Early to bed support thread! - Page 2

[harrietsmama]

oops, way out of the norm, I've been up until 12:30 2 nights this week! I usually make it by 11 at the latest. I've been way sleeping in too. I think it's stress b/c dp has some significant test results tomorrow - hoping for no big deal, but it's a brain MRI yikes!
Also, we eat dinner at about 5 or 6 so the kids have time to eat before bath, & bedtime routine like reading together

[perl]

This link has lots of info (and expensive stuff to buy - but mostly veeery interesting information) about sleep, artificial light, and melatonin:

www.lowbluelights.com

[harrietsmama]

Originally Posted by perl

This link has lots of info (and expensive stuff to buy - but mostly veeery interesting information) about sleep, artificial light, and melatonin:

www.lowbluelights.com

I wish I could get dp to agree to this, We are always arguing about how much light - he likes everything lit up bright and I believe in using low lights at night plus night vision at night!

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by rayo de sol

So, wait--does it have to be honey? (I mean, I like honey, but I dunno about every night.) All carbohydrates stimulate insulin release, so maybe I could just eat a few grapes or something?

I don't know the nitty-gritty of the biochemical details, but supposedly honey's the stuff. Here's the thread that follows a bunch of us trying it for sleep help/weight loss, which has a lot of good links:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=932971

and here's a page of honey science that might answer your question better --
http://www.prohoneyandhealth.com/custom.aspx?id=11

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by perl

This link has lots of info (and expensive stuff to buy - but mostly veeery interesting information) about sleep, artificial light, and melatonin:

www.lowbluelights.com

This is a great link -- thanks!

Now, I've heard from the honey thread that even your skin can tell the presence of artificial light/blue light, so that glasses would help but not take care of it entirely. They have apparently been able to stop melatonin production just by shining a light behind someone's knee.

Apparently the threshold for light that affects melatonin production is about 5 lumens. But apparently even low lights from artificial sources can be that bright, despite the fact that they look low. Coincidentally, 5 lumens is about what moonlight measures...

I replaced one of the lightbulbs in our bedroom with a red bulb (which you can buy at Lowe's for a few bucks), so that if I need the light I can turn it on without disrupting ds's melatonin. Apparently red lights allow increased melatonin over regular lights by about 70%.

All of this is referenced in the honey thread I linked above -- such interesting stuff.

[tanyalynn]

So I totally failed tonight (it's 1am Central time). I was really tired when the kids went to bed but I was an idiot and stayed up on the computer, and by the time I decided I really _should_ go to sleep, I can't. Wish I could learn from my mistakes. Hope y'all are sleeping well now (assuming everyone is Western hemisphere).

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

So I totally failed tonight (it's 1am Central time). I was really tired when the kids went to bed but I was an idiot and stayed up on the computer, and by the time I decided I really _should_ go to sleep, I can't. Wish I could learn from my mistakes. Hope y'all are sleeping well now (assuming everyone is Western hemisphere).

I'm failing too - also Central time

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by batsora

it is so hard to get me time and even harder to get computer time (which unfortunately is where i feel i get a lot of great information). i get stuck in not wanting to go to bed before my husband though he would definitely benefit and most likely follow my lead if i did it much... i guess i have to get past the feeling like i am missing out if i go to bed before him. boy i just realized that that is the typical bedtime issues for children. hmmm....

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

So I totally failed tonight (it's 1am Central time). I was really tired when the kids went to bed but I was an idiot and stayed up on the computer, and by the time I decided I really _should_ go to sleep, I can't. Wish I could learn from my mistakes. Hope y'all are sleeping well now (assuming everyone is Western hemisphere).

This is the same kind of stuff that happens to me. It's challenging!

[mommabear207]

i'm in! my goal is 9:30. i'm generally pretty good about it but its easy to slip to 10 and occasionally i stay up till 11.. the problem is that once ds is asleep i slip out and get a few things done or start reading and i get so much more done in half the time!

[rayo de sol]

How’s everybody doing?

We did 10:45pm, 11:15pm, and 10:50pm the last three nights. But I slept horribly for two of the nights (lots of stress) and had headaches during the day.


Thanks, mbravebird! Sorry for all my pesky honey questions. I read some of The Hibernation Diet thread, and I get it now. I tried honey again last night--dissolved it in hot mint tea, yum!--and I slept much better than usual, but had a really intense happy yet sad dream about my late kitty-cat.

I’m also fascinated by the study done where they shone a light on someone’s knee and thereby halted melatonin! Good idea to get a red light bulb. Maybe I could read by the red light before bed so I can “cheat” on the sun’s schedule a little.


I can relate to everyone who has been staying up late. T.S. Wiley says that light is addictive, and I think she’s right because I can feel the pull of the light and the computer at night. There’s something about the glow...like staring at the campfire.

For years I’ve stayed up super late at night, but lately my health just seems worse and worse off to the point that it has become intolerable.

[dbsam]

I did great the first night and felt great with a much clearer head the following day. But, I’ve been doing horribly ever since. Last night I went to bed at a reasonable time, 11:30, but was up most of the night – I kept running through my mind all the things I need to do. Today I am starting a time-line list so I can get my ‘stuff’ on paper and out of my head. I’m not giving up and plan to get in bed earlier tonight. (Although anything prior to 1:00 is an improvement 10:30 or 11:00 is my goal.)

[tanyalynn]

I've done badly all week. Sometimes partly due to outside circumstances (the kids haven't been sleeping well and just as I start to wrap things up to go lie down to sleep, one wakes and wants us to be in with them til they fall asleep again), but mostly it's my own fault. My willpower is going through a low spell (too much caffeine, too--soda is my enabler, in a bad bad way).

[mbravebird]

OK, my goal is to head to bed in an hour -- I have some precious time with the boys asleep and an unwatched West Wing dvd next to me -- do you think I can stop at just one episode? Oh, my. Let's hope.

Dang, I need those glasses from the low blue light website.

[dbsam]

I'm still up and will be for a while - but at least I'm getting tons done! :

I'll get back on track tomorrow - really.

[tanyalynn]

That's funny. I was wiped out yesterday so I went to lie down really early, but then I started reading and somehow it was just as late as usual (11pm-ish) when I finally decided I had to turn out my light. So I got _nothing_ done. :

[mbravebird]

I had the weirdest night of sleep. I was lying down by 10:15, after watching just one episode of West Wing (I still am amazed I had the willpower), but I couldn't sleep. When I finally did start sleeping, it was such a light sleep that I felt like I was awake. I would wake up, and not be sure whether I had been asleep or not. I would feel very, very awake. Finally I started remembering dreams, so I knew that I had definitely been sleeping -- even though I didn't feel like it! Odd.

I had been drinking milk right before bed, and I remember taking honey and thinking "Oh, milk and honey...!" I've never done that before, combined milk and honey before bed. And I also took a folic acid supplement by itself about an hour before bed, which I've never done ever before.

Whatever caused it, it was odd. I only started sleeping more deeply toward the morning.

Good morning everyone!

[batsora]

well last night i was in bed by 10:10 and probably done journaling by 1045. my biggest barrier to early to bed is tv. if i can avoid the tv and not do to much on the computer then i feel like i accomplished an early to bed. tonight i am motivated to get onh the computer and do some job stuff so i am not sure about early to bed, but we will see.

[Strong Mama]

This is the first time I have posted on this thread..but I have been doing early to bed for a week now. My story is, I am never in bed before 12am, up at 6am, feeling like crap every day for a loooooooong time. Even when I did go to bed at 12am, I would sometimes wake at 3am, go back to bed at 4, then up at 6, so it was minimal sleep. I started last Friday...
I went to bed at 8pm as I was really tired. I woke up at 1am, but willed myself back to sleep instead of watching TV. It worked, and I slept til 7am, getting the most sleep ever.I felt really groggy on Saturday and thought WTH..I am supposed to feel GREAT after 11hours of sleep!! Then I thought maybe my body is craving more. Saturday night I didnt get to bed until 3am, I had food poisoning, then I was up at 9am(hubby let me sleep in). I went to bed Sunday night at 10pm and was up at 6am, I slept through the night, didnt wake once. So a solid 8 hours. I took a two hour nap Monday, and then went to bed Mon night at 9 30 pm, woke at 6. Tuesday I went to bed at 9pm, woke at 3am and couldnt sleep...finally went back to sleep at 5am, was up at 6.: Wed it was 9 30 slept through til 6. And last night it was 10, slept til 6. I feel fantastic! I was feeling like crap the first few days but then I think my body recovered from sleep deprivation and for the first time in YEARS yesterday, I wasnt tired one bit d uring the day!!!!

[harrietsmama]

Wow! My kids went to see dad for the weekend last night, I fell asleep in front of the TV, I remember numbers coming on, but not watching it - Think it comes on at 9? I woke up this morning fully dressed including my bra - ouch underwires grrr. Apparently dp woke up at 12 and we were both zonked on the couch. He got me to bed, which I remember nothing of, and I slept like a rock. I did not wake up once at all! I slept until 8:45, and I think I only woke up the because my radar indicated the bed had been vacated on the other side wow. I usually never sleep very deeply. Anyone got suggestions for turning down the mommy radar? I never sleep well when my kids are home, I've tried fans, I'm taking a decent sized dose of elavil at night which should knock me down, but it just makes me drowsy enough to fall asleep.

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by Transitions

I feel fantastic! I was feeling like crap the first few days but then I think my body recovered from sleep deprivation and for the first time in YEARS yesterday, I wasnt tired one bit d uring the day!!!!

I remember the first time I started getting sleep after ds started sleeping through, it felt like this. Amazing, isn't it?

And I find I am much more sensitive to lost sleep when I've been getting enough. When I haven't been getting enough, my body clicks into some other sort of "survival" mode, and I feel energized at weird times and tired at weird times, and underneath it all I'm deeply exhausted even if I can't feel it. But if I've been getting good sleep, and then lose some, I feel the impact of it right away.