how to deal with insomnia
 

I have a question for the commuters out there. Up until about a month ago I biked to work a few days a week. I have been doing it for two years now and love every minute of it. Lately, however I have had trouble sleeping. As my commute is 14 miles each way, I have to go to sleep earlier when I bike than when I drive. I have found when I have to get up at 6am, falling asleep at 1:00am-1:30am doesn't cut it, so usually I fall back to sleep to grab the extra half hour and end up driving. I need to start biking again or I will go crazy sitting in a car every day. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice on what to do?

eat a big dinner and get into bed afterwards. I'm always sleepy after I eat.

watch your caffine intake- cut it down. If I have caffine after 2:00 pm It will keep me up.
try some meditation - this really works.
don't stay up watching TV or computer, READ instead.

Get up and cycle to work even if you go to bed at 1 am. You probably won't have any trouble going to sleep that night.

I have trouble sleeping as well, and have learned a few things.

First of all, alcohol does not help. The less you drink, the better you will sleep. I am not happy to report this, by any means, but there it is.

Second, if you can't sleep, stretch. Sit up in bed, keep your legs pretty close to straight, grab your toes, and try to touch your chest to your knees. Bend from the hips, not the back. Do not bounce; just try to relax. Do this as long as you can stand it --five or ten minutes, maybe. When you lie back down, you'll sleep like a baby.

take a supplement called GABA. Puts me to sleep everytime and always wake up fully charged.

http://www.denvernaturopathic.com/news/GABA.html

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=570260

Another thread about insomnia active a day or two ago. It's not thread-necromancy if it hasn't been dead for 30+ days :)

Thanks for the advice (from both threads). With any luck tomorrow will see me on a bike...

cbchess - I am definately going to try to read instead of watching TV. I usually end up watching something after a little, so reading should be worth a shot.

+1

Bah that's a good answer.

There are a lot of standard recommendations for lifestyle modifications to combat insomnia, involving things like caffeine and food consumption, timing of exercise, keeping regular hours, etc. Are you aware of those and are you following those?

I am doing my best to follow all the standard stuff - I only have 1 cup of coffee a day now (always in the morning, never later in the day), try not to exercise within 2 hours of going to sleep, I TRY to get up the same times on weekends, but that doesn't always happen...

I also am not interested in alcohol/sleeping pills/supplaments/etc to help...I don't want to replace one problem with another.

I would just wake up with not enough sleep and do it anyway, but I need to be able to think straight at work...

Eat a turkey sandwich,works every Thanksgiving.

Drink a glass of warmed milk while watching C-Span... :D



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I would rather keep the insomnia

Keeping to a regular sleep schedule, including getting up at the same time on weekends, is really key. Other stuff to think about:

• How's your sleep environment? Dark enough, quiet enough, comfortable, free of disturbances, not too warm or stuffy?
• Do you take daytime naps?
• What do you do in the evenings before you go to work? Do you engage in activities that get you mentally wound up, like watching television or playing computer games?
• Do you smoke or consume alcohol before bed?
• Are you stressing? Are you finding that you can't calm your mind down?

Just an update - yesterday I picked up an outlet timer, so now my floor lamp is set to turn on at 6am every day, and that is hard to sleep through. I didn't get to sleep until 1:00am (again), but I got up this morning to bike in anyway. I liked the idea of just biking in no matter when I go to bed, hopefully I will eventually get tired enough to sleep longer.

You may not sleep better, but I have found a beer or two with dinner helps me to fall asleep.

1/2 dose of benadryl. Cheap and effective. Only use after you have been in bed trying to get to sleep for an hour.

I take melatonin on those nights when I can tell I'll have trouble passing out.

I recommend aiming for a bedtime of not later than 11pm. 10ish is better as that will get you 8 hours and getting up at 6 won't be much of a challenge. Don't hit the snooze button, set the clock to the time you have to get up.

For getting to sleep. As another post said, dark and quiet are essensial. A good pillow helps too. Don`t nap in the afternoon after 2:00pm.

If I'm wired, I prefer to read. Non-fiction history should knock just about anyone out. The best sleep inducing writer I've ever encountered is T.E. Lawrence.

I also find that audio books of any kind put me to sleep, particularly if the reader has an english accent. Out like a light in about two minutes.

When I travel I take a sleep-easy over the counter sleeping pill(s).