problems sleeping

[filthy_frank]

I hardly ever sleep through the night. I almost always wake up - hearing a noise, piss break or various other reasons. Some nights I wake up at 2am and I'm wide awake. I've even thought about joining a 24hr gym. I eat pretty clean and drink plenty of water. I had a doctor friend of mine suggest it could be a drop in my blood sugar in the middle of the night. The other night I wolfed down a nice piece of steak and I never slept better (though I woke up somewhat lethargic). I worry about gaining weight eating before bed. Has anyone else dealt with sleep issues? What are your pre-bedtime meals?

thanks

 

[millasur]

I've always had sleep issues.

I sometimes ahve had troucle sleeping due to being too full, which can happen if i eat late (like 9pm) and then have another meal and then Musclemilk before I sleep...

Now I tend to ignore hte really late meal and just have musclemilk before bed and sometimes some fruit.

Things to try: Warm milk before you go to bed.

ZMA - many peopel swear by it, but for me it jus made things worse.

Oh yea, try an dminimise the need to wake up - make sure you go piss a few times before bed, get some earplugs if the slightest noises wake u up. listen to some low volume music as well to provide some white noise...

 

[Ziltoid]

I think I remember hearing eating healthy fats help you sleep at night. Try some PB, almonds or cashews or like millasur with the hot milk.

 

[Ian Coe]

Cottege cheese, almonds like suggested above and don't drink after 2 hours before going to bed

 

[theNuge]

I don't have problems sleeping but I can tell you what I do anyways and maybe it can help.

I almost always eat cottage cheese before I go to bed. This has anti-catabolic effects as well as a little fat. I've also eaten peanut butter which I did notice made me sleep a little deeper. You could try that, fish oil or some other food containing healthy fats.

 

[millasur]

Cottege cheese, almonds like suggested above and don't drink after 2 hours before going to bed

I never knew almonds an other nuts / fat coudl help you sleep. that's often the time wen I remember to grab some almonds on the way up to bed (eg after I've taken my shake and im goin bk upstairs to clean teeth and go to sleep.)

 

[Bry]

I have struggled with this off and on for the last eight years.
I have tried Venom Dreams and ZMA with questionable results.
Since Monday I have started a new bed time routine that has helped slightly. Actually last night I slept great.
I take ZMA about 45 minutes before bed, then right before bed I take a scoop of Muscle Milk.
I am bad about the water as I drink that all the way up until I go to bed. But if I don't wake up, I don't usually piss. If I do, then I ended up pissing.

I did have some freaky dreams last night, which the first time I started taking ZMA it didn't have any effect on me.
I also like to read before I go to bed, not in bed though. This seems to help turn off the brain a little bit from all the outside influences.

Good luck as I have gone on streaks of 2-3 hours of sleep a night for a week and it really played hell on my workouts and ability to work. It would usually end where I had to burn a day of vacation because I just got to tired to function.

Cheers

Bry

 

[filthy_frank]

thanks everyone. I'm gonna try some of these suggestions. being sleep deprived sucks.

I just finished reading Game of Shadows so the ZMA references are a funny coincidence.

 

[ninjajesus]

Try eating foods that are high in tryptophan.

 

[Chaos Mitten**]

Wear ear plugs, don't drink for a few hours before bedtime, and make sure all lights are off in your bedroom.

 

[Saith]

I'm on a caloric deficit at the moment and trying to get enough sleep is fucking impossible.

 

[Ziltoid]

I'm on a caloric deficit at the moment and trying to get enough sleep is fucking impossible.

Oh man. I hear you. When I was cutting weight I would go to sleep hungry and I was very irritated and was very hard for me to sleep.

 

[cheath]

I'd suggest some behavioral psychology methods. Improving nighttime/sleep behaviors and possibly resetting your circadian rhythm. We do all kinds of things to condition our bodies for shitty sleep patters, so you have to fix those things. I avoid sleep aids, as the psychological consequences can become very hard to deal with.

 

[Jake Martin]

I'd suggest some behavioral psychology methods. Improving nighttime/sleep behaviors and possibly resetting your circadian rhythm. We do all kinds of things to condition our bodies for shitty sleep patters, so you have to fix those things. I avoid sleep aids, as the psychological consequences can become very hard to deal with.

This is the best advice. If you don't already, make sure your bed is used only for sleep (and sex). No TV or anything that will get your CNS fired up as you're preparing to go to sleep...get a routine (wash your face, brush your teeth, whatever) that tells your mind "okay, time to power down for the night."

 

[millasur]

Oh man. I hear you. When I was cutting weight I would go to sleep hungry and I was very irritated and was very hard for me to sleep.

how can you even fall asleep like this? When I'm training hard and eating big i sometimes can't sleep because I'm hungry (eg if ive had my nighttime meal, had my shake, but end up staying up for another 2-3hours). Can't even begin to imagine how bad life wud b with -calories

 

[Darksky]

Always struggled, somethings that have helped are those natutre sound CDs, warm milk, sleeptime tea, PnJ, and a valerian root mixture like VHT.

 

[Sinister]

I just finished reading Game of Shadows so the ZMA references are a funny coincidence.

That book sucks, and so do the mooks who wrote it.

Anywho, I'll go ahead and suggest time-released melatonin if all else fails. The time-releasing is important because it'll keep you asleep. Some people don't continue to secrete sleep hormones at night, and are proned to waking up. Melatonin remedies that problem, is safe, cheap, and usually efficient.

Some people report grogginess upon waking when using it, but that's normal and subsides once REM sleep becomes routine to the body.

 

[Saith]

Always struggled, somethings that have helped are those natutre sound CDs, warm milk, sleeptime tea, PnJ, and a valerian root mixture like VHT.

Night time tea? Really? I would think the caffeine would just keep you up for another hour. Not to mention the resulting bladder discharge.

 

[Ian Coe]

Night time tea? Really? I would think the caffeine would just keep you up for another hour. Not to mention the resulting bladder discharge.

I always drink tea within a hour of going to bed.

I used to drink coffee before going to bed

Different people have different reactions (as long as you don't go to high amounts, I don't think anyone could sleep after say 200mg)

 

[TTrent]

I'd suggest some behavioral psychology methods. Improving nighttime/sleep behaviors and possibly resetting your circadian rhythm. We do all kinds of things to condition our bodies for shitty sleep patters, so you have to fix those things. I avoid sleep aids, as the psychological consequences can become very hard to deal with.

as someone mentioned before, this is really good advice. i've always had sleep problems since highschool. i got around 5-6 hours then, and over the years in college it dwindled to about 2-3 hours a night, waking up about once every hour, freaking sucked. a few times a month i actually couldn't fall asleep at all (this was even proven during sleep studies i did)

getting into a cycle really helped me along with a few other things (many of which were already mentioned by others)

1. bed is just for sex and sleep, dont read or watch tv in it. your mind makes the wrong association with staying up while in bed.

2. keep a clean, comfortable room if possible. get rid of or cover any digital LED clocks. make your bed. make sure you have a mattress and pillow that give you good comfortable support (especially if you're a person who can never find a comfortable sleeping position like me)

3. always try to get in bed at the same time everyday. make a schedule that gives you enough hours to sleep whether it's weekdays or weekends. have one schedule every day so you dont have to sleep in on your off days.

4. diet/exercise (a given)

5. dont take naps

6. give yourself 15-20 min before bed as a sleep prep period. brush your teeth, do the little nagging things you forgot to do earlier. during this time i also like to write down all the little stuff that i'm afraid of forgetting like appointments for the next day, grocery list, things i need to remember to do, even stupid stuff like the name of a song i wanted to look for on the computer. basically you shouldn't go to bed trying to keep things in your head that you're afraid you'll forget.

7. wake up the same time everyday regardless of how much sleep you got. i think some may disagree with this but i feel it helps complete the internal cycle and keep it consistent.

you might want to try asking you pharmacist what they recommend as a mild over the counter medicine to help. if it's still bad you may want to see your doctor. i did all the above stuff i mentioned and it didn't really work much, my doc put me on a sleeping pill that was found to be non addictive, after a week of using the aids and doing the stuff above my cycle was back and now i'm sitting here with over 20 pills that i dont need anymore lol. though if i do break my cycle (stay out late, sleep in, etc) i find that my sleep cycle goes back to the way it use to be and it takes a few days using the sleeping aid to get it back. personally i'd only recommend using prescription sleep aids if all else fails and your sleep gets real bad. tho i didn't experience any of the bad side effects (i wasn't on them for very long), there are some really bad ones that you shouldn't take lightly.