Friday, August 14, 2015

sleep ... when you need it most

We all know that sleep is often elusive when we need it most.  Times of excitement, times of busy-ness, times of stress, times of overload....

Sleep is the thing which keeps us sane.  I just read the other day that the latest thought on WHY we sleep is to give the brain a chance to take out its garbage.  A surprisingly large proportion of our energy is utilized by the brain -- somewhere in the neighborhood of 20%, and in mentally-challenging work, even more;  all forms of energy-burning have waste-products, and to export them from the walled enclave which is the inside of our heads, we have evolved to sleep.

Sleeeeep ... i hear the word as spoken by Henry V in the Kenneth Branagh version.  :-)  It sounds so seductive.  Kids resist it, and adults have a hard time understanding why, because to us it's delicious.

I used to sleep very well, except the night before a fencing tournament or a major vacation trip.  I've always been a sensitive sleeper, though -- my husband has learned the hard way that if he touches me and wakes me up there'll be hell to pay.  ;-)  Time, the great bitch, has changed that -- i'm one of those who usually dozes off pretty quickly if i haven't been overstimulating myself on the computer ... but within minutes i get a sense of dread and wake back up -- probably some of those afore-mentioned waste-product disturbing the chemistry.  I reach out for my bed-side book (with the little book-light attached), read another five or ten minutes, and then get properly to sleep.  But if my husband tosses too much, i can wake up to a too-great extent and have to read an hour or more to settle back down.  My bedside book is usually a piece of fiction i've read before, so i'm not on-edge about how it'll turn out -- the current one is a Nero Wolfe, which i enjoy because of the mental atmosphere of the series more than the mysteries themselves.

All kinds of sleep-tricks exist out there -- I've tried eating more carbs at dinnertime, but they too can be disruptive -- probably because i overheat under those circumstances and i like to sleep cool.  When we've been out for the evening, to dinner then to the theatre, i frequently come home and read for a good three hours before i get sleepy -- my supposition there is, too many carbs AND over-stimulation.  More than two glasses of wine at dinner can also ruin my night for me.

No, if i feel the urge to consume something near bedtime to aid sleep (rare!), i prefer a light-but-fatty protein.  I've taken to mixing a tablespoonful of collagen-hydrolysate into my evening vitamin drink, and sometimes i add a little liquid coconut oil too.  That seems to help.

I "used-to could" just pop a low-dose melatonin to help me sleep, but i now have a much larger stable of sleep-encouraging supplements.  I've mentioned valerian before, which is wonderful for dampening the cortisol/adrenaline rush that causes me to "wake up too much" in the wee-sma' hours.  There's magnesium too, of course;  even though my diet and multivitamin provides it, stressful times require more, and with our backyard project stretching well over the one-year mark, the stress his been both chronic and occasionally acute!  I recently bought some theanine as well, and my most-effective antihistamine (benadryl) is a famous sedative.  I layer these products as needed ... and this last year, HOW i've needed them!

Sleep is too important to let myself go too short -- when sleep suffers, it begins a cascade of effects which become catastrophic for weight, health, MENTAL health and life performance.  Some people may find it worthwhile to go the pharmaceutical route, but as much as possible i prefer to lull than "force" relaxation.

A new bed would probably help too -- our vintage one tends to creak, groan and wobble when my 200+-pound, 6-foot husband has a restless night, himself....

12 comments:

  1. I do think sleep and the quality of sleep is important to our health and well being.

    I'm not a person who operates too well on less than about 8 hours sleep each night,

    When growing up my mum would quite often make a milky drink before bedtime - saying it aids good sleep. I can remember the horlicks and ovaltine adverts ... but have never liked them... she always just made me a warm drink in winter and cold in summer - made sense.

    Insomnia isn't good. Thankfully it doesn't happen too often, and counting sheep to get to sleep? Well some swear by it!
    Keeping relaxed as possible is perhaps best?

    Now a comfortable mattress on a bed is super important, so perhaps time to invest in a new mattress/bed?

    Hope you have a good weekend Tess

    All the best Jan

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    1. thanks, Jan -- hope your weekend is delightful, too! :-) our daughter and family are arriving this evening for a week's stay, so our weekend is bound to be good!

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  2. Oh, sleep. So hard for me some days. I think it's my brain on overdrive. The heat and humidity (no air conditioning here in coastal San Diego) are tough. I've had to kick the cats out of my room because they play and beg for food at 3am.

    Sigh. I'm always looking to improve my sleep game.

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    1. i feel for you! If humidity exists, i'd HAVE to have my a/c just to deal with it (we used to live on the Texas gulf coast)! And we're "banishing" our dog a lot of the time, too, though i feel bad for doing it; he's quite old and his -- ahem -- "eliminatory control" isn't what it used to be. Wishing you GOOD SLEEP!!!

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  3. My own experience points at the direction of much lower progesteron after 50 as a possible reason for harder falling asleep. I am naturally is not a light sleeper at all, quite opposite, but even I can feel the difference..

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    1. ah, I knew it was a change in hormone profile, but didn't know it was specifically progesterone....

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    2. I am just doing my first steps towards better understanding of hormonal issues during menopause. So far I can tell that progesterone level drops sooner and more significantly than estrogen. At the moment I substitute progesterone only because it is way more depleted. It looks like it has many properties, for example, I want to bring a citation from an abstract of a study about some interesting qualities of progesterone "Progesterone has long been considered merely a female reproductive hormone. Numerous studies, however, show that progesterone has substantial pleiotropic properties as a neuroprotective agent in both animal models and humans. "(The neuroprotective effects of progesterone on traumatic brain injury: current status and future prospects). Neither of us is recovering from a brain injury at the moment, but I brought up that research to illustrate that there is some possible connection between progesteron level and mental health.

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  4. I recently found that I am intolerant of onions and garlic...and especially at night. I also, get to sleep easier on an almost empty stomach....ah the lovely changes of body chemistry!

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    1. Going to bed on empty stomach is important for my sleep as well, my husband claims the same, we never eat any meat after 7 pm.

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    2. onions and garlic? interesting! ...yes, I can't possibly sleep till most of my stomach's work is done, either.

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  5. Totally OT:

    If I have to deal with one more irrational person, I'm going to scream. In three days, I've dealt with a crazy lady in a parking lot, a neighbor who thought yesterday was Sunday and came over making demands, a boss today who wanted to make me the go-to person for software she knows I've never used, and a nut at the 7-11 flailing in the rain for a lighter. That, and contractors who broke a bunch of my stuff last month. Calgon, take me away!

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    1. girl, let it out! right here, any time.... :-) I can't help but think that our country is getting more and more irrational as time goes by! I blame CARB Syndrome! [evil grin]

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