Sleeping Issues

Raekreu

I've got this weird back and forth cycle where I'll either sleep poorly and not for very long at all - say, 3-5 hours waking up every 45 minutes - or sleeping for really long periods of time, like 15+ hours at a time. It doesn't seem to have any correlation in how tired I actually am, I've gone to bed exhausted and couldn't sleep a wink. Likewise, I've gone to bed feeling pretty good and ended up sleeping for 18 hours straight.

I'm not exactly worried about this, but the lengthy snoozing is lame as hell and does me no good. I don't snore and I stay away from caffeine for at least 5 hours before I sleep.

Pantshandshake

Is... Is there a question here somewhere?

Enc

I assume the question is getting into a regular sleep cycle.

When mine gets off, which typically happened due to strange work schedules when I was juggling school, a morning shift, and a night shift. I had to figure out how to fix it. It got to the point with me that I would sleep for maybe an hour or two on average a week, and some days I just wouldn't sleep.

I started by eliminating the cause of the problem: the irregular times I was required to be awake. If you don't take care of whatever is prompting an irregular sleep schedule, you won't improve. Once I had a set amount of time that was the same every day, I did the following:

1) Pick a sleep time I wanted to wake up at and go to sleep at.
2) Go to bed at that time and leave an alarm at the second time.
3) Even if I couldn't sleep, stay in bed between those times trying.

Eventually your body will adjust to sleeping during those times and stick with it, after a week or so you will likely be asleep moments after your head hist the pillow and a month will have you waking up right before the alarm goes off.

Often during the first day or two I will use an over the counter sleep aid, but not for more than two days straight. Those things can be very, very bad if over used. C affine can cause problems longer than 5 hours before if you are taking enough of it. During my bad sleeping days I would have a pot or two of coffee a day to keep going, even if I didn't have any coffee for hours and hours before I would still be awake. Cutting back to a cup or so a day will help a lot in improving your ability to sleep.

If you aren't doing better after a month, or if you are having increasing problems, consider seeing a doctor. Sleep is important.

The Ender

Have you tried off the shelf sleep aids, by chance?

I have issues with insomnia & similar 'fits' of sleeping / waking up, and sleep aids have helped a lot.

JohnnyCache

Get checked for sleep apnea.

Esp if you say, wake up with headaches when you sleep for a long time or if you snore like a motherfucker

Dealt with it for years before getting help for it in my late 20s...

elkatas

I would also recommend get checked for apnea because of the cyclical nature of pattern.

Shogun

On the nights when you sleep poorly is there anything you need to do the next day? For example are you sleeping poorly on the nights where you have to work the next day or have class or something the next day?

Raekreu

I've never used any type of sleeping aids. Never even considered them, actually...all the prescription ones have scary as hell possible side effects.

The pattern is random, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with how tired I am or what I've got scheduled.

I do snore if I lay on my back, but 99% of the time I sleep on my side. I've slept through thunderstorms, road construction, backfiring lawnmowers, and 2 earthquakes, but a single snore is enough to jolt me awake.

Who would I talk to about a test for apnea? Is a GP able to diagnose it or would I need to see a specialist?

Frei

Your GP will refer you to someone, most likely to get a sleep study done.

Fallingman

It could be worth also trying the usual smaller suggestions:

- Start exercising if you don't already, or at least do so regularly.
- Don't spend large amounts of time in bed doing activities other than sleeping. So things like long-time reading, gaming, time on a laptop/tablet, talking on the phone etc. Do those elsewhere - and go to bed to sleep. (within reason, I think this is more for people that could spend hours just hanging out on/in their bed).
- Drink less alcohol (general rule might be 1 or 2 drinks ok, anything more and you have a restless night).
- Drink less of anything before bed (so you don't have to get up to pee).
- Don't eat just before bed.
- Eat healthy.
- Find a relaxing routine leading up to bed-time.

Unless there's something pointing to a condition like apnea - I'd like to think a doctor would start by talking you through the basics - sometimes a lifestyle just isn't conducive to relaxation.

But as stated above, if you're worried about apnea, see a doc.

Sir Carcass

Are you sure you don't snore when you sleep? Like having a spouse/family member to verify? Sleep studies are expensive as hell (unless you have amazing insurance, I guess), but if you're having sleep issues I think it's worth the expense. Sleep apnea is a very serious condition that can lead to all kinds of bad things, like heart attacks and strokes. The main concern is that it causes you to starve your organs of oxygen, basically.

A little less than a year ago I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. I personally would have "episodes" about 125 times an hour, and I think anything over 30 is considered severe. My blood oxygen levels would drop to somewhere around 80%, and during the first half of the study, I got zero REM sleep (second half was with a CPAP). My only symptoms were that I snored really bad and I always felt exhausted, to the point were I was constantly nodding off, even while driving. It started out by just being tired, but eventually got to that point. Even sleeping 10-12 hours on weekends didn't do anything to help (because my sleep was basically worthless).

I had the study and got prescribed a CPAP machine. That thing is a miracle worker. After the first night of using it, I could tell a huge difference. I've been using it for about 10 months now. I can actually sleep on my back now. I get up at 5am for work, and I would go to bed at like 8pm and still feel exhausted, but now I go to bed between 9:30 and 10 and feel fine in the mornings. I used to sleep till 11 or later on weekends, to try and catch up sleep. Now I wake up between 7 and 8, on my own. I never would have thought that possible. I can't tell you how awesome having a regular sleep schedule is.

So yeah, you might not have sleep apnea, or at least not that bad, but it's definitely worth checking into. For me, I had to first go to my GP, who referred me to a pulmonary specialist, who ordered the sleep study. I had that, then went back to the specialist, who then prescribed the CPAP, which I got from a medical supply store. I think so far I'm about 2k out of pocket over the whole thing, though I would have to look that up. I should be almost done paying for the machine. Totally worth it, in my book.

Natas_Xnoybis

I have sleep apnea, insurance covered everything, Total F'ing Life Changer. I am still stunned to think about how many years I went without getting it treated.

One very easy test if you don't have the insurance for a full blown sleep study, get a blood O2 saturation meter, (ask around you might know someone in the medical field you can borrow one from, that is what I first did). you clip that to you, then go to sleep, if your blood O2 saturation level falls below a certain % then an alarm goes off.. and that is a cheap way to at least get an idea if sleep apnea might be at the root of it.

your symptoms you list are very close to what I experienced.