Kiasmum, if I send you some instant cheese sauce, could you get onto that "world peace" thing and solve it? I had some oral surgery once, and the doctor gave me some pain medications with the warning it would make me sleepy. I took one pill and was tempted to call him at 3 a.m. while I was bouncing off walls to ask when the sleepy part kicked in!
Jane, I'm that same way with OTC cold medicines that have the warning that they make you drowsy. Drowsy? Say whut??? I feel like I'm on speed...or at least what I imagine speed feels like. I am practically vibrating with nervous energy!
I got a catnip plant the other day and since my cat never plays with catnip toys I was VERY surprised when she completely went on a trip from it. So out of curiosity at 5 in the afternoon I brew myself some catnip tea just to see if it really made you sleepy and I actually spent the rest of the evening in a bit of a daze!! It gave my brain that "heavy" feeling you get before you fall asleep. So to all the insomniacs out there: Get yourself some catnip!
I'm not a cat person, but my daughter and boyfriend are, and when I've seen their cats on a catnip high, they're hyper! Not zoned out at all but really crazy acting. I wonder if Catnip acts on cats differently? Like the supposed drowsy-inducing cold meds act on me?
Catnip is also known as 'Kitty Crack' they are usually so wound up they can not control themselves....then they crash and sleep for a while. For humans it can be a digestive aid, help with insomnia and it is an ingredient in many bug repellent products....so you can have a good meal and fall asleep knowing that you won't get termites.
I can't remember when I have had a full nights sleep, I don't think it was meant to be. I try to be very quiet because I don't want Issabella to think its morning. Her ears are so great at hearing every little noise. I count, I sing in my head and if I can't fall asleep, I go out on the couch so I don't wake my husband. Sometimes I put the TV on but usually there is nothing on. Many days I only sleep 3-4 hours. I would love to get up and bake or make something for the next day but then I would have everyone up in the house...so I sit quiet as a mouse and hope I fall back to sleep. In the summer when it is warm at least I can go outdoors as soon as it is light and start weeding or watering. One morning I ran into the neighbors pit bull in my yard and it growled at me....not a good way to start the morning...I turned around and went in because that is one dog, I won't mess with.
I don't have any problems falling asleep, but once I wake up I'm normally up for good.... no matter what time it is. This can be a good or bad thing. It gives me plenty of time to study my Bible in the quiet of the morning, but if I wake up real early, say 3 am or so, I'm so tired by the time evening finally gets here that I'm useless mentally and just want to go to bed early. The bad thing is that if I go to bed early I wake up even earlier, no matter how tired I might have been. It can be quite frustrating, but I've learned how to deal with it. After reading everyone else's response I'm actually encouraged to find other early risers.
Hi all. This is a great subject. Did you know that watching TV or being on your computer messes with your sleep. Can't explain it all, but I know for me that is so true. The article I read said that if one needs to watch TV, or be online one hour before you go to bed. You should get a pair of sunglass with orange lenses. COME ON NOW---I hear all the snickering. But it really works for me. I use to go too bed and toss and turn for hours before I would fall asleep. Then feel like I had been rung through a ringer. My hubby and I also take 300mg of Magnesium an hour before we go to bed. There are a lot of natural things to take to help you sleep. But give the sunglasses a try. Orange you glad I mentioned it.
It seems like the older I get the less sleep I need and, if I get 4 or 5 hours of sleep and wake up then I know I'm may as well get started on the day. If Mike is still asleep I'll read, work on puzzles, plan on what I want to change in the gardens, or go on Stew to see what everyone else is doing.
We sleep with a window air conditioner running in summer and a fan in the window during winter so there is always 'white noise' in our room to block out traffic, dogs, air planes (when the wind is out of a certain direction we are under the landing path for Dallas Love Field Airport a few miles away) and other city noises so when I get up before Randy, which is weekends and his days off, I don't have to worry about waking him up. Our house is small so there isn't a great distance between the bedroom and the other side of the house but with the 'white noise' in the bedroom there is no chance of my bothering him with the TV, computer or even doing dishes. If you sleep in a totally silent room, white noise will help out a lot on those sleepless nights when you need to get up.
When I can't sleep or get waken in the night I listen to a guided meditation. (YouTube or one off my iPad) I don't think I have ever gotten to the end of one. For some reason these put me right to sleep.
I do that too Jewell. There's a 'Body Scan' one from Jon Kabat-Zinn that puts me right out. The other thing I do is a boring word game: A is for _____, B is for____ etc I choose some kind of theme (sometimes even plants or trees!, states of the union, countries,etc). I time the letter & words with a breath in & a breath out. It is very boring & usually does the trick.
