Sleep question

Here's a site I found for Paul. Lots of hints about sleeping. WWW.To-done.com

 

heres an interesting article:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1812420,00.html?imw=Y

 

a glass of walm milk about 10-15 mins before you head off to bed. (hot chocolate works best) so i've heard

although im probably not the best person to give tips on sleeping, i probably need the advice.

 

"Sleeping pills" are actually quite dangerous. Medicines commonly sold as "sleeping pills" are usually either benzodiazepines or barbiturates (not that common in the developed world).

Both benzodiazepines and barbiturates cause dependency, especially the former (which happen to be the most widely available). Common examples of benzodiazepines are diazepam and bromazepam (brand names Valium and Lexotan respectively); common examples of barbiturates are barbital and phenobarbital (brand names Veronal and Luminal). Particularly with benzodiazepines, taking some for a period as short as a week can cause dependency.

Now, the Nytol. Nytol (diphenhydramine HCl) is primarily an antihystaminic usually marketed as Benadryl, but also used as a sleeping pill due because of its relatively powerful sedative side effects. I have taken it myself as an antihystaminic and I remember its sedative effects more than well...

"Like many other first-generation antihistamines, diphenhydramine is a potent anticholinergic agent. This leads to profound drowsiness as a very common side-effect, along with the possibilities of motor impairment (ataxia), dry mouth and throat, flushed skin (...)"

Regarding the "tired" part, there's something people need to know about sleeping pills. Their mechanism of action basically renders the subject unconscious, and being unconscious isn't exactly the same as being asleep. People under the effects of them sometimes can't be "woken up", effect I've seen personally, which shows that the "sleep" they cause is different from natural sleep.

My advice? Stay away from them.

 

I'm in the process of moving and I haven't been able to sleep at all! I literally sit on my laptop till the sun comes up and start the day all over again. This is the fourth day and I think I have slept maybe 8 hours? Maybe! I personally don't like taking sleeping pills or chugging Nyquil (well not chugging but taking an excessive amount to induce sleep) so I don't know what to do. I'm dead tired right now, but everytime I lie down my brain won't shut down. It feels like a cocaine binge almost. Ugh.

People say to excerise. I ride my bike to and from work (10 mile round trip) and I work in a kitchen so it's draining. My mind is wide awake and freaking out but my body is dead tired. I can understand the no sleep thing.

 

Before I start, I want to make it clear that I am not an expert on these things at all. However, I did a couple of assignments for university involving sleep deprivation, fatigue and stress (and did pretty well on some of them, not that I am bragging) so I am going to try and come up with a bit of an answer.

I think that you are experiencing a lot of stress in your life which is making it difficult for you to sleep, leading to you feeling fatigued. Don't worry, it happens to all of us! In fact, when I did those assignments that I talked about before, I couldn't sleep the night before they were due (they were both due on the same day). I went to bed well after midnight and I ended up getting up at 3:30 am to finish them because I couldn't sleep. My mind was in complete overdrive. I felt like total crap that day because I was so tired.

Moving house can be quite stressful on anyone. There probably isn't much you can do about the whole moving situation but during this time you need to find a way to somehow unwind so you are not as stressed. If exercise doesn't do it for you, try reading a book or even some meditation. Eventually the moving process will be over and you won't be as stressed. Your sleep pattern will return soon enough. It will just take a little bit of time to adapt to the new surroundings. You don't have to use sleeping pills if you don't want to either, unless of course your inability to sleep lasts a long time in which case I would see a doctor.

I hope that helps.