Finally found my magic sleep bullet(s)

Cardio, tulsi tea/pill, 5mg melatonin, and binaural/isochronic beats.

 

Cardio in the morning helps a lot to make me tired at night. I either go for a walk (I live in the mountains, so believe me, a walk here is good cardio) for an hour, ride my exercise bike for 45 minutes, or both. I try to get in at least 30 minutes of yoga at night.

 

The tulsi seems to work as advertised, to calm down the cortisol. You need to slam it pretty heavily the first couple of days before it really starts to work, and you can cut back. I was taking the pills (one at first, then sometimes 2) 4 times a day for two - three days, and the tea a couple times a day, then cut back. It was working a little too well.

 

5mg melatonin - I find if I take more than that, it gives me a headache. I've also found, and my insomniac neighbor concurs, that the cheapo generic stuff doesn't work for shit. Buy a decent brand. Sometimes you get what you pay for. I take the tulsi pill and the melatonin about 2 hrs before I want to go to bed. I quit using the tea before bed, as I'd have to get up a couple of times to use the bathroom. I suspect it may be a mild diuretic.

 

I had to play around with a bunch of supplements, including some on the no-no list, to find what worked for me. Off the no-no list now. I don't think melatonin was on it. Not sure. GABA worked for me (yeah, yeah, blood brain barrier, blah blah blah), but made me too groggy in the morning. 5HTP also did pretty well, but again, groggy.

 

And of course, the binaural/isochronic beats. I found a theta (REM sleep) and a delta (deep healing sleep) on YouTube, put them on a playlist, and stick it on a continuous loop at night. I have trouble with headphones as I'm a side sleeper. The Cozy headphones worked okay, but getting them tight enough to hear them was kind of challenging. You have to use headphones for the binaural beats to work, but I have a small set of speakers next to my headboard for the isochronic, which also seem to work just fine. I think the creator was HQ Binaural Beats. It was one of a few that didn't have that crappy new age music to go with it. I just find the music to be too stimulating. I don't mind it during meditation, but can't stand it when I'm trying to sleep.

 

I only get about 6 hours of sleep, sometimes 7 if I'm lucky. Better than the 1-2 I was getting. Part of my issue with that though, is my husband doesn't go to bed til 11 or 12, and then ends up waking me up every morning. Still working on that, but it's hard to go to bed this time of year, when it isn't full dark til about 10:30. Our bedroom is dark as a cave, so at least THAT isn't an issue.

 

Starting neurofeedback next week, to try to get my brain patterns straightened out. Even after just a month, I feel that I'm probably about 50 - 60% healed. Had a lovely window most of yesterday. Been having longer and longer windows every day. Hoping another month does the trick, but we'll see. Still having some muscle tension, pain, and cog fog, but not nearly as bad as weeks 2 - 3. Been taking lions mane regularly, along with Phosphatidyl Serine, DHA for healing, about a week now.

 

So, to the person who posted "Stop saying it gets better", well, sorry, it does. Just faster for some of us than others. I was starting to wonder myself if I'd ever get better.

Mayavata,

 

Thanks for sharing all this information that you have gathered through experience of trial and error. All this information is very good as reference for what may or may not work for the rest of us. I want to try binaural beats on YouTube, you mentioned. I have been listening to delta wave with the music, and it helps calm me down, but sometimes I hear high-pitched that set me on fire. Do you have a recommended channel? (Sorry if you posted it somewhere before and I missed it).

 

Thanks!

HQ BinauralBeat is the channel. You could try Jody Hatton too. His stuff is binaural tones only.

HQ BinauralBeat is the channel. You could try Jody Hatton too. His stuff is binaural tones only.

 

Thanks! Checking it out now.