Post: #1

Good regular sleep is sort of the final frontier for me, it makes a huge difference in my life but I can't seem to stick with it, so I wanted to see what guys do to get into decent sleep patterns. I've had difficulty falling asleep since high school, tend to stay up really late and have also never been a morning person. My mom and grandmother are exactly like that too so I think there's some family factor in there.

Here are a few things I do/try that help but don't get the job totally done:

-I tried sublingual melatonin about six months ago, and that has made a huge difference. I'm sleepy 30 minutes after taking one almost without exception.

-I'm a night owl and can/do spend hours reading books I have lying around or shit on the Internet (although I don't make a habit of watching super-late-night TV). so I have to reserve some willpower for the final "put the book/computer down and go the fuck to bed" psych-out.

-Days I work out tend to get to sleep earlier.

-Packing my work bag and workout gear the night before tends to calm me mentally and leads to better sleep.

-My job schedule is pretty flexible, so if I need/want an extra half hour of sleep I just take it. Also when I have work travel I arrange it to be accommodating to my sleep/health needs moreso than the cheapest possible flight; no really early/really late/red eye flights for work purposes. Skimping on my long-term health is not worth saving the company a couple hundred bucks. I used to have to go cross country once a month, without exception I would get sick upon returning and lose half a week of productivity in bed.

-I've become less tolerant of staying out late with friends or girls the past couple years; I need my beauty sleep and prioritize it ahead of a late night out that will fuck up my snooze

-No joke, a good fap tends to put me right to sleep, but due to aforementioned night-owlness, I'm often _too_ tired or too intellectualized to fap it out.

What have you guys found works?

Post: #2

If you are working out regularly that will help. Plus ZMA.

Post: #3

I work out very regularly, but still find out that with all the computer usage and other electronic devices can keep me up a bit. (even if I am tired from the day before ...for some reason, I get less tired at night)

Staying with this site doesn't help (too much good information!)

For sleeping, I just either go on my iphone on youtube, pull up some stereo headphones and search up some "sleep hypnosis" or even "relaxing sounds" to play. It seems to have worked. I fall asleep anywhere from 10-15 minutes into the videos which are usually 30+ mins or longer.

The only downside is waking up and find yourself sleeping on your annoying protruding headphone buds.

Post: #4

I've been switching back and forth between graveyard and day shifts all year.

Needless to say my sleep schedule was FUCKED

Now I can finish my shift at 6 am sleep till 2 pm then go back to sleep for a full 8 hrs at midnight and my sleep schedule is back to normal hours. without any drowsiness or staying up for a long time.

I don't eat for 4 hours (empty stomach) then take 5mg of melatonin with around 1 gram of velvet bean root extract, chased by a big glass of lemon water.

Nearly every time I'm out within 15 minutes. I sleep uninterrupted the whole night and feel great no matter what time I wake up.

I can write up a more detailed data sheet if you guys want.

Post: #5

My best combo was Valerian root made into a hot tea about an hour before sleep. Slap on a sleep mask over the eyes with some Mozart playing softly in the background. Also, stuffing some tissue paper into your ears helps with noise cancellation if you live on a busy street. Out of the dozens of herbal and OTC sleep potions I dabbled in, valerian root was the most effective.

Having a sleep mask is important, forces your eyes to keep shut.

Post: #6

Be really tired by the end of the day. And don't watch tv or view electronic screens before you go to bed.

Physically or mentally, put in enough work every day that you want to go to bed at night. I usually leave some simple tasks for myself to do that last hour I'm usually pretty useless.

GABA, htp, valerian root or the extract, camomile tea I think is another one, ZMA complexes. Off the top of my head those are all things that help you sleep better.

Post: #7

Try these three supplements:

ZMA, Melatonin, and GABA.

There's a ZMA supplement that contains all three. I get amazing sleep from it.

Post: #8

Pick up some melatonin and take it for 1 week. That should help to reset your sleep schedule.

Post: #9

Bright light therapy is a very underused resource for getting regular high quality sleep on a consistent schedule. Take a look at this thread:

/thread-39799.html

Post: #10

Post: #11

Not sure if you smoke weed, but quitting really helped me!

Post: #12

Adjust room temperature colder.

No video screens or bright blue-component lighting in the bedroom.

Reduce mental stress however you can. I like the work bag/gym bag idea - if anything else is bugging you, plan the solution and begin executing so if you start to overthink it at 3am you can say to yourself you're already doing something about it.

Post: #13

Lights out at 11pm, no matter what. The longer I leave on the computer and television, the longer I stay up.

Also, I exercise everyday in order to fatigue my body.

I shower and air out my room with fresh air. In the summer, I use a fan.

Sometimes, I like to stretch or do yoga.

Post: #14

I have had long term insomnia for years. I have tried all the stupid herbs/teas/weed/melatonin/exercise/diet/hot baths etc sleep aids.

They did not work for me. Weed gets you to sleep, but it is incredibly poor quality sleep (reduces REM). I used it and slept 9-10 hours and felt tired the next day. Like I had only had 4 hrs sleep.

The only thing that works 100% for me is 30mg of temezepam, which is a benzodiazepine class drug.It saved my life during a 9 day insomnia event where I went 9 days with only 10 hours sleep.

You need a doctor's prescription. Generally you need to go to a sleep doctor,otherwise most MD's wont prescribe it. This is important. Most doctors have little understanding about sleep and don't really care. To break my insomnia event my sleep doctor prescribed 60mg of temezepam. My degenerate GP refused (she prescribed Ambien which did not work).

If that does not work there is always Flurazepam, probably the most powerful benzo you can get. It stays in your system up to 72 hours. Only used in acute situations.

A few other tips/tricks

1 One other trick I use is to leave the TV on in my bedroom. Keep the noise level so low that you cant quite hear the dialogue. Put some program like the west wing on, which has a lot of dialogue. That, combined with my medicine never fails.

2. You need to keep a firm routine of when you go to bed so your body gets used to it.

3. Only sleep in your bed. Dont watch TV or do work in your bed. This gets the brain conditioned that you only sleep in your bed.

4. Sleep mask with pillow over my head helps me.

5. Dont count sheep. That increase anxiety....especially when you get to 100 sheep. Try to picture complete blackness. Focus on nothing. Just a large black board with nothing on it. Hold that thought and let nothing else come into your mind.

Post: #15

- cut down on coffee in the afternoon and evening
- go for a walk before going to sleep (looking at PC or tablet or phones should be forbidden)

Post: #16

This helped me a lot: https://justgetflux.com/.

The theory behind how it works is that the blue light emitted by your monitor mimics sunlight in some ways, and being exposed to sunlight keeps you awake. So, you tell f.lux what timezone you're in, and it lowers the amount of blue light emitted by your monitor in the evenings. This lets you get tired when you're supposed to.

Also, I get worse sleep if I drink any caffeine after about 2:30pm.

Post: #17

Here's what I do..

- Take a warm, long bath. I don't remember the source but I've read somewhere that taking a warm bath or shower an hour or so before bed prepares your body for sleep. It definitely helps.

- I sort out my meals and what I'll be wearing the following day. When I do this I find that I tend to get sleepier.

- No using the computer, watching television, or browsing the web on your phone an hour before bed. I usually go to sleep by 10 PM, so I stop using my phone around 8 PM. The light from these devices will trick your brain into thinking it's day time which then makes it harder for you to fall asleep.

- Move your phone to an area where it's not easily reachable; sometimes I put mine in the living room.

- Listen to music without lyrics or read a book.

Post: #18

A sleep mask that block out all light helps with getting the room dark enough for sleep to become easier. Somehow I still wake up in the morning even with the mask on, often an hour early.

Post: #19

Yeah zinc will put you in sleep. Dont take that during the day lol. Also try celery and banana

Post: #20

Don't have the type of job I need an alarm clock to help me get up for on time. Or in other words, I just sleep until I wake up and feel rested - which is usually after on average 8 hours of sleep (and after waking up briefly at least once during the night, I have to be excessively exhausted to sleep through without waking at all).

I do tend to have at least a few nights at month where I sleep really lousy, but it often doesn't seem to correlate with any changes in habits (but I have two neurological disorders, unmedicated, that can both fairly unpredictably interfere with sleep).

My natural daily rhythm when I don't have anything I have to get up at a specific time for, is to go to bed around 4-5 AM and get up around noon. I don't feel any noticeable differences in energy levels, moods etc. when I've had weeks or months where I've gone to bed early and gotten up early instead. All that really seems to better is that I get enough hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep.

Post: #21

(09-23-2014 03:09 PM)Flavius Aetius Wrote:  The only thing that works 100% for me is 30mg of temezepam, which is a benzodiazepine class drug.It saved my life during a 9 day insomnia event where I went 9 days with only 10 hours sleep.

Speaking from experience, I'd be very careful using any benzos on a daily basis, they are highly addictive, and getting off them is a bitch, to put it mildly.

Post: #22

I take 1.5mg of melatonin at a fixed time every night. That and having a fairly cold bedroom.

Post: #23

1. Squat, deadlift, bench, press. Heavy. Several times a week.

2. ZMA+melatonin. Natural Calm is good too, but too much magnesium=trots.

3. Buy a nice bed/sheets. I recently dropped $2500 on a Sterns and Foster with Egyptian cotton sheets and portuguese flannel duvet. It's worth every penny. I'm a hot sleeper, and recently ditched the down comforter. It has helped immensely.

4. No electronic use in your bedroom. Period. Sleep and sex only. You can read and surf the net on the couch. iPhone to silent, iHome has some great alarm clocks with LED dimming functions, which can go all the way to blackout.

5. Eliminate as much light as possible. Buy blackout blinds, Amazon has great deals. Place them over your windows AND your doors. Consider stapling reflective thermal foil over your windows. The blinds will cover them, and since your room is for fucking and sleeping only, it doesn't matter if they're never drawn.

6. Pandora has some great sleep channels, and also includes a sleep timer. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson and Liquid Mind are both spectacular.

7. Consider tracking your sleep with apps like "Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock". It's not scientifically valid, but it is data and useful for tracking patterns.

8. Consider taking baseline vitals first thing in the AM, particularly BP and HR. Home monitors are cheap. If your HR is elevated in the AM, you likely didn't have restful sleep and/or are underrecovered/overtrained/stressed, etc.

Post: #24

1) Vitamin supplementation, so plenty of zinc, magnesium, fish oil, etc.

2) Bright Light Therapy.

3) The 4-7-8 Breathing Method to fall asleep fast.

4) Lift weights at least x3 a week. That helps me fall asleep.

Post: #25

Go to bed earlier. Simple as that.

I'm in bed and lights out at least 8 hours before I have to wake up.

For example. I usually wake up at 5 am. I'll be in bed and lights out by 9 pm the night prior.

This allows for some time to fall asleep (they say 15 minutes for the average person).

This has been a huge improvement in my life. I used to just go to bed whenever I felt like it. Usually only getting 4-6 hours of sleep and always feeling tired and wanting more sleep.

Ever since adapting at lest 7 hours of sleep at night, I never get tired during the day anymore.