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Trouble Sleeping at Night?
A huge part of taking care of our physical and mental health is making sure we are getting adequate sleep at night. Lately, especially since being out of the hospital, I have been having a harder time staying asleep and my sleep is often interrupted. I wish I could just hit the pillow after a long and exhausting day, but the sometimes at night, my thoughts wander and get the best of me.
I have found that doing a relaxing activity like coloring or reading an hour before bed helps to calm my mind and makes it easier for me to fall asleep. If there are stressors on my mind that I seem to be obsessing over, I like to write them down and get them out on paper so they aren’t swimming around in my mind and keeping me up. Something that has also been helpful for me is limiting my screen time on my phone about 45 minutes before bed and I try to shut the TV off before that too.
Do you struggle with getting to sleep or staying asleep? What are some things that help your mind relax before bed to help you have a better night?
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12 Replies
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yes my mom is also going through the same. Especially more during the winters as it really gets dry here but doesn’t look like humidifier helps her much. She also says she doesn’t know why her mind wanders when she is actually tired and wants to sleep.
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Jay,
That’s hiw mine gets sometimes too! With this condition there certainly is a lot to think about and a lot of stressors. Does she enjoy reading or even doing something like crossword puzzles or wordsearches? Just something to get her mind off of things that may be troubling her before bed? After a few minutes of trying to do wordsearches I can sleep pretty easily lol! Too much brain work for me !
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Greetings
I have trouble at night waking up about two hours. I usually take an over the counter sleep aid called Midnight. It helps a little. A cycle of waking up then going into lite sleep then awake again is frustrating. I may have a lower back pain or I go bed worrying about how I am going to handle the next day with my PAH. What happens is that I’ll get sleepy in mid morning and give in for about an hour. It may also have something to do with depression. Most friends of mine at my age have sleep problems.I do read some just before I turn out the light. That helps. If I am wide awake I will take a small dose of tranquilizer and that knocks me out for three or four hours. I’d prefer not to. Well that’s my contribution. I do have sleep apnea and have oxygen with the CPAP.
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Hi Randolph,
I understand what you’re experiencing. I get a lot of intereupted sleep too. Sleep can definitely start to impact mental health when it consistently is interrupted or if you’re not getting enough sleep. I’m glad that reading helps you a little and wish there was a good answer that would help with this 100% but I’m sure there are so many factors that impact sleep and unfortunately a lot of it can be beyond our control. You are doing the right things by taking medication if you need to. Have you tried any natural sleep aides like teas before bed such as lavender or chamomile tea? For some this can be a natural relaxant.
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Hi Britannia, that’s a great idea. Let me try it with her. Thanks much 😊
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Let me know how it works out ! Glad to help !
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I also, have trouble waking up after 2-3 hours of sleep. I don’t have much trouble going to sleep, staying there is hard. After I wake I can get up drink a glass of milk and go right back to sleep. And start the process all over again. I seem to have very vivid and some what strange dreams when I take my medications late in the day. Does anyone else have these vivid dreams?
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Hi Cindy,
It depends on the medications I’m taking. Sometimes when I take my anxiety meds for bed (Klonipin) i have pretty vivid dreams . I woke up more and had more interrupted sleep before I started using my Bipap. The Bipap seemed to help with that but unfortunately I have been vomiting due to an abnormality with my esophagus so haven’t been able to wear it for the past month but have noticed more waking up in the middle of the night. Sometimes when I’m over tired I have very vivid dreams too. Usually they are more bizarre vs nightmares. Are yours like nightmares? Do your dreams wake you up from a sleep and make it hard to go back to bed ? Mine will if I think too much about them.
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Between the drugs, the CPAP, frequent temperature swings, anxiety, worry it is hard to sleep all night. I take so many medications that I am afraid of adding the prescribed sleep aids.
I read printed books, soak in epsom salt and essential oils, take short walks with my 4 youngest grandkids.
Try to clear my mind, finally in bed my midnight, sleep by 1:00 AM , woke by 5:00 AM and spend next 3 hrs tossing and turning.If you are using essential oils , check for interactions with your prescribed medications. My next thing is meditation
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Hi Jimi,
I hope you are able to find something that helps you with some nighttime relief. It’s true that before taking any type of sleep aid , even if its over the counter or something more natural like essential oils, always consult with the doctors first and even a pharmacist. It sounds like you are doing all the right things like reading, clearing your head by going for a walk, taking baths etc. And it must be frustrating to not get much benefit from it! There are some good meditaton apps on the phone so maybe take a look at some of those today or do a bit of research and let me know if you find anything worth trying !
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I have LOTS of anxiety at night … not about the night itself or about darkness, but about TRYING to get to sleep. When I don’t have to work the next day, I don’t worry at all. I just go to sleep whenever it happens, knowing I can sleep until I’m ready to get up. On work nights, it’s a whole different story. Some of my anxiety is from PTSD (a bad post-surgical experience where I wound up on a ventilator.) I can’t stand anything covering my mouth and/or nose. It makes me crawl out of my skin and feel that I’m going to suffocate. Soooooo, I am non-compliant with a bi-pap or c-pap for sleep apnea (despite many attempts) and I absolutely hate to put on the cannula for my night oxygen. I’d rather avoid ever going to sleep at all if it means I don’t have to put anything on my face or have forced air. Silly, I know, but I haven’t been able to overcome it. I’ll take a xanax (very lowest dose) as a last resort. But typically I’ll do word puzzles, because they relax me. The bad part is, I’m doing them on my phone, and I know electronic devices absolutely should be avoided in the winding down period before bed. That part is a bad habit I truly need to break.
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Hi Robin,
I completely understand what you mean by having things covering your face and giving you anxiety. I also have PTSD and a lot of the times it has been hard for me to wear bipap and cpap especially after a recent hospital stay because it makes me feel like I’m back in the hospital and I will wake up with nightmares thinking that I am, especially when I wake up with the mask on my face. Something that has helped me to be more compliant with the CPAP and BIPAP therapy is using it during the day to start to help my body adjust to wearing it at night so it doesn’t feel as trapping. I also downloaded the app that helped me to track my sleep and allowed me to see when I was starting to improve. The small improvements that I was visually able to see helped me agree to start doing the therapy more and it really made a difference. Currently I am not using it because I have been throwing up and regurgitating due to an issue with my aorta that needs repairing.Something that might help you with the crossword or word puzzle problem that you are doing on your phone is going to the dollar store and picking up some puzzles to do! They are so cheap there and it’s easy to just get what you want for puzzles! Let me know if you end up making stop there. I know the light from the screens is terrible for at night and just add to my trouble sleeping.
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