For the love of Pete, my man's sleep schedule has been way off. He's been sleeping about every other night for the last month during the week for at least a month. He gets anxious that he's not sleeping, then he starts worrying about it and that only makes things worse.
For two days this week, he has slept maybe 2 hours. On those two days, he shared his sleeplessness with me. Now, I don't mind. If I can help, let me know.
Last night, we had a family discussion at dinner. How can we reset his internal clock?
1. No naps. Period. Not an option.
2. A regular schedule that is kept to every single night, even days off. To bed at 11, up at 7.
3. He must come to bed every night. He's afraid that he's keeping me up, so he'll go to the couch or he'll fall asleep there because I'm involved in what he calls "the multi-media extravaganza." (Yes, we have the computer in the bedroom as well as a TV and iTunes running and while my ADD/ADHD keeps up just fine, it causes him to short-circuit and not function well.)
4. I have to keep track of the time and make sure that I'm shut down at 11. I also need to make sure that he knows that it is 11 and is in BED.
5. A little birdie may have slipped and told me that potentially I'm getting an iPod for my birthday, so maybe I can take my need for something distracting at bedtime and move it to music. I just need something to turn my brain to one thing and not the 12,000 that run through it at any given moment. Currently, I fall asleep to the TV. It only takes but maybe 10 minutes since when my head hits the pillow, I'm usually out. Still, a change that Hubs has politely suggested that I'll try.
6. No video games an hour before bed. He really doesn't play video games all that much, but when he is stressed out, they are his drink in the evening. I've long told him that I'm certain that all that is just activating his brain and not calming it.
7. Nothing to eat after dinner.
He takes melatonin, but it hasn't been helping a whole lot.
We're hoping to reset his internal clock so that he can start to sleep better again. He's always had sleep issues and even took Ambien for a short time. (Bad things happened.) He is an incredibly light sleeper.
He did think to tell me at 3 AM the other night that he needed a side dish to go with tacos for the work lunch on Friday. I admit that I was making sweet corn cake last night at 9:30 PM because I forgot. "I can understand how you forgot since I only remembered to tell you at 3 AM and all." ;)
He slept last night. Let's hope that is a streak of better sleep nights. My heavens, K slept better as an infant that Hubs has been sleeping.
3 comments:
All of those are excellent suggestions.
Since I'm up around 5:30 these days, I'm in bed by 10:00. I turn off all electronics and gadgetry by 9:30 and then read a book. I do my bedtime routine and take my nighttime pills (including melatonin). It's taken about a month, but I'm finally getting excellent sleep. :o)
I'm working on B now...
Good luck with M. Eek.
We've stuck to the no naps and bed by 11 and up at 7 and he IS sleeping. HOORAY! I didn't quite thing a few simple things would work that quick, but they have made a huge difference.
A schedule. We must stick to that. If you don't think I yell, "It's 11 and time for bed," you've got another thing coming. He's debating bedtime with me tonight, but since we are just new at resetting his time, we must stick to it.
Wish me luck!
As someone who has sleep issues, I assure you that they are all good things! I hope they help. I'm a TV sleeper and hubs has learned to adapt but some nights he just can't.
My doc had me take Valerian root (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-870-valerian.aspx?activeIngredientId=870&activeIngredientName=valerian). If the melatonen isn't working maybe he could ask about that one. I usually don't have a problem getting to sleep. It's staying asleep that I struggle with (like last night). I would like to thank perimenopause for that :(
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