You can’t get Hydroxine without prescription here. And CBD is quite expensive (and semi-legal).
With US Melatonine, 3mg was also enough to sleep. And I slept better. But the European sh#t is somehow different. I need 9mg and it has this strange effect of waking up after 4, max 5 hours of sleep.
But it’s better than no sleep at all…
I had the issue of having many thoughts, often various in parallel.
But I must have depleted my thoughts … now I’m all empty headed when I wake up. Which makes it even more useless!
That is weird and sucks. I don’t know why it would be different in Europe than the US.
I have a prescription for the Hydroxyzine. Got it because I was having insomnia issues. We tried a couple things and this seems to be the most effect with little to no side effects.
The other major things that really help me are keeping to as consistent a bedtime schedule as I can, and not using my phone or computer the last 45-60 minutes before bed. I’ve found I also need to be cautious about what I do practicing bass in that time. Jamming to low key stuff helps me calm down, but trying to learn a new song or working on songwriting gets me keyed up.
I also do that - in addition I have Soundcore A20 sleepbuds with some beach/wave sounds that play all night. It helps great as long as I sleep, also protects me from the gentle and sweet snoring of “definitely not my girlfriend” but the “neigbours” …
I agree with this. It makes me fall asleep but my sleep quality suffers, very much like it does with alcohol. If I’m using nightly for a while I get progressively more tired and only recover when I abstain for a while. I think it is an illusion that it improves sleep.
I try to only use earlier in the day to give things a chance to clear out of my system before bed. I also prefer vaping over edibles because the effects don’t last as long.
Straight up it affects your sleep negatively, its the pot heads who haven’t had a break from smoking longer then half a day in a decade or more who will say different.
Get up at 7am, do not go horizontal at all during your woken hours then go to bed at midnight. By night three you will sleep incredibly well, if it takes four or five days to make this work so be it.
It works, this technique is the number one method taught through sleep clinics.
a few other tips for sleep that i have found help:
i have to use a white noise machine next to my bed that goes on as i start to get sleepy and stays on all night.
i keep the bedroom cool/cold - i have central air conditioning, but i also have a small window unit just for my bedroom that i use in summer so i can get it very cold in the bedroom without cooling the rest of the house. in winter i just keep the whole house cold after 7PM.
while i know i should not be on screens before bed, the reality is that i will be. but i do keep the color balance of the screens as warm as possible and try not to consume anything super stressfull/anxiety inducing just before bed.
i always read something purely entertaining (currently working thru the Pendergast novels) on my Kindle in my cozy bedroom chair until i literally drop it from falling asleep, then i get into bed.
if i am lying in bed, not sleeping for more than 15 minutes i get back up
bed is for sleeping and sex and absolutely nothing else.
Some more things that help (insomnia poster-child here):
Get up and go to bed at the same time consistently.
Get some early morning light exposure directly in your eyes (not through windows or sunglasses)
Get some sunset light exposure.
Both 2&3 help with establishing and/or correcting circadian rhythms
For supplements, L-Theanine and Magnesium help quite a bit. Suggest Magnesium threonate, and avoiding magnesium citrate. My sleep supplement also contains 5-HTP and GABA
The cannabinoid that seems to help most with sleep is CBN
Strenuous physical activity during the day
Meditation. If you can manage to acknowledge thoughts without engaging with them, you can avoid getting worked up by the racing thoughts that so often keep us awake. At least long enough to drift off.
That’s something that oddly helped me sleep through the night, instead of waking up at 3am or 4am.
I got one of those Sunrise alarm clocks that you can set to start lighting up at a certain time. I set it to start lighting up about 30-40 minutes before when I’d like to wake up.
It acts as sort of a reverse alarm clock. If I wake up, and the light is off, I know that I can go back to sleep. No need to check the time or anything.
Me too. Specifically, I have Delayed Sleep Phase disorder and to work normal hours I need to sleep at odd times for me.
I take a lot of melatonin (20mg, down from more) and also Dayvigo (lemborexant). This works well now but before I was prescribed the Dayvigo it was not working.
I’ve been on more serious sleep meds in the past but they leave me groggy in the morning.
THC would work - in fact the reason I so strongly dislike it is it makes me fall asleep immediately (so, not really a party drug for me). But it’s massively illegal here (min sentence 3 years in prison - not jail, prison) so there’s no way I would even consider it.
@fennario I am going to add something else to your amazing advice above. CUT THE CARBS. There is a strong link to carbs and insomnia and allot of other aliments.
Tbf, I do think a big manly lumberjack beard and all the flannel with a news boy cap would go a long way towards fitting that stereotype, regardless of tattoos and whatnot.
