Insomnia kicks ass!

[Team Dave]

I wish my brain had an on/off switch, cause this BLOWS. I couldn't get to sleep until 2 am last night, and when I woke up at 7, I couldn't fall back asleep. Well I went out kayaking today (first time too), and was a little beat up. By 5 pm I was pretty tired, but wanted to tough it out until it was a decent hour, so I wouldn't wake up at 4 am. By 9:30 I figured it was late enough to turn in, but lucky me.. I've been laying there for nearly 3 hours. Wide the hell awake. And FWIW, Both nights I've taken some natural sleep aids, and they don't do a lick of good.

You guys have any tricks out there? Besides booze LOL, I don't drink much and am bone dry on liquor anyway.

 

[RDJ]

tylenol PM they say to take two. I only need one

 

[dudemang2]

Melatonin

did a quick search, I'm sure there are better articles out there, worked well for me in the past as a difficult sleeper

Melatonin is actually a natural hormone produced by the pineal gland located in top of the diencephalon. That's why the side effects are minimal The pineal gland controls the day-night rhythm of the brain and is highly affected by daylight. Actually it is more like affected by darkness, since at night melatonin secretion is significally increased from the pinealocytes.

The pineal gland is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus located in the hypothalamus. Suprachiasmatic nucleus is the part of the brain which receives the signals from different receptors located in our bodies, mainly in our eyes, and controls the circadian rhythms. The impulses coming from the retina make the suprachiasmatic nucleus stimulate the pineal gland and so the pinealocytes produce melatonin. So what this means is that the more the light we have coming in our eyes, the less melatonin is produced. This is one of the reasons why people living in the parts of the world where there is more daylight are perkyer during the days. Their eyes get more light and their pinealocytes produce more melatonin. Although as a down side they might have trouble getting sleep during the night if it is light in the late hours. This is usually not a problem because night falls very dark in the southern hemisphere and usually quite early. The day-nigh rhythm is much more distinct and our bodies can react to it much easyer.

Melatonin chemically is actually very hydrophobic which means that it can penetrate the cell membrane very easily. That means that melatonin has a lot of effects on multiple tissues and it is not only meant for sleeping problems. In the animal kindom melatonin has a lot of effects on the sexual functions of different species. In some animals it increases sexual activity but in other, like sheep for example, it decreases them.

Since melatonin can travel to all the tissues it has all kinds of effects on different glans and it also controls many different hormone leves during sleep. All these hormonal levels are somehow linked to circadin rhythms so melatonin really is a sleeping regulator. The most important hormone levels that melatonin controls are growth hormone, prolactine, thyroid, corticosteroids. These are all secreted in large pulses which are related to the hour of the day. As mentioned earlier growth hormone has the biggest blood consentration during the first few hours of sleep and it is controlled partly by melatonin. Corticosteroids are highest in our blood during the last hours of sleep which points to us to the direction that decreasing melatonin levels have a corticosteroid releasing function.

Even though our bodies rely much on the planets day-night rhythm and melatonin secretion is directly related to the amount of light our light reseptors in our eyes receive, we would still live in circadin rhythms if we lived in constant darkness. Although then melatonin secretion would be higher, like with people living in the northern parts of the world where the light time during the day is much shorter than in the southern parts. Our normal nycthemeron actually is a bit over 24 hours which means that maybe in some part of the evolution of the human race the days have been longer. This nycthemeron then is fine tuned by the sun providing decreases and increases in melatonin secretion. Melatonin sleep aids are actually just helping us get a grip of the nychtemeron rhythm. If we chose to live in the dark our bodies would still live in a day-night rhythm which would be slighly longer than 24 hours and the changes in hormone production would not be so obvious, but rather there would be just slight changes in the hormone levels. That is why you would propably be a little sleepy all the time.

Melatonin As A Sleep Aid

As the suprachiasmatic nucleus is controlled by day-night rhytms, bright light treatments are used to lessen morning tiredness and prevent or even help with seasonal depression during the darker winter time especially in the northern parts of the planet. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) usually helps with problems like this aswell. Because your body has trouble in finding out when is the day and when is the night it can not produce such regular bursts of melatonin. The receptors from your eyes do not send so many signals from the daylight which is usually only for a very short time. That is why your body basically gets mixed and either it produces too much sleep hormones like melatonin, or it does not produce them enough. Either constant drowsiness or sleeping problems is the result. When people feel fatique all the time they tend to resort to different beverages like energy drinks and coffee. That helps them stay awake during the day but it also affects the sleeping time. Because of a busy lifestyle combined with inproper use of caffeinated beverages sleeping problems occure. Melatonin can usually be used for problems like this because it makes the sleep deeper and through that pathway it decreases the daytime sleepyness. That is

Melatonin lowers the body temperature which mainly means that it slows down your body metabolism which makes it easyer to relax. When you are tired you usually feel a bit cold. This might have some relation to the fact that warming the suprachiasmatic nucleus increases drowsiness and sleepyness. It might be due to increased melatonin secretion and it might be a natural way of trying to lower your body temperature since it has an effect to the total body temperature.

Nowdays melatonin is being used to control circadin rhythms, as a over the counter sleep aid. In US it is sold as a natural supplement and a natural remedy for insomnia. It might have some very positive effects on insomnia especially in the milder cases. People who work in multiple shifts and have to change their sleeping habits constantly might benefit from melatonin supplementation and gain deeper sleep faster. Since melatonin affects the day-night-rhythms it helps you to go to sleep earlier than usual.

Melatonin Side Effects

Differently from the more traditional sleeping pills like benzodiatsepines, melatonin has not been shown to cause morning fatigue au contraire it has positive effects on sleep quality and may help people wake up perkyer than normally. Melatonin supplementation has been shown to have an increase in vivid dreaming which might point in to the direction that it increases REM sleep. Differently from other sleep aids melatonin usually does not have to be used multiple nights. Not that you should use regular sleep aids constantly but you tend to get comfortable in taking a pill at night and falling asleep. The effect of the melatonin sleep aid is somewhat unnoticeable. You do notice the effect but with melatonin it does not hit you like it does with regular sleep aids. Melatonin helps you relax and provides calm for your nerves which eventually allow you to get in a such relaxed situation that it is possible to fall asleep.

Melatonin may be used to treat circadian rhythm disorders, ADHD, increase fertility in perimenopausal women, headaches and even mood disorders and gallbladder stones. Melatonin has been shown to cause very little side effects even in quite long studies and therefore it is sold as a over the counter sleep aid. Therefore it might be concidered as a relatively safe natural remedy for sleeping disorders and help your trouble with sleeping.

 

[Team Dave]

Long time user of melatonin. Infact I had 5 mg both last night and tonight. It usually works, but didn't do much the past two nights. But looks like sleep is about to win here, thanks to my good friend Nyquil.

 

[kasee 03]

The generic 'sleep-aid' by Equate works for me but I have to take it at around 7pm to get a full nights sleep.

 

[canibus]

I know your pain

 

[Njc0las]

Sominex!!!!!

 

[James Snover]

Melatonin, Tryptophan and 5-htp. I take them 30 minutes before bed and it makes nme sleep like a baby. I'll be 48 in a month, I have had to take these since I was in my mid-30's.

One other thing: if it takes more than 20 minutes to fall asleep, get up and do something else. Laying there thinking about how you are not falling asleep is a total loss. You might as well do something.

Blue light and white light kill the production of melatonin. This is why most cars and aircraft have blue instruments, these days. If you have anything in the room that is making blue or white light, get rid of it. Don't get on the compuer, many programs have blue backgrounds.

Jim Snover

 

[SnkBtn99]

try reducing whatever is running through your brain a million miles an hour when you go to bed.

I prefer pilates over yoga ...

 

[ToyoFl]

phelps it FTW

 

[floyd4ford]

Sex!

 

[pharmd2010]

Been discussed here before, but I would try Melatonin or maybe some benadryl. I use benadryl fairly regularly and it works well for me. Do not take tylenol PM or advil PM if you are just trying to get to sleep. There is no need to take a pain reliever if you do not need it. Both of these products have benadryl in it and that is what produces the sedation, so just buy regular benadryl. Take 2 of them about 30-45 minutes before you want to turn in. Besides these 2 products, I would recommend you go to your primary care doctor and see if he would be willing to prescribe you a prescription sleep aid. Good luck.

 

[Thump_rrr]

I thought Michael Jackson had found the trick.:shrug:

 

[JasonSnake]

Don't get on the compuer, many programs have blue backgrounds.

Jim Snover

OK. I'll try not to watch the porn vids with too much blue in the background. Hopefully it'll help some.

 

[Team Dave]

Awesome, woke up today at 11 am! Haha, so I did get a full nights sleep once the Nyquil did the trick. I generally use that as a last resort. My normal combination I have been using is 5 MG of Melatonin combined with 2 Calms Forte pills. I like these two the best because they are all natural, and I don't get any hangover the next day. I have some Uni-som sleep tablets, but I could probably go into hybernation if I really wanted to. Even half a pill of that is too much.