Learn me Melatonin

For what it is worth, I was part of a sleep study in college specifically designed to monitor sleep cycles in and out of REM sleep. I and most of the participants cycle in and out of deep sleep on roughly 90 minute cycles, and the third and in particular the fourth are my deepest cycles.

The takeaway: at roughly 90 minute intervals throughout the night I am very nearly awake anyway, and at those times I wake much more easily and feeling much more refreshed. A three hour nap does me a lot more good than a four hour one, and especially the six and seven and a half markers are way better than staying in for ten.

I'm pretty rigid about setting my alarm for one of those windows whenever I go to bed and I do a lot better with less sleep than most people I know. It sure doesn't take much to try it if you are looking for ways to get better sleep.

oldopelguy wrote: For what it is worth, I was part of a sleep study in college specifically designed to monitor sleep cycles in and out of REM sleep. I and most of the participants cycle in and out of deep sleep on roughly 90 minute cycles, and the third and in particular the fourth are my deepest cycles. The takeaway: at roughly 90 minute intervals throughout the night I am very nearly awake anyway, and at those times I wake much more easily and feeling much more refreshed. A three hour nap does me a lot more good than a four hour one, and especially the six and seven and a half markers are way better than staying in for ten. I'm pretty rigid about setting my alarm for one of those windows whenever I go to bed and I do a lot better with less sleep than most people I know. It sure doesn't take much to try it if you are looking for ways to get better sleep.

http://sleepyti.me/ Easy calculator to figure out what time to go to bed/wake up.

And yeah, it really works. 90 minute nap is better than a 2 hour nap. 6 hours of sleep is much better than 7. 7.5 and 9 are the best.

Lesley wrote: Benadryl is scary E36 M3 for me - I get dreadful weird dreams from it.

+1. I wake up terrified that my brain could even come up with stuff like that on it's own.

It's like a children's size dose of LSD.

I thought melatonin was something ginger's lacked? Wait, that's melonin. Never mind.

In my old age I find that exhausting physical activity followed by at least an hour of relaxing - not thinking about work, bills, anything... just mindless stuff or a fluffy book leads to good sleep. Perhaps a little o' the cheeba if the mind will not settle itself. Not much though.

Whiskey, pills, OTC cold meds... all lead to unconsciousness without rest and sometimes either terrifying dreams or soaked sheets. Even eating before I sleep will ruin my E36 M3 for a bunch of hours tossing and turning.

I've noticed that after a full day at the track racing, or even instructing... I don't go looking for sleep. It comes for me. Conclusion... race. Every day. If only my prescription plan covered that.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Lesley wrote: Benadryl is scary E36 M3 for me - I get dreadful weird dreams from it.

+1. I wake up terrified that my brain could even come up with stuff like that on it's own. It's like a children's size dose of LSD.

Not quite LSD, but I always feel bad when I take it and have to come to work.

I feel like I'm winning at life because it genuinely gives me a head change.

iadr wrote: How are you taking melatonin? The only way that works correctly is melt it under your tongue. I know we have smart people here, but if it says sublingual in little print on the bottle and you swallow them... I'd be disappointed in you. Like I was with my mother. The RN and shift supervisor of a hospital transplant ward. Who did that exact berkleying thing before tossing them out and telling me by phone they didn't work for her. I will agree it wakes you a little early. That's how it functions- it puts you right into an hour or to into your nights sleep and the body is immediately doing its thing and subsequently starts to climb out an hour or two early. I take the 3mg, and I will note it tends to "still" my digestion, to the point that I take a half dose of Exlax most times I take melatontin

I've been taking melatonin for ~10 yrs. same brand all that time … just went and looked at the instructions on the bottle … no where does it say anything about taking it sublingually … no where

wbjones wrote: I've been taking melatonin for ~10 yrs. same brand all that time … just went and looked at the instructions on the bottle … no where does it say anything about taking it sublingually … no where

Yep same here.

For the past year I've been using a band that monitors activity including sleep. It vibrates to wake me up and as other posters suggested it monitors you for those light periods of sleep so you wake within those windows and feel better. It will wake you within a 30 minute window of what time you set it for so it looks for the optimal time in that window, you have to have a little flex in your morning schedule for it and with the DST switch this week its having to re-learn and find that sweet spot again.

JThw8 wrote:

wbjones wrote: I've been taking melatonin for ~10 yrs. same brand all that time … just went and looked at the instructions on the bottle … no where does it say anything about taking it sublingually … no where

Yep same here.

That said, I'm trying it that way tonight. It is hitting faster. I'll see how it does.

mtn wrote: http://sleepyti.me/ Easy calculator to figure out what time to go to bed/wake up. And yeah, it really works. 90 minute nap is better than a 2 hour nap. 6 hours of sleep is much better than 7. 7.5 and 9 are the best.

That's interesting. I'm nailing it on days, but getting too much sleep when I'm on nights. I'll have to adjust it and see.

I gave some of that tea to one of my coworkers., I'm curious to see if it works as well for him.

Melatonin helps reset your biological clock. When I travel more than a timezone away (which I do rather often), I take it 30 minutes before lights out every night until I'm on the new schedule. It takes approximately one day to recover from each timezone you travel through (e.g., traveling from Washington, DC to Stuttgart Germany is 6 timezones and therefore takes 6 days to fully acclimate to the new time zone).

I have found that using Melatonin cuts that time in half.