OURA RING

I could not live without this biofeedback tool - look at the web site. I  have zero personal benefit to recommending this. It has helped me understand my sleep patterns more than anything other than a clinical sleep study

Hey,

 

What were some of the insights gained from Oura? How accurate is it?

 

Thanks

Extremely accurate - deep sleep time , rem, heart rate, breath rate, HRV graph of sleep

I'm thinking about ordering one as I'm in a phase where I'm getting a week of better, yet still broken, sleep then hit with a few nights of bad sleep.  I really want to know the total amount I am getting at night and can't wear a watch to bed.

Hey Hopfulinpa,

 

I understand the need to find out how much sleep you are getting, but the main thing is how do you feel the next day?  Are you tired?  On those one off nights where I only get a few hours or so, I feel fine the next day.  I know psychologically we convince ourselves we should feel one way or another based on the amount of sleep we got, but that doesn't mean it's true.  For example, some nights I get 7 or 8 hours and sometimes I feel sort of tired the next day, but other times when I only get 2 or 3 hours I felt fine.  I tried to convince myself that I should feel better on the 7 and 8 hour nights and that I should feel tired and like crap on the 2 or 3 hour nights.

 

I learned to just go with how I feel, not how much sleep I got the night before as I really can't control that.  I've learned to accept whatever I get and move on and ignore it.  Don't get me wrong, I usually get 6-8 hours pretty much every night, but even if I don't here and there, I am good with it.

 

BTW your pattern of sleeping well for a week and then getting a few off nights is pretty common.  It was for me too.  It all evens out over time

 

I get hit with an off night about every 6 - 8 weeks or so.  I actually don't mind them now.  It gives me an excuse to binge watch Netflix until 2 or 3 am! 

TheWay2,

 

I hear you about the ring.  On one hand, I want to know the numbers, but on the other hand I don't, as I know it will become an obsession.  18 months out and I'm more in this phase of getting 2-3 decent nights followed by 1-3 bad nights.  I suppose these are my waves and windows.  I seemed to have passed through the sleep one night and not the next phase.  Perhaps I need to view this as progress??  To know that most every symptom has diminished is testament that we do heal.  Unfortunately, I'm left with the worst one of the them all.  I want to believe in my heart that time is the true healer and just let go and let God take over.  Over the weekend, I had 3 decent nights, so by Sunday, I decided to do some work and really overexerted myself.  My system could not calm down enough and so began the bad nights.  Made me realize that I cannot overdo it and that my adrenals are still not healed.  I know you switched to a plant based diet during W/D.  How did that help you?

Hopefulinpa,

 

The plant based diet seemed to help quite a bit.  I avoided dairy, grains, soda, sugar, etc.  I know some people swear by whole grains, but I am gluten sensitive and didn't want to take the chance.

 

I agree that a lack of sleep is the "worst symptom" out there.  Others may disagree, but I could handle the rest of the symptoms way better than zero nights or 2, 3 or 4 nights in a row with no perceived sleep. 

 

Your sleep WILL even out given some more time.  I am doing pretty well going on 4 years off, but I still get those one off nights or maybe even 2 or 3 nights in a row where I wake up a lot.  I still manage 5-6 hours on those nights most of the time, but the major difference is I can easily cope with it, stay relaxed, stay calm and usually fall back to sleep. 

 

In the past, I would toss, turn, move around, punch the pillow, get out of bed and become more and more angry at the fact I wasn't tired or falling asleep.  All that did was pretty much ensure that I wasn't going to get much more, if any, sleep.

 

At 18 months off I had a 29 day long sleep only "wave" or "setback" or whatever else you want to call it.  I had 4 zero nights and a lot of 1-2 hour nights.  It felt like I was back in the first 6 month off phase for sleep.  I didn't know how long it was going to last when it started and looking back I am glad I didn't know.  I haven't had anything that severe or that long since.  In fact, the worst I had since that wave was very short stretches of poor sleep lasting no more than 2 or 3 days.

 

I say all that to not scare you or anyone else, but so you and others understand that it can take a long time for things to completely even out.  On the positive side, I have also had nice stretches of pre-Benzo like sleep for 2-4 months in a row several times.

 

Benzo WD, recovery and healing was by the far the worst thing I ever experienced, but it also made me a lot stronger and taught me many coping strategies along with self educating on sleep and sleep disorders.

 

Please focus on the positive things and healing you have made.  Be thankful for the sleep you get now versus what it was like in the past.

 

Your sleep will even out for sure...please hang in there and keep on going.  If you made it 18 months, you can surely make it until things even out.