Things For SLEEP

[dookie]

Besides the typical sleep things discussed here - Niacinamide, anti-histamines (cypro and diphenhydramine), sugar and salt - are there other things which you have found good for either inducing, prolonging or generally improving the quality of the sleep? What can I do when I have complete insomnia?

 

[ecstatichamster]

gelatin seems to help a lot. I don't have trouble are my wife does, and gelatin really helps.

Magnesium also really helps.

I think that theanine and maybe taurine would also be good. You have to be careful with taurine, because it can cause some heart burnish problems.

 

[Bruv]

I don't have many problems getting off to sleep but I have trouble staying asleep. I'll often wake up after 5 hours of sleep or even less. I don't usually get back to sleep and usually won't feel sleepy until I have to start getting ready for work.
I think part of the problem maybe because I need to urinate. I had been having orange juice, sugar and salt shortly before bed because I was hungry but have since tried to eat more at dinner so I'm not so hungry at bedtime. I have found that the fattier the meat I have at dinner, the better I sleep. If I eat meat too close to bedtime, I will wake up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous.
I have often read tips about drinking milk or eating ice cream but I am allergic to all dairy so I'm at a loss of what else to do.

 

[Bruv]

My sleep has improved a little. I stopped drinking oj in the evenings. I had been having approx. quarter of a litre as soon s I got home from work and maybe another quarter shortly before bed. Often had a lot of stock (bone broth) with my evening meal as well. All this liquid was causing me to wake up needing to urinate and then I couldn't go back to sleep.
My sleep is still not great but it is better. The things that I have done are:-
Cut out all liquids in the evening apart from maybe a very small amount of stock in a stew.
OJ in the evenings has now been replaced by 1 serving of fruit and white rice* or waxy potatoes** with my evening meal. I would like to drink oj instead but it's just too much liquid.
Fatty meat or adding beef dripping to leaner meat in my evening meal to make sure I have enough calories to stop me getting hungry again before bed or waking me up too early with hunger.
Evening meal several hours before bed. Meat too close to bedtime will wake me up after a few hours and I'll be feeling sick.
Keeping the house warmish at night (approx. 13C in Winter). The cold will stop me getting back to sleep if I wake up too early.
If I wake up after 4 hours I will sometimes have a little oj with sugar and a little boiled water to warm it up. Cold drinks seem to keep me awake if the house is cold. The oj doesn't always help me get back to sleep though.

*Rice is a very recent experiment (Inspired by the Stan Efferding thread). I have not been adding beef dripping to it because I wanted to see how well I was digesting rice. It seems that I can eat alot of rice and have no digestion problems with it as long as I chew it properly. I have been getting a little hungry just before bed though but have found that another small portion of rice or some gelatine sweets sorts this out.

**I don't always get on great with potatoes but I would rather put up with a little discomfort from potatoes occasionally for an hour so after eating them than drinking oj in the evening and waking up too early every morning.