Sleep

[Vincent Stoyas]

I used to have a very consistent and nice sleep schedule. I was in bed by 9 am and would wake up between 6-8 am.

Now I have a job at Ross and I'm always on call. Some mornings I have to wake at 5 am to work and other days I have to work until 11 pm.

Is there any hope to get adequate rest in this situation?

[Larry Roseman]

Hopefully you can make some up on the days you're not working. You can run a deficit for several days and make it up without suffering long term consequences. It isn't ideal but it does help.

Obviously, reducing the time it takes to fall asleep and improving the quality of the sleep you do get is important.

Try to use natural approaches such as avoiding stimulants during the daytime, taking hot baths/showers when stressed,

herbal teas to relax, splashing the face with cold water when sleepy during the day. Do you use medications now to fall asleep or stay alert?

I find exercise both helpful for staying alert during the day and also sleeping well at night. However, if I do it too close to bedtime I'm still wired and think about it and stay up way longer than I should.

[Vincent Stoyas]

Thanks for the response.

So you can run a deficit for a few days? That is good to hear haha. This is the first time its hit me and I've take two 4 hour naps yesterday and today. I felt too groggy to exercise, and I didn't want to do anything without good form so I don't get injured.

I don't take any stimulants, no sodas, no sleep pills. Quality of sleep can be improved though, some nights I wake up several times, but I do fall asleep easily. I really need to cut out late night computer time.

Any ideas how to stop waking up throughout the night? I don't have trouble falling back asleep, I do so quickly, but I am conscious of waking up a few times.

[Gavin Strelitz]

Meditation is your friend. On the nights I meditate I will get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. When I don't I often wake up during the night thinking about work.

[Joshua Naterman]

Do your best. Life isn't perfect all the time, so just do your best. When you're on call, that's how life is.

[Larry Roseman]

If you're working early 3 or 4 days a week and later 2 or 3 I would try to stick with an early wakeup schedule.

Then deal with being tired on the later work days. You'll fall asleep easier and be able to catch up on your days off.

I feel it is easier on the body than switching the wakeup time radically throughout through the week.

Sleep awakenings can be related to sleep apnea. Do you often feel like you are suffocating and wake up having to take a deep breath? That is one sign. This can be serious and receive medical attention.

If you are awakening to use the bathroom, then look at your drinking habits closer to bedtime. If you drink alchol that can have an impact.

If noise from outside or neighbors wakes you up then look into running a constant quiet sound, such as a fan a white noise generator or nature sounds. Sudden noises coming out of total silence will wake us up more readily.

Using computers late night can effect the sleep/wake cycle for sure, from the light as well as the activity.

Having a relaxed period before bedtime through mediation as mentioned above or even a hot bath in a dark room can help.

Make sure your room is as dark as possible.

Regarding exercise sometimes I have felt too tired to exercise, but when I started the energy came and was restorative.

It's hard to say if you should do it on 4 hours sleep but 20-30 mins light exercise - brisk walking, biking - can be helpful in clearing the cobwebs.

As Josh said it goes with the territory, but hopefully you can find some ways to cope with it.

[Joshua Naterman]

Lots of good advice here.

All you can do is try and find the schedule that seems to give you the MOST good sleep, and stick with that. With my school schedule right now I just don't get much sleep 3-4 nights per week. That's just how it is, and sometimes it's bedtime at 11pm and others it's 3 am. Depends on what I have to do and what I have to study. I sleep late sometimes, take naps, but often I just use coffee in small doses through the tougher days and try not to have any within 6 hours of planned (or optimistically hoped for) bedtime.

A little meditation before bed, particularly focusing on slow, deep breathing in a steady rhythm of 8-10 seconds per breath (common sleeping repiratory rate) which is about 3s in, 3s out helps a lot. 10 minutes of this when you lay down and your sleep is substantially better. This is from clinical studies, which used 15 minute protocols. I do 5 to 10, but that's me.

[Blairbob]

Such is retail. That's why it blows.

[Vincent Stoyas]

Again, thanks for your guys' continued interest.

When I wake up nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. I don't need to get up to eat or drink, use the restroom, and my breathing remains normal. As soon as one dream ends then I wake up with it and then within 1 minute max (usually less) I am back asleep.

It must be the computer usage before bed and not coming to a better relaxed state.

I will try out the breathing methods, too.

Yeah, crappy hours, crappy pay, but hey it pays for school and food. Hopefully one day I'll even make it to a seminar.

Today I feel much better so I will try to workout (I guess it's time to change to a full body workout) and hopefully I'll start adapting to the new schedule. Or, better yet, I'll find a job with more consistent hours/pay.

[Craig Mallett]

Also be wary that a lot of research today is pointing to evidence that in the past when we didnt have access to artificial lighting, we would go to sleep just after dark, sleep for a 4 hour block, wake up and do a few things (usually "bedroom gymnastics"), or just simply enjoy the peace of the night time, and then go back to sleep for a further 4 hours until dawn. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with waking up during the night, especially if you can get right back to sleep.

edit: links from a quick google search on the topic

http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/201 ... ur-blocks/

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/110 ... -myth.html

http://today.uchc.edu/headlines/2006/jan06/sleep3.html

http://www.newser.com/story/112276/you- ... a-row.html

[Larry Roseman]

Also be wary that a lot of research today is pointing to evidence that in the past when we didnt have access to artificial lighting, we would go to sleep just after dark, sleep for a 4 hour block, wake up and do a few things (usually "bedroom gymnastics"), or just simply enjoy the peace of the night time, and then go back to sleep for a further 4 hours until dawn. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with waking up during the night, especially if you can get right back to sleep.

edit: links from a quick google search on the topic

http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/201 ... ur-blocks/

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/110 ... -myth.html

http://today.uchc.edu/headlines/2006/jan06/sleep3.html

http://www.newser.com/story/112276/you- ... a-row.html

That's true! There was a particular period of the night when that ocurred though, and a state of mind that arose which has been called "The Watch", because of the deep awareness and relaxation. People would stay up one or two hours at that time and mainly reflect. It is a good time for creativity. I would have to dig up the source for that if it's not mentioned in yours....from what I recall though, they would go back to sleep.

It's is common to wake up many times during the night briefly, 10-30 times is not uncommon. We don't remember

this like we often don't remember our dreams.

One thing I was going to mention was that if you are waking up immediately after a dream, take a few minutes

and write or record what the dream was. You can analyse it later. It could be that something in it was significent and

contained a message for you to learn. Once you realise what the message is, you may no longer have the experience of waking up because of it. I'm not saying it's a message from beyond, just from deeper levels of your consiousness. The deeper layer speaks in symbols that may have emotional content that can affect your outlook in profound ways.

The Watch period is also a time that this level is more accessible to the waking state and you can use it fruitfully. It's worth finding if you can but it occurs infrequently in typical schedules.

Edit: one source ... http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/9_25_99/bob2.htm

[Adam Bodestyne]

breathing in a steady rhythm of 8-10 breaths per second

Woweee

[Joshua Naterman]

breathing in a steady rhythm of 8-10 breaths per second

Woweee

:oops:

I totally fixed this just now hahaha... I need to stop typing when tired. One day I will learn!

[Cole Dano]

I bet that would put you to sleep though. I guess not in a healthy way.

Back in my blue eyed days, I did this thing called Breath Integration, which was essentially supervised hyperventilation. Crazy stuff, I actually hallucinated. 15 years or more later, I'm still sensitive to breathing too fast from the experience. Not good, I do not recommend!

In general, I'm not a big fan of too much breath control. There is so much of it in yoga, and I've tried quite a bit of it. My personal conclusion, it's being exaggerated. Like so many things, it's not something to be forced, but gently encouraged.

However, just a little hint to the mind, calm down, breathe easy is usually enough to trigger the correct response.

[Craig Mallett]

I bet that would put you to sleep though. I guess not in a healthy way.

Back in my blue eyed days, I did this thing called Breath Integration, which was essentially supervised hyperventilation. Crazy stuff, I actually hallucinated. 15 years or more later, I'm still sensitive to breathing too fast from the experience. Not good, I do not recommend!

In general, I'm not a big fan of too much breath control. There is so much of it in yoga, and I've tried quite a bit of it. My personal conclusion, it's being exaggerated. Like so many things, it's not something to be forced, but gently encouraged.

However, just a little hint to the mind, calm down, breathe easy is usually enough to trigger the correct response.

I agree with this! The breath should be calmed gently, not forced to be long and slow (or short and fast). Just breath comfortably and mindfully, sensitive of the breath. Once you are settled in this state, then begin to breath comfortably and mindfully, sensitive to the calming of the breath. It should be a very gentle process and one of exploration and observation, rather than a dictatorship over the breath.

[Graham Smith]

As the father of two boys under 5, all i can say to this post is: