.

Vbak, I just googled Alteri, it does have valerian in it, but also melitonin, I am trying to found how much but not having much luck.

Laurie