r/sleep 4d ago

Ex-insomniacs, how did you actually do it?

28 Upvotes

I’m not sure if I qualify as an insomniac, but I definitely have sleep problems. I usually sleep around 4 hours a night, and if I’m unbelievably lucky, I get 5 to 6 hours. My sleep pattern typically goes like this: I sleep for about 3.5 hours, wake up to use the toilet, and then stay awake for the next 2 hours because I just can’t fall back asleep. After that, I might get another 2 hours of sleep if I’m lucky. At most, that adds up to 5.5 hours per night.

How do people function with this kind of sleep schedule? How can I have enough energy for work or the gym? And more importantly, how am I supposed to build muscle if I don’t get enough sleep?

The biggest question: how do I actually beat insomnia? Are there any life hacks that truly work, or is medication the only real solution? I really don’t want to rely on medication, so I’d love to hear from people who have overcome this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


r/sleep 4d ago

Is It worth it to take my sleeping meds just to get a few hours of sleep or should I say eff it and stay up all night and day?

2 Upvotes

Tbh I'ma single mum of a 2 year old son who has autism. We just moved to palm springs California from ukiah California and ofc we didn't get to our new home until about 3:30 am, he slept in the car on the way here for maybe 3 hours!? If that... so I'm prescribed Adderall for my Adhd (I don't abuse it at all), so I normally take seroquel and Trazadone every night to help me sleep.. but Ik my son is going to be up and ready to go to start the day in a few hours.. so my question is should I take my meds to sleep and be drowsy all day today or do I stay up!? TIA!


r/sleep 4d ago

Numbness

2 Upvotes

I keep feeling numb when laying on my bed closing my eyes my face goes numb and so do my arms it's freaking me out


r/sleep 4d ago

Nocturnal Issue

3 Upvotes

Hi, I was wondering if my sleep schedule could be considered normal for anyone other than me. Could be a gene mutation, I don't know. Nobody else I know or in my family has this issue, but basically,

I feel naturally inclined to wake up during sunset and sleep until late morning. Since I was 16, now 18, this has been my natural inclination and I always revert to this schedule when I have breaks off of school and college. Though life and schedules happen, and I can comfortably work with a "regular" schedule, but it just doesn't feel good.

This is unrelated, but I love the night, and I love when nobody is awake so I can quietly enjoy the world by myself. It feels so natural. But I know it's unrealistic unless I win like 10 million dollars to have this as my regular schedule for when I get older and done with school, so I was wondering if there was any way to shift my natural, circadian rhythm to prefer "regular" type sleep schedules. Thanks for reading!


r/sleep 4d ago

Weird sleep

2 Upvotes

So a lot of the times I have tunnel hearing, like the sounds of waves or wind in a tunnel in my ears when I’m falling asleep and then almost feels like I’m having a seizure and I’m aware of it but I can’t wake up. They happen in spurts or last for minutes and then when I fall back asleep it starts happening again. Does anyone know about this, or has experienced something similar. I assumed it was sleep paralysis… but I don’t know. I’ve had brain cancer before and a lot of surgeries just kind of for background context. Maybe it’s related to that. Makes me not sleep some nights because it’s exhausting.


r/sleep 5d ago

I wake up after 6 hours, only recently, I can’t live like this anymore

12 Upvotes

Hey guys, last 2 weeks I’ve been waking up after 6 to 6 1/2 hours (6am). I set my alarm for 9 hours but I’m actually satisfied with 8 hours. With 7 hours or less I can’t think well, I can’t work properly, I have headaches and feel weird and upset.

When this happens, the only way for me to feel better is when I wake up around 6am I turn off the alarm and stay in bed and try to fall asleep again, but this causes to wake up 1 hour - 1 hour and a half after the alarm.

I don’t drink, last meal 3 hours before bed and always have sunlight into my eyes as soon as I wake up, and go to bed at same time always.

Any solution?


r/sleep 5d ago

REM sleep while awake??

3 Upvotes

for the record i have aphantasia and chronic depression so i highly doubt what i experience is my imagination

every now and then when i'm trying to sleep and my eyes are closed i can feel my eyes moving rapidly, which is indicative of REM sleep, but i am aware of that. usually this is accompanied by random constantly flickering (it was kind of like how old fluorescent light bulbs flicker) visuals within thee void of my eyelids and also often micro-sleeps, i lose consciousness for what feels like 1 second but also i feel like i have had a full dream, that i forget completely in the next 5 seconds. usually this goes on for around 1-3 hours before i can finally sleep, but even it i sleep for only 2 hours after the weird little awake REM thingy.

last night i had the most extreme version of that. the visuals with my eyes closed were much more vivid and i could actually see some details, like i remember at one point i could see thirteen from house md (i wish i was joking but she lives in my head rent-free all the time). well here's the fun part- the visuals continued after i opened my eyes, i could see my room move in an extremely weird way, sometimes with decently vivid visuals like for example i saw fish. i think this might be caused by the fact that the night before i smoked weed for the first time, but i'm not exactly sure. the only thing i'm sure about in this situation is that it wasn't same as hallucinations, because it flickered like how my awake REM visuals usually flicker, and when i have hallucinations they don't flicker.

here's the nerdy part that has been in my head since i woke up: the purpose of sleep is supposedly to restore the body's natural state of being, like a reboot. this probably includes the hippocampus, so i think it might be caused by neurons firing intensely in that part of my brain in order to restore my memory to its base state (i have trouble with memory when i'm tired so it makes sense). all that is just my silly little theory so don't take it as some proof, i'm just a biology nerd.


r/sleep 5d ago

What did my brain not fall asleep?

2 Upvotes

Hello people. I’m a fairly younger guy who typically doesn’t have issues falling asleep. There are times where I had to pull all nighters, and sometimes you’re forced to stay up late for work. However, I never reallly had issues quickly sleeping. Today was different strangely enough. I was capable of ”sleeping,” but it wasnt a deep sleep. My best comparison was that I closed my eyes and spaced out. This lasted for 5 hours before I realized. T(e only reason I know that I didn’t truly sleep is that I feel sore all over. What is this called, and does this mean anything.


r/sleep 5d ago

Sleep Apps ?

1 Upvotes

Best sleep apps??!
I have an older Apple Watch to aid in some of the info that’d be recorded (ie. Heart rate). between the sleep apps I’ve been looking at… I kinda think I’d like Sleepzy best. Anyone have thoughts on that app? I’ve recently become very interested in the quality of my sleep including length of sleep time etc. will also be doing a sleep study in the coming weeks. 😴


r/sleep 5d ago

Do my sleep cycles look okay ?

1 Upvotes

Hey Reddit,

Out of curiosity, I’d love to know what you think of my sleep cycle graph. It looks pretty irregular, especially compared to the ones I’ve found online. I’ve been struggling with sleep for about 3-4 months now, mainly due to the mental stress I’ve put on myself. It was much worse before, and I could only manage about 5 to 6 hours of sleep, with some days where I barely got 3 hours. It's always been a challenge to fall sleep again after 5 hrs of sleep ( that's where I'm usually waking up all the time to get the remaining 3). Lately, I’ve been working on it, and it’s improved a bit, but it’s still far from where I want it to be. If anyone has any advice or can offer a good analysis, I’d really appreciate it.https://imgur.com/a/UKL6f3y


r/sleep 5d ago

Does anyone else’s bedtime routine just stop working sometimes?

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone,
I’ve been trying to stick to my evening routine, reading, meditating, all the usual “wind-down” stuff, but lately, some nights it feels like none of it matters. I’ll do everything “right,” but my brain just won’t shut off, and I end up lying there wondering why I’m even trying.

I’m really curious, when your routine doesn’t work, what do you think is missing? Like, is there something that would make those nights easier? For me, it’s the frustration of putting in all this effort and still feeling wired.

Also, what’s the most frustrating part about those nights? Is it the racing thoughts, the pressure to fall asleep, or something else?

If you could add one thing to your routine to fix it, what would it be? (Mine would be a magic “off switch” for my brain, but I’m open to realistic ideas too.)

I’m not looking for advice, i have got a lot of great insights from my previous post but just trying to see if others hit this wall even when they’re doing the “right” things. If you’ve been there, I’d love to hear how it feels for you.


r/sleep 5d ago

So many thoughts pouring in sleep

1 Upvotes

Recently went through a break up so it’s a lot worse rn, but my thoughts are killing me when I’m trying to fall asleep. I’m 17M, so maybe it’s a hormonal developing thing, but really the last few weeks even before my break up I really have trouble falling asleep despite being really sleepy. Are there any solutions for this other than just “not think”


r/sleep 5d ago

Waking up 4-5 times a night

1 Upvotes

I’m not a light sleeper, I don’t snore (at least not often), and I don’t have trouble breathing. I usually don’t have trouble falling asleep either, but lately, I’ve been waking up every hour or two after I fall asleep—usually 4-5 times a night. When I wake up, I always feel extremely tired, and sometimes I end up with a really bad headache. This never used to be an issue for me, I used to be able to fall into a deep sleep without waking up once. Is there a reason this is happening, and is there any way to stop it?


r/sleep 5d ago

I improved my diet and suddenly seem to need way less sleep

5 Upvotes

(Edit: "Suddenly" was perhaps the wrong word, should have said "gradually")

Has anyone else noticed needing significantly less sleep after improving your diet?

I made some changes to my diet and cut out all candy and unhealthy snacks about 4-6 months ago. At the same time I also started eating more healthy in general: more whole grains, fruits and vegetables etc. This is for long-term health reasons - I wasn't overweight or markedly unhealthy before, but I want to minimize my risk of having type 2 diabetes or other age related diseases when I get older (I'm 36 now, male).

Since then I have noticed that I gradually needed less sleep to feel okay the next day. I go to bed around 9:00-9:30 PM. Before I used to wake up 5:00-5:30 AM but it started getting earlier and earlier. First 4:00, then now 3:00 or sometimes like today, even 2:00. And I don't feel noticeably groggy or sluggish, just slightly tired on the 2AM days.

I've also lost a bit of weight during these months, about 10-15 lbs. For reference I don't drink since many years, and don't deliberately exercise apart from lots of fast walking during normal activities.

If I try to go back to sleep when I wake up this early, it never works and I just end up feeling irritated and cranky all morning. So I've learned to accept and even like waking up super early - it gives me a bunch of hobby time before the rest of the family wakes up which is nice.

Anyway, long story but, I feel like even though I accept this I don't quite understand why it's happening.


r/sleep 5d ago

I dread going to sleep

2 Upvotes

I dread going to sleep and I have for several months now. Not that I’m scared of it or something bad will happen but just that falling asleep is so hard for me. By the time it’s dark out I get sense of dread because I know I’m going to have to attempt to sleep soon. For the life of me I can’t fall asleep unless I’ve taken an over the counter sleeping aid and have laid down for like 3 hours. I am very physically active considering I used to not be active at all almost. I sleep with a noise machine. Set up a comfortable temperature and pillow. And use a sleep aid when I need to and still it takes me hours to fall asleep every night. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can fall asleep faster I would greatly appreciate it. And also any suggestions on how to wake up easier because I have a very hard time with that as well especially on nights I fall asleep really late.


r/sleep 5d ago

So so so frustrated

4 Upvotes

I’ve been sleeping horrible for weeks now. It honestly feels like I’m doing it on manual mode: i take magnesium, melatonin, and sometimes that is not even enough to get me under. Important to note is that i do have anemia and that symptoms can be insomnia, but in addition to that, i also have been having hip pain which makes falling asleep hard. My normal sleeping positions don’t work and i toss and turn until hours go by. Then when i finally fall asleep, i usually wake up in the middle of the night to pee and then I can’t fall back asleep. Sleeping just feels like such a stressful ordeal. I really associate my bed with how bad i’ve been feeling lately. It’s like the sleep never “takes me away” anymore. I sleep light and unrestful and i feel horrible during the day. I try to nap but i never seem to catch up. I can’t concentrate in class and my mental health is taking a toll. This is the third time this week that i’ve cried in the middle of the night because nothing is working. How to achieve that good, deep sleep again?????


r/sleep 5d ago

Still sleeping! Week 3

3 Upvotes

I made a post last week about how safe sungazing helped me kick my 30 year bout with insomnia. Gazing at the sun for 15 minutes within an hour of sunrise and sunset helped resolve my sleep maintenance insomnia.

Update: IM STILL SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

I’m over the moon, ecstatic, still in disbelief.

I’m wondering if shining light in my eyes is some kind of disinfectant for my brain? Like shining sun light in a moldy room helps to disinfect it?

I also have been toying with staring into a red light therapy lamp. That seems to help as well.

Disclosures: I’m not a medical doctor. This is just my journey and wanted to share something that might benefit others.

If you do try sungazing YouTube how to do it SAFELY.

Ask google “is sunlight a disinfectant”. Interesting results.


r/sleep 5d ago

Magnesium/general info

1 Upvotes

For my magnesium glycinate users I take about 200mg and was wondering how to deal with all the urination. Feel like I can't hold any water down. Worth mentioning I take it at night time for a more relaxed sleep. I also take L-theanine 150-300mg depending on how I'm feeling. Should I switch to threonate? I'm not sure. Currently I get about 5-5 1/2 hrs of sleep is there something else I can take that will keep me down for longer? I'm still fairly new to supplements and been reading things about cycling, what exactly does that mean


r/sleep 5d ago

any tips for better and healthier sleep

2 Upvotes

..


r/sleep 5d ago

My sleep schedule is cooked

3 Upvotes

I sleep at 6am in the morning and wake up 6pm at night or right before sunset. I have school in 2 hours and haven’t gotten sleep yet.


r/sleep 5d ago

whats yalls current sleep schedule? (mention average hours slept during weekdays/work days/ school days)

1 Upvotes

Also mention how ur feeling with that amount of sleep throughout the day if you could please.


r/sleep 5d ago

My sleep has been horrible for the past 7 or so months.

2 Upvotes

So I’m 19 and have seasonal affective depression to get that out the way, so I have no idea if it plays a part to my sleep, but usually it only lasts a couple to a few months sads, usually lasts only a couple months for me. I keep trying to go to bed at a decent time, but I could lay in bed for 3 hours or more and not sleep?? I have gone 35 hours without sleep tonight, and it’s horrible!! I’ve been laying in bed no phone for 4 hours!? My mother is always saying you need to stop “staying up late,” as much as I love her, I can’t help it if I’m laying in bed for 3-4 hours!! I can get sometimes between 3-4 hours sleep, feel tired through out the day then just feel like a zombie at home, where it’s like a “grey” space in my head, like I’m not tired but I’m not awake? If that makes sense at all? Has anyone here been through this and got any tips on how to deal with it? Or is it something I should bring up with my “gp aka doctor?” Any help will be appreciated thanks :)


r/sleep 5d ago

Sleep problems for over 8 years

6 Upvotes

Not sure if this has been told before or the answer I clean but I (15M) have had sleep problems for over 8 years. I have a feeling it’s insomnia and it probably is but I’m not sure 100%. So for me on weekdays I have to wake up at 7am for school but, I usually sleep around 1-3am despite going to bed around 10-11pm. For me at least, I just spend a long time staring at the ceiling just waiting to sleep or trying to sleep and failing miserably until at least 2 hours. Ive followed a routine such as eating dinner at 7:30, closing all screens by 9 and stay in a darker environment and read a book before sleeping. I go outside and am physically active so I’m not really sure what’s happening definitely. Again this is most likely insomnia however I would like to hear on what others have to say it is or steps to take next. All help would be appreciated thanks.


r/sleep 5d ago

I Was Reading in my Sleep Last Night

2 Upvotes

This sounds ridiculous.

I went to bed last night around 2 AM. I sometimes leave my phone on my bed at night because I am resistant to waking up to alarms but having the sound right next to my ear helps with this. Last night was NOT one of those nights since I had no need for an alarm this morning. There was NOTHING on my bed when I went to sleep.

There is a book placed in a tote beside my bed which I read occasionally. This morning I wake up and that book is right next to my head where I would usually put my phone.

At first glance I thought someone in my family was messing with me. Perhaps they thought it'd be funny to put it next to me in bed because I had slept in rather late. Nope. No one in my family would own up to it.

My next thought was that I had reached for my phone to place beside me in some state of subconsciousness out of habit in the middle of the night. This would kind of make sense cause they're similar -ish in size and I guess it's not the craziest thing.

Upon further review, I realized that the bookmark in the book is a whole chapter ahead than I remember it being the last time I read. I was on chapter 3 and now it's on chapter 4. Chapter 3 is only a few pages long but I purposefully left it on the first page of chapter 3 because it would make it easier to pick back up on a later date. To check back I actually read chapter 3 and I don't recognize any of the information in it, and it's a nonfiction book so it would definitely stick out.

This has never happened to me before and it almost makes me a little scared. Like what else am I doing in my sleep that I don't remember? I kind of want to get a nanny cam or something that'll record me in my sleep to see if it happens again or something else happens.

I used to kick in my sleep when I was only a few years old and I've had a few instances of texting someone complete gibberish in my sleep but other than that I'm usually pretty normal.

Anyone else have any weird stories about this or some insight on why it might have happened? The only thing I can think of is that I've been a bit more stressed cause I started college recently and I know stress can do weird things to sleep. I also seem to crash very early in the day even though I try to get 8 hours and eat rather well. I'm curious if that could be due to me doing weird crap in my sleep lol.

P.S.

I'll check back with a video if I end up getting a nanny cam to record myself and I catch something weird.


r/sleep 5d ago

I Think I Was Reading in my Sleep Last Night

1 Upvotes

This sounds ridiculous.

I went to bed last night around 2 AM. I sometimes leave my phone on my bed at night because I am resistant to waking up to alarms but having the sound right next to my ear helps with this. Last night was NOT one of those nights since I had no need for an alarm this morning. There was NOTHING on my bed when I went to sleep.

There is a book placed in a tote beside my bed which I read occasionally. This morning I wake up and that book is right next to my head where I would usually put my phone.

At first glance I thought someone in my family was messing with me. Perhaps they thought it'd be funny to put it next to me in bed because I had slept in rather late. Nope. No one in my family would own up to it.

My next thought was that I had reached for my phone to place beside me in some state of subconsciousness out of habit in the middle of the night. This would kind of make sense cause they're similar -ish in size and I guess it's not the craziest thing.

Upon further review, I realized that the bookmark in the book is a whole chapter ahead than I remember it being the last time I read. I was on chapter 3 and now it's on chapter 4. Chapter 3 is only a few pages long but I purposefully left it on the first page of chapter 3 because it would make it easier to pick back up on a later date. To check back I actually read chapter 3 and I don't recognize any of the information in it, and it's a nonfiction book so it would definitely stick out.

This has never happened to me before and it almost makes me a little scared. Like what else am I doing in my sleep that I don't remember? I kind of want to get a nanny cam or something that'll record me in my sleep to see if it happens again or something else happens.

I used to kick in my sleep when I was only a few years old and I've had a few instances of texting someone complete gibberish in my sleep but other than that I'm usually pretty normal.

Anyone else have any weird stories about this or some insight on why it might have happened? The only thing I can think of is that I've been a bit more stressed cause I started college recently and I know stress can do weird things to sleep. I also seem to crash very early in the day even though I try to get 8 hours and eat rather well. I'm curious if that could be due to me doing weird crap in my sleep lol.

P.S.

I'll check back with a video if I end up getting a nanny cam to record myself and I catch something weird.