Two interesting videos and one personal tip on getting better sleep

Last week I was watching a video where a doctor was talking about sleep, and he was talking about how important it is to sleep in a dark room. He said "Your room should be dark enough that you can't see your hand in front of your face".

 

I have always known this and up until I moved into my tiny house last year I was sleeping in a very dark room. When I moved I tried to seal the light out of my tiny house but with 6 windows and skylights it was quite a challenge. I got it to where I considered it "good enough" and didn't really think much about it until I watched that video last week. After the video I decided to wear a sleep mask and my general sleep quality improved TREMENDOUSLY.

 

Today I stumbled on these two sleep videos. In the first video he talks about how sleeping on your side might be best as it "cleans out your brain" and prevents breathing obstructions. I have a hard time sleeping on my side due to a torn rotator cuff, my CPAP mask and the fact that I sleep in a hammock, but when I do manage to get comfortable enough to sleep on my side I often notice a marked improvement in sleep. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I slept horribly, I take off the CPAP mask and if I manage to fall back asleep on my side for as little as an hour I can wake up feeling absolutely amazing so I definitely believe that there is something to this.

 

 

 

Also note that studies have shown that the optimal sleep temperature is 60-68 degrees, so make sure you are mindful of the temperature.

Last week I was watching a video where a doctor was talking about sleep, and he was talking about how important it is to sleep in a dark room. He said "Your room should be dark enough that you can't see your hand in front of your face".

 

I have always known this and up until I moved into my tiny house last year I was sleeping in a very dark room. When I moved I tried to seal the light out of my tiny house but with 6 windows and skylights it was quite a challenge. I got it to where I considered it "good enough" and didn't really think much about it until I watched that video last week. After the video I decided to wear a sleep mask and my general sleep quality improved TREMENDOUSLY.

 

Today I stumbled on these two sleep videos. In the first video he talks about how sleeping on your side might be best as it "cleans out your brain" and prevents breathing obstructions. I have a hard time sleeping on my side due to a torn rotator cuff, my CPAP mask and the fact that I sleep in a hammock, but when I do manage to get comfortable enough to sleep on my side I often notice a marked improvement in sleep. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I slept horribly, I take off the CPAP mask and if I manage to fall back asleep on my side for as little as an hour I can wake up feeling absolutely amazing so I definitely believe that there is something to this.

 

 

 

Also note that studies have shown that the optimal sleep temperature is 60-68 degrees, so make sure you are mindful of the temperature.

 

Interesting.  The first video suggests some conclusions from a smattering of research studies though which is basically extrapolating the data. I wouldn’t accept it as solid evidence but it’s interesting and there may be something there.  The second video seems a little more solid.  Who knows with a CPAP, FG.  Snoring would be taken care of but not sure how that would affect CSF processes. I downloaded f.lux bc I have a bad habit with screens.

I didn't dig into the science behind this but I found it interesting based on my own observations of sleeping on my side. It isn't 100% guaranteed that I will sleep great but there is absolutely a correlation and when I do feel the difference after an hour or two of sleeping on my side it feels like I just got 8 hours of the best sleep of my life, even if the first 6 hours my sleep was bad.

 

It's hard to describe but I can wake up an hour or two early feeling like death and after an hour of side sleeping it literally feels like something came in and drained toxic fluid out of my head.

FG, sounds like you need a regular bed now where you can sleep on your side with nice cotton sheets and a regular pillow.  A good gussetted pillow helps with the side sleeping.  A pillow that can support your neck and shoulders.  It could help your rotator cup problem.  If there's too much noise, soft earplugs help too which I wear.  My room is very dark.  Room darkening shades.  Maybe you wouldn't need your CPAP with a regular bed? 

FG, sounds like you need a regular bed now where you can sleep on your side with nice cotton sheets and a regular pillow.  A good gussetted pillow helps with the side sleeping.  A pillow that can support your neck and shoulders.  It could help your rotator cup problem.  If there's too much noise, soft earplugs help too which I wear.  My room is very dark.  Room darkening shades.  Maybe you wouldn't need your CPAP with a regular bed?

 

I can't even sleep on a regular bed now. In the hammock I have virtually zero back pain. In a regular bed I wake up in pain every time. I can also control the heat in the hammock. I would have to have the room super cold sleeping in a bed and even then I'm still too hot most of the time.

 

I stayed at my sister's house one night a couple of weeks ago and it was absolutely the most awful sleep I have had in years. It was a nice bed but.....it was a bed. And I didn't bring my CPAP machine. And the light was beaming in, even while it was dark. And it was much warmer in the room than I normally sleep. I felt like absolute hell the next day.

 

I am pretty sure the hammock doesn't help my sleep apnea but I have the CPAP so it cancels it out. It completely eliminates my heat and lower back pain though, so overall it's a much better option for me than a bed.

I love my aircon, and my sleep mask..

 

I dont have street lights or anything, and have blockout curtains, but on a “bright night” its too much..

All my led lights HAVE to be taped over or a cardboard flap over them, as just one tiny light is luke being stabbed in my brain... It does all fluctuate a bit with my SX intensity though...

 

I have also found my “2nd” sleep in the morning to be so much better... esp. with how I feel after waking...

 

 

I am sure that there are some things that are out of our control as far as getting better sleep, but I don't think the importance of doing everything you can to have the best chance at getting good sleep can be understated. I believe that sleep is one of the keys to minimizing symptoms and possibly even speeding up the healing process so we should absolutely to anything we can do to improve our sleep.

 

I have also found my “2nd” sleep in the morning to be so much better... esp. with how I feel after waking...

 

YES! Why is that? There have been times where I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep immediately so I play around on my phone for an hour or so, even wash my face when I hit the bathroom, and if I manage to fall back alseep my sleep is MUCH better the second time around.

 

 

Thanks for the information but withdrawal is such a nightmare I try anything to get sleep.

FG, that's so odd that you can't sleep in a bed?  I'll bet you're the only person on this earth who doesn't sleep in a bed of some sort. LOL.  I have a memory foam topper on my bed so then I don't have to sleep on the hard metal coils.  It makes it much softer then on the pressure points. 

FG, that's so odd that you can't sleep in a bed?  I'll bet you're the only person on this earth who doesn't sleep in a bed of some sort. LOL.  I have a memory foam topper on my bed so then I don't have to sleep on the hard metal coils.  It makes it much softer then on the pressure points.

 

I'm not the only one- https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/search.php?searchid=11089083

 

Before I tried hammocks I had problem after problem with beds. Too hot, too firm, too soft, divot in the middle, you name it. The hammock solution isn't perfect- it is "constricting" sometimes, it takes more effort to get in and out of it and it takes a minute to get settled into a comfortable position but the fact that I have a fair chance at getting a good night's sleep and I don't have to wake up every day in pain makes it worth it.

 

If you've never slept in a Mayan hammock it's probably hard to imagine that it would be comfortable to sleep in but when you lay slightly diagonal it flattens your body out and removes all pressure points. Your body isn't laying in a banana shape. And you don't have 12" of insulation under you making your back hot. $70 for a new hammock every few years vs. $800 for a new mattress. During the day my "bed" basically disappears since it fits into a grocery bag when I take it down.

Im not sure on the second sleep, it wasnt just benzo WD for me, but even the high dose oxy insomnia, or perhaps more “nocturnal” state then.. Even now, if im wide awake, first light puts me out like a general anaesthetic.. The second sleep may also have something to do with my GI and associated chemistry.. I tend to wake with a type of bloating/cramping discomfort, which gets worse if I dont get up (or over medicate in the hospital days).. But I would get up to see C16 off to school, have a cuppa, and it would all relax, -as the fatigue took over.. Then a few hrs great sleep, and I was good to go..

Well, Kinda.. afternoon naps became “toxic” from the V WD, And on dark, like a clock, I would start to feel human.. Then survive eating, which brought on fever type sx, and feel near human through the night..

At my good points, low dose and jump(ish), the whole “clock face” slowly turned backwards to more normal..

Sorry, Its pretty messed up to be pulling much info out of that, but I do think its the Circadian type chemistry, -in all its complexity.. Im just not prepared to “modulate” for it, as I dont have to function on society's clock, and it seems to balance back slowly in a homeostatic fashion..

-Not that im probably telling you anything new here...

 

I wasnt going to add a “yeah me too” here, but yes, I have done a “few” night in a hammock over my younger yrs.. Both on the fishing boat when it was too hot below deck, and in a “shed” on our Daintree property, -It was too humid and wet for bedding to not go mouldy.. Asides avoiding the “night life” that crawled and slithered on the floor at times..

Cant say I miss getting in n out..!! Lol  But a big “double” was pretty comfy with a futon as a base..

 

I also think the best sleep we can get is a big help with healing... Im pretty lucky, even if it is out of normal hours..

My biggest “deep”  problem is still that total lack of initiating motivation, but there has been a little shift for the better at times..

 

God give us all strength, -and a quick hi to Becks too..

 

 

It's hard to imagine how we could have evolved to need it to be  "...dark enough that you can't see your hand in front of your face" in order to sleep well, since that sort of darkness hardly exists in the natural world at all. Even now, how many apes sleep in that kind of total darkness? Do they somehow block out the moonlight? For a few years, I did sleep in a totally darken room, with black shades over the windows, no lights of any kind on in the room, no glowing clock, complete darkness - and I didn't find that my sleep was all that good. Do you know when I actually sleep the best? On weekends and holidays when I nap during the day - and not in a darkened room. I close the blinds so it's not dazzlingly bright, but there's still plenty of filtered daylight in the room, and I sleep very well. Of course, I've always been a nightowl, so that may explain that. But still, I wonder about our evolution and those apes sleeping under the full moon.

When I used to go camping, I'd sleep in a tent and sleeping bag and sleep well.  No electricity.  Just me and the night sounds.  I think in the older days before electricity people were more relaxed and able to sleep better, so maybe the light didnt bother them so much.  All this electro pollution is bad for our nervous systems and makes it harder for us to relax, IMO.

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Was thinking similar..  I used to sleep in the sun ok, or under a tree, the car, or Dozer... 

Perhaps todays healthy person isnt as healthy as we might assume.. -As in Diet, lifestyle stressors, and the fine tuning of our designed chemistry...

I Imagine only a very small number actually lived in a deep cave, and even if so (cave man), for how many genetic forming generations.. An executive cave must have been prime real estate for but a select few, and I imagine fire light and glow worms.. lol

 

Na, I think all is not well in our modern world...

 

Cell phones, computers and tv screens aren't doing us any favors either. I am totally guilty of not shutting off all screens at a reasonable time and I am pretty sure if I made a habit of killing all of the blue light at least a couple of hours before bedtime I would sleep better.

Yup, and that direct sunlight in the morning... -Eeek..

It's hard to imagine how we could have evolved to need it to be  "...dark enough that you can't see your hand in front of your face" in order to sleep well, since that sort of darkness hardly exists in the natural world at all. Even now, how many apes sleep in that kind of total darkness? Do they somehow block out the moonlight?

 

True, but just because an animal can tolerate something doesn't mean that it is optimal. I'm sure sleeping on a bunch of rocks and twigs doesn't help sleep but humans have figured out ways to alleviate that issue. I suspect it might be the same for the light thing. Most people can probably tolerate a little light but less light is probably ideal.

Here I am with terrible cr disorder and yes, i still look at screens and don't get morning sun (well if I get any sleep at all it is morning, but since it is only maybe 2 hrs have no excuse).

Agree about the elctronics stuff and it does affect people.

There was a gal on here I was getting to know who got off ativan, think it was...s lowly... and then she not only had probs with screens, as I do, but she could not get near them.  OR near her phone.  And then it became NOTHING electric in the house!  So don't know if this is benzo related, but the electronic sensitivey thing is something seems to exist, even if not for a lot of people.

 

But doubt all the energy floating around is doing any of us any good.

 

And life through screens, well, good luck to the kids growing up with all this stuff...

And life through screens, well, good luck to the kids growing up with all this stuff...

 

It might be awhile before we start to see all of the negative effects of mobile devices and social media and such and we will probably never be able to prove real cause and effects but I suspect that the results of all of this won't be pretty. I am way too plugged in myself, and I'm not 20 years old, I can only imagine what it's doing to my nieces who can't put their phones down for 5 minutes to eat dnner.

Did you ever have your electricity go off and notice how quiet it is?  There's always a hum with all this electricity beside us. 

Did you ever have your electricity go off and notice how quiet it is?  There's always a hum with all this electricity beside us.

 

True. You don't realize all of the little things that create a background noise until they are gone.

 

I kind of wish I could move to a rural area. Getting out of the city is sooooo refreshing. I took one step in that direction when I moved to my new place but I am still in a fairly large metro area. I live close to the beach so things are more laid back here and my place is on the outskirts so there isn't nearly as much traffic and noise and whatnot so it is definitely an improvement but the times I have spent in the country over the past several years really showed me how stressful it is having to deal with city life.

I live next to a highway and never get away from that noise.