Are You Getting Enough Sleep? Sleeping properly?

[Gawan]

Hello,

at the current time I'm waking up the first time at about 05.15 am. and I'm going to bed about ten pm.. Maybe it has something to do with changing the clocks and my body still needs to adjust itself, as far what I read it could take about one or two weeks.

 

[chachazoom]

I bought a cold water humidifier for winter dryness and it has made a big difference in the house in general but also really helps in producing a more comfortable sleep. No dry mouth, or nose and it's helped eczema

 

[loreta]

I also seem to awake too early. I'm in bed before or by 10 PM. Usually wake once to use the bathroom, then go back to sleep, and sleep till about an hour before the alarm goes off (roughly guessing because I won't look at the time cause then I will just lay there and count the minutes till I need to get up) and can't fall back to a proper sleep.

A really interesting thing I've found with sleeping in complete darkness is that it is timeless. Actually this is a little difficult to put into words. I set the alarm and then don't look at it until it goes off in the morning. When I wake up in the night I sometimes try to figure out what the time might be and have to give up. I think that because the darkness is constant, with no cues as to time, it allows – encourages, even - one to let go of time, if that makes sense. The darkness feels almost eternal or infinite. It's quite a strange sensation – on the one hand, knowing that time is passing, but in bed in my totally dark room, I feel somehow outside of time.

So true. No time, and no space. Maybe when in the bellies of our mothers there was black space with no time. I like the dark of my room, nothing else, no objects, nothing to see, nothing to think about. My black room is like the belly of the ocean, maybe. I love that.

Loreta

 

[Ellipse]

Just to notice, peak of not sleeping for me this night.

 

[Seamus]

There hasn't been much activity on this thread in a while, so I'm going to share my recent experiences.

In the past month my sleeping habits have changed somewhat. One of the suggested renunciations at a meditation retreat I attended about a month ago was "high and comfy beds". I think that this is mainly related to renouncing "sensual pleasures," but I took it literally and slept on the floor in my sleeping bag for 10 days. For the first couple of nights I didn't sleep well because I was so uncomfortable on the floor. After a few days it got easier. It occurred to me that the reason the floor was so uncomfortable might have to do with how tense and "hard" my body is most of the time. Over the course of the retreat, as my body relaxed, the floor didn't feel so "hard" and I slept better. So much better in fact, I've taken to sleeping on the floor all of the time now! I guess this sounds kind of "weird," but I find that I sleep better, I am not groggy in the morning, I have more energy during the day, and I don't have that longing to stay in bed anymore. :P Most of the time I don't even use a pillow.

Has anyone else ever experimented with sleeping on the floor? Or sleeping on the ground outside, while camping for instance?

 

[3DStudent]

I'm looking to purchase some blinds to finally block out those little bits of light in my window that wake me up. Does anyone know if blackout blinds are better for an inside the window frame or an outside frame setup? The site I looked at said that inside mounted ones will leak a little light. But you would think the outside ones would also, because they don't fit to the actual window frame, they just cover it.

I also ordered a curtain rod to hang some blackout curtains. The blinds I'm looking at are the cellular honeycomb style blackout blinds. I'm thinking of getting a top-up/bottom-down blind, where you can keep the bottom down for privacy, but still keep the top down for some light.

 

[seek10]

Has anyone else ever experimented with sleeping on the floor? Or sleeping on the ground outside, while camping for instance?

Recent years, I was sleeping on floor. I don't feel much discomfort as I used to sleep on floor during childhood and adult days. Infact sleeping on bed makes me feel lazy. :)

 

[dugdeep]

T.S. Wiley, author of the book "Lights Out" that has been discussed extensively in this thread is going to be on the Underground Wellness web-radio broadcast again tonight. Apparently her last appearance a couple of months ago was so popular they decided to do an encore. She's a very knowledgeable speaker, especially when it comes to talking about hormone balance and what affect it (light, sleep, carbs). The last show was really good - well worth the listen.

Here's the link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness/2011/04/22/ask-ts-wiley

It starts at 8PM Eastern.

 

[Gimpy]

I'm looking to purchase some blinds to finally block out those little bits of light in my window that wake me up. Does anyone know if blackout blinds are better for an inside the window frame or an outside frame setup? The site I looked at said that inside mounted ones will leak a little light. But you would think the outside ones would also, because they don't fit to the actual window frame, they just cover it.

I also ordered a curtain rod to hang some blackout curtains. The blinds I'm looking at are the cellular honeycomb style blackout blinds. I'm thinking of getting a top-up/bottom-down blind, where you can keep the bottom down for privacy, but still keep the top down for some light.

The best combination I've found for elimination of light at night is a shade combined with a blackout curtain. We have this combo downstairs and it works very well. In the 'batcave' bedroom though, we left the shades out, so that the morning sun would naturally lighten the room and help get me up for the day.

It isn't necessary to seal the window with the shade if you have an insulated blackout curtain. Just be sure the curtain overlaps in front, and the curtain rod curves towards the window. Use a pin to close the front, and if you want to be extra sure about the sides near the window frame, use blue painters tape to close the gaps. Painters tape will help seal without damaging either the wall paint or window frame. ;) This will save you money on fitting the shade and curtain in the long run.

Because I get migraines from bright light, we have the blinds/curtain combo downstairs on the eastern facing windows. Once the sun is well up, I open both to let in light during the day, which helps regulate the sleep cycle and gives the cat her version of 'television'. (Watching the birds)


Hope this helps.

 

[mada85]

With the lengthening of the daylight hours here in the northern hemisphere, I'm finding that I need less sleep than I did at the beginning of the experiment. Last night – still in total darkness – I slept for only about seven hours. I got up really early (4.30am) and felt really refreshed. Our bodies are really sensitive to the planetary rhythms of light and dark, even when the sleep quarters are in total darkness.

However, the change to British Summer Time was really difficult. Just as my body was adjusting to the lengthening daylight hours after the long dark of winter, the clocks were changed, disrupting the cycle. Knowing how the PTB love to make people suffer, I wonder if this isn't the real purpose of summer time – to disrupt the natural cycles every six months. After all, just moving the clocks forward by one hour does not give any extra daylight. It just changes the relation of the hours of daylight to the clock.

 

[3DStudent]

The best combination I've found for elimination of light at night is a shade combined with a blackout curtain.

Thank you for the advice, Gimpy. The painter's tape sounds like a good idea. And I was also thinking that both the shade and the curtain combo will catch all of the light. I'm going to put up the curtains first and see if I even need to get the shade.

With the lengthening of the daylight hours here in the northern hemisphere, I'm finding that I need less sleep than I did at the beginning of the experiment. Last night – still in total darkness – I slept for only about seven hours.

I've experienced this too, waking up before usual. But I contribute it to the different sunlight time which is creeping through my window. I often feel really refreshed, but if I linger around for about 5 minutes, I realize that I am still tired.

 

[Ollie]

...

However, the change to British Summer Time was really difficult. Just as my body was adjusting to the lengthening daylight hours after the long dark of winter, the clocks were changed, disrupting the cycle. Knowing how the PTB love to make people suffer, I wonder if this isn't the real purpose of summer time – to disrupt the natural cycles every six months. After all, just moving the clocks forward by one hour does not give any extra daylight. It just changes the relation of the hours of daylight to the clock.

I've noticed this too, in fact I'm still trying to adjust, more so than was the case in previous years - before the increased darkness of the bedroom.

 

[Aliana]

T.S. Wiley, author of the book "Lights Out" that has been discussed extensively in this thread is going to be on the Underground Wellness web-radio broadcast again tonight. Apparently her last appearance a couple of months ago was so popular they decided to do an encore. She's a very knowledgeable speaker, especially when it comes to talking about hormone balance and what affect it (light, sleep, carbs). The last show was really good - well worth the listen.

Here's the link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness/2011/04/22/ask-ts-wiley

It starts at 8PM Eastern.

I was finally able to listen to this yesterday - very informative as she answered questions from callers. Towards the end of the program (around 1hr 10 minutes), someone asked a question about adrenal fatigue. She says its a combination of chronic stress, lights on all the time, not sleeping, AND aging. She now has a formula that she markets called SPARC Therapy. (_http://www.thewileyprotocol.com/hrt-approaches/protocols.html )

On the show she said it contained hydro-cortisone acetate, theobromine and caffeine - and that once you have adrenal fatigue you cannot recover and will need to take this for life (rather than for a short-term to help the healing process). She also said that taking the bovine adrenal supplements were worthless. So - basically she is saying that sleeping in total darkness is great...but you need her supplements anyway..hmm.

Needless to say - this was a bit depressing. I have been sleeping in the dark for the last few months and am also in the transition phase of the low-carb diet. However, I am still waking up often feeling I was run over by a tractor in my sleep. I always want to sleep later than I should and it is hard making myself go to bed early - but I have been fairly strict with myself!! I am curious to get other opinions about this as I keep hoping that working through the diet changes and continuing to sleep in the dark will eventually make a difference. Maybe I am being overly optimistic, but I don't like the idea of being forced to take a cortisone supplement for life (particularly one that can only be gotten through a physician).

That said...if that is what it is going to take to get better - then by all means I want to do what is necessary. I already take an armload of supplements as it is - but at least I can get them without having to be told I HAVE to have a mammogram (or some other scary test) before I will be given medication.

 

[cubbex]

I get in berserk mode when I deprive myself, become more mechanic, and sometimes I sleep very late because I have to do the EE programm because sometimes I do not have time in the day or I procrastinate the program.

And the day after its just a hell of a day, but it serves as some kind of fuel.

Those are my experiences, in February 14 I had an emotional problem, and I slept at 2:45 because of thinking about it and gosh, my deppresion the next day was out of my control, I was just too weak and so stressed.

But now I try to sleep early.

 

[mcb]

...On the show she said it contained hydro-cortisone acetate, theobromine and caffeine - and that once you have adrenal fatigue you cannot recover and will need to take this for life (rather than for a short-term to help the healing process). She also said that taking the bovine adrenal supplements were worthless. So - basically she is saying that sleeping in total darkness is great...but you need her supplements anyway..hmm.

Needless to say - this was a bit depressing...

Why? I have seen plenty of things she said in the book that might not stand up to close scrutiny, and yet it was such an interesting book that I am planning to read it again. None of the authors get it all right.

The research community tends to be influenced by scientific dogma coming from "authorities" in ways that delay some of the research that we need most. All of these authors are working with the available research, which contains not only dogmatic errors that can be identified and highlighted but sometimes hard-to-spot holes as well. The mind is amazingly good at filling in holes with "information," and we all succumb to it from time to time, imagining that we know what we don't know. All part of the instructional process, I guess.