Sleep Tips- Not waking up at same time so early!

[limewave]

I had a similar issue and my doc thought it could be low blood sugar. He recommended eating a small snack witha bit of fat and protein: like a hardboiled egg or a couple of almonds. It did help . . . Hope you find a solution!

[solobiker]

I have a have had a hard time staying asleep for many years....close to 7. I have tried all of the OTC including Melatonin without success. My Dr. had me try Ambien and that did not work either. I can't tell you how many times I will fall asleep around 930/10 pm and wake up around midnight and stay awake for the remainder of the night. It is pretty frustrating. I think some of it is hormonal ( I am in my early 40s). So in short I feel for you Shootingstar. If you find something that works let me know!!

[Melalvai]

It will take more than just a weekend. Sugar detox is a great thing. Not just refined sugars, but white carbs: pasta, potatoes, bread, rice...it took me 8 days of feeling pretty bad, but after that it's really great. Much more energy, sleep better, wake up happy, lost almost 10 lbs. give yourself 30 days and see how it makes you feel.

Sorry, I didn't mean it would happen in a weekend, I meant I hoped I would be more successful quitting sugar this time (which started this weekend). So far I'm doing better at staying away from it. It 'helped' that I had a horrible panic attack in the middle of Sunday night. Not 100% sure of the cause of the panic attack but a strong suspicion that all the crap I've been eating the last few months contributed, so I have a strong motivation to do whatever is necessary not to repeat that horrible experience.

In the past, I haven't paid attention to how quitting sugar affects my sleep. Everything else that improves does so dramatically over 2-3 months.

My daughter wanted to make me a mug-cake last night. I didn't want the sugar but she really wanted to do something for me and she had already made me a fruit smoothie. (My panic attack scared her as well as me & her dad; taking care of me is how she copes.) My 'rule' is no sugar or HFCS, unless someone makes something for me, because she loves to bake desserts, and she gets a lot of enjoyment out of baking them for us. However, I decided I would only try her desserts, not use them as an excuse to eat 3/4 of the pan of brownies. I told her she could make the mug cake but she would have to eat most of it herself. She was ok with that. Interestingly, I was pretty tired (from not having gotten much sleep due to the panic attack), and the sugar crash of the small bit that I ate put me to sleep at 8:30 pm, and I didn't wake up until 5 am. So that actually worked out pretty well.

[Crankin]

Panic attacks are not caused by food.

[lph]

No, but I think what she meant is that bad food contributed. I know that what I eat most definitely affects my mood. I've never had panic attacks, but if I'm going into a stressful situation I try to eat food that I know keeps me "mellow and stable".

[Crankin]

Some foods may be calming, some may upset your GI system, and others (caffeine) will keep you up. A panic attack is a sudden surge of physiological arousal that occurs unexpectedly. Think heart palps, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, tingling in extremities. This is accompanied by psychological symptoms like feeling unreal, feeling trapped and wanting to escape, thinking you're dying or going nuts.
We don't know why this happens, except to say that some people are predisposed to them and it is more common in those who experience other types of anxiety. It also runs in families.

[ehirsch83]

I have been having horrible issues with sleep and have found that Valerian root tea(I do have to drink 2 servings) + melatonin(I also take more then the recommended dose) + sleep related herbal capsules(multiple natural herbs to help with sleep aid).

Otherwise I wake up at about 2:30 and am up for a few hours and am worthless the next day......

[indysteel]

I had a similar issue and my doc thought it could be low blood sugar. He recommended eating a small snack witha bit of fat and protein: like a hardboiled egg or a couple of almonds. It did help . . . Hope you find a solution!

This may sound like an incredibly stupid question, but do you eat the snack before bedtime or when you wake up in the middle if the night and can't fall back asleep?

[Catrin]

This may sound like an incredibly stupid question, but do you eat the snack before bedtime or when you wake up in the middle if the night and can't fall back asleep?

Before bedtime, I've had to deal with this as well. Not since dropping all grains from my diet though - most of my sleep problems disappeared when I did that.

[nuliajuk]

I'm losing sleep because my body seems to wake up at the same old time: 2:30 am. I did have some issues with my bed clock for a few days where I wore my watch to sleep until I got the table clock fixed...

So I've tried going to bed earlier..ie. even 9:30-10:00 pm. Forget about going to bed much later, I'm not a night person.

Delicate question - how old are you? I never had a problem sleeping until my mid-40s when I hit perimenopause. I still wake up in the middle of the night if I'm stressed about something.
Going to bed one hour later actually does seem to reset my body clock somehow when I'm struggling with a long bout of insomnia.
Try valerian as well. I find I can only take it for 3 or 4 nights at a time, because then it starts working a little too well, and I have trouble getting up.

[shootingstar]

Am 53. Interesting reading all the things that people try. Will look into this.

[limewave]

This may sound like an incredibly stupid question, but do you eat the snack before bedtime or when you wake up in the middle if the night and can't fall back asleep?

Before bedtime. Usually an hour or so before bed.

[indigoiis]

Try white noise. You don't have to go out and buy a fancy machine. I bring my laptop into the room and go to www.simplynoise.com, which is free. The brown noise is my favorite. Has been working well for me.

[Brovy]

I think this is the food problem that we eat. Sometimes we eat lot of food before sleeping so that this problem happens. I think you should reduce the amount of food from your meal so that you can sleep well.