I've never slept well. I've always had that problem where I go to bed and then everything I did wrong that day plays through my head in detail, and then I worry about the next day, and then it's early morning and I haven't slept.
My issue is not so much waking up in the middle of the night. It's getting to sleep in the first place.
My doctor suggested that I get up and do something if I can't get to sleep. That doesn't work in my very small house.
In the last few weeks, I've decided this not sleeping thing is not an annoyance but a serious problem.
So I tried a lot of things, and I think I'm finally finding something that works for me.
I only drink caffeine before 8 am on weekdays and 9 am on weekends. This one is super hard. I started phasing it out on a Thursday, went cold turkey with it on Saturday and now it's a week later and I have one banger of a headache, which may or may not be related to my caffeine intake. I love my caffeine -- mostly iced tea -- and giving it up was a last ditch effort to help with my sleep.
And I have started taking this natural medication:
These have done the most towards helping me actually get to sleep. So even though that chart at the top of this post shows I've been getting less sleep lately, I've been falling asleep around 10 minutes after going to bed instead of 20-30 minutes after going to bed. And I feel more alert when I'm awake. I don't come home from work and start counting down until an acceptable time to go to bed.
My coworkers might argue -- because I yawn a lot in the afternoon -- but I do feel better. I drink 4-5 water bottles during the day and I've replaced my mid-day energy drink with Gatorade.
I have great hopes that one day my sleep record will average 7.5-8 hours a night, but I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now.
You're doing so much better than me! I average 4-5 hours of "good" sleep a night. I've been trying to use some essential oils a friend gave me to see if they help. Seems to be helping me to stay asleep longer at night. I guess we will see, too. :)
Posted by: Lois Houston | September 22, 2015 at 08:23 AM
I had horrible sleep issues until I saw a dr. and he sent me to a sleep dr. who found I had sleep apnea, since I got a cpap machine, my sleep has improved 100 percent.
Posted by: susan | September 22, 2015 at 02:06 PM
My doctor had me fill out
some kind of survey and it didn't indicated I needed a referral to
a sleep doctor, but I still wonder....
Posted by: Kimmie D | September 22, 2015 at 05:29 PM
If I can get to sleep, I'm
usually OK. But after spending the day teaching, I'm exhausted and
something has to change. Hope the EO work for you! Kim
Posted by: Kimmie D | September 22, 2015 at 05:36 PM
I can vouch that it is definitely your body withdrawing from the caffeine giving you the headaches. I did this last year and had about a week or so of killer headaches and then it went away. Your body is ticked off at your, but it will get over it. :)
Posted by: Cathie | September 22, 2015 at 06:40 PM
I was doing so good at not
having headaches, and then a week later... bam! But it went away
with some sleep. Hoping I can keep it up! Kim
Posted by: Kimmie D | September 22, 2015 at 07:27 PM