Trouble sleeping.

[crosslandkelly]

I've not been able to get out as much as I would like this year, and as such my circadian rhythm has not been reset as often as I would like. When I was regularly doing one weekend a month, this was not a problem. One of my favourite sounds to drift off to sleep while under my tarp, was rain. Although it doesn't reset my rhythm, I do find this helps me to sleep.

What helps you?

 

[Man of Tanith]

I've listened to the same album for about 11 years now (Mike Oldfield Voyager)
It's almost hit a Pavlovian level for me now

Only time i don't is when i am in the woods as i don't need it (Up Early then to bed late after busy busy days tend to spark right out)

I also read at least a few pages of a book before turning in.
This however can be a double edged sword if i get caught up in the tale

 

[crosslandkelly]

I always read before sleep, and know exactly what you mean.

 

[Billy-o]

Reading work stuff invariably knocks me out now. Would you too if ever you had to read it. Prose like liquid concrete. Opinions that would bore goldfish.

 

[Toddy]

Valerian tea.
Tastes vaguely like peas, goes down easily, and within twenty minutes I usually find my head dropping.
I don't hear well, but the temperature, the scent of a room, the way the air feels, those can make a huge difference to whether I'll fall asleep quickly or not.

Funnily enough the smell of seagrass and faint eau de sunroasted and of old canvas can make me sleep like a baby
Seagrass Moses basket and tents and sails were a big part of my infancy.

The sussuration of a calm incoming or outgoing tide on a shingle beach; that sound does it for me.
I never thought to find a recording of it.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Night trains. I spent many summers as a kid on a 50 mile lake, about a mile wide.
On the far shore, every night maybe 11PM, the "night train" would crawl up the long grade out of the valley.
Here I am, 50-60 years later, a thousand miles west and the night trains are very slow and 2 blocks away (200m?).
Lots more vibration to shake my house and a little more sound with 4 of the 4,000hp locos humming their night song.

 

[Janne]

Hard work and stress during the day.
Then before snooze time a half hour or reading.

 

[Fadcode]

Arf a banana...................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[mousey]

I usually go through preparation for a trip in my mind, packing the bag each item I'll take and why, the more detailed and involved the thought the better. I'm usually asleep by the time I've left the house have walked through the woods, hills / wherever an found a place to hang my hammock

when my kids say they can't sleep I tell them much the same - just think about something you really enjoy and the more detailed the thoughts the better.

 

[Janne]

Arf a banana...................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

But brush your chompers after...

 

[Nice65]

Hard work and stress during the day.
Then before snooze time a half hour or reading.

Well, I agree about the reading part.

I read a bit in bed, Kindle on a very low backlight. I seem to have struck lucky in the Kindle Paperwhite lottery as there’s a bit of mystery around some backlight LEDs being bluer than others. My good lady’s Kindle is harsh white/blue, while mine is a creamy colour, it’s much easier on the eyes.

I read novels, Baldacci books, Lee Child, etc, nothing too thought provoking to spark my brain up. Generally I feel myself beginning to zone out and fall asleep. I also like dehumidifier humming away on low, a fan running, or the white noise apps for the phone that have rain, thunderstorm, river, waves etc noises.

 

[Billy-o]

I've listened to the same album for about 11 years now (Mike Oldfield Voyager)

I made a big error of judgement and listened again to Tubural (sic) Bells and Hergest Ridge after forty some years. Time has not been kind to the memory

There's a nice shorter version from BBC (OGWT?) in '73 with Hillage playing on the YouTube, though. I wonder if I could get away with wearing a cricket jumper?

 

[Janne]

Well, I agree about the reading part.

I read a bit in bed, Kindle on a very low backlight. I seem to have struck lucky in the Kindle Paperwhite lottery as there’s a bit of mystery around some backlight LEDs being bluer than others. My good lady’s Kindle is harsh white/blue, while mine is a creamy colour, it’s much easier on the eyes.

I read novels, Baldacci books, Lee Child, etc, nothing too thought provoking to spark my brain up. Generally I feel myself beginning to zone out and fall asleep. I also like dehumidifier humming away on low, a fan running, or the white noise apps for the phone that have rain, thunderstorm, river, waves etc noises.

Yes, important it is a ’nice’ book.

Are you familiar with an author named Nevil Shute?
A town like Alice, On the Beach just to name two.

 

[Woody girl]

Well I don't sleep well in the winter. Hence replying to this at 4.47am uk time. In the summer I sleep fine as I'm mostly outdoors and it regulates my circadian rhythm . As soon as it gets dark and cold I'm all at sixes and sevens.. nothing works. I've tried herbal teas. warm baths. reading .knitting. colouring book.radio 4. No tv. Counting sheep. Counting llamas . Midnight walks. You name it. So I just give up and try to keep myself entertained. Maybe I should live in Australia in the winter!

 

[Robson Valley]

For entertainment, get a hobby craft/project going. Carving, weaving, whatever.
I have every sympathy with people who have poor sleep.
I can't get finished with any of the new books on my night table, I'm asleep so fast.
I have books. Thousands of them. ("Here, you need to have these.")
I used to hop into bed at 8 and read and read. Now, I don't want to.
But I'm sleeping better than in most past decades so I'll take that for what it is.

 

[Woody girl]

I only get like this in the winter. My doc says it is sad...seasonal affected syndrome. It can be lonely as I can't go see my friends at 3 am as they are all asleep. Roll on spring! Thank goodness for my craftwork and the radio. I'm making Xmas decor at the moment. I'll have a knitted Xmas tree this year. I've made all the baubles and gingerbread men. Tonight I will knit an angel. I've also made a dozen origami gift boxes and finaly finished a pair of lace knitted socks. I'm carving a walking stick and I have plans to make it a survival tool with inset compass and parracord wristloop with a ferro rod and striker incorporated somewhere. Then there is soap making and my new sewing machine to explore. Plenty to do.

 

[mowerman]

I could write 20 pages on sleep problems.
Stress, headaches and heartburn and anxiety all cause me problems.
However if I can get a night out camping or even better a day kayaking and a night camping then all these problems seem to go away.
I think that in our modern lives we are busy doing nothing.
Surfing the Internet, watching TV etc and not enough emphasis is placed on completing the tasks we need to make our lives easier. I'm always guilty of this and I'm convinced that most of my problems could be solved by getting up earlier. However, as a previous poster said, these sleeping problems are worse in winter which also happens to coincide with less time spent outdoors.
I've often wondered what the outcome would be if I could spend a couple of weeks or even a month in the woods without much interaction with the modern world.
I'm pretty sure that I would sleep from pure exhaustion.

 

[jimbo75]

This thread had reminded me of a problem I have found with camping/bushcraft sleeping in the woods etc.
As soon as I'm in a peaceful location, I'm tormented by the most terrible ear worms. I know it sounds silly and insignificant, but I actually find it mentally exhausting. I'm a musician, as are my family and I have always enjoyed a rich and cultured musical environment. I react angrily to mundane pop music and advertising jingles... they drive me insane.
But it is something I have found spoils my experience of being out. It's like the peace of a forest is deafening.
Usually after the first nite it subsides. The only cure is to play some music on my phone or have a drink (not always the best solution).
Am I crazy? Does anyone else suffer with this? I blame brainwashing radio and t.v.
HELP!

 

[Janne]

To a certain degree.
Tiny sounds that you I would never even hear normally sounds loud.
And dangerous.
( I must confess I can get a little bit afraid for the man eaters and trolls shuffling around me when it is dark)

 

[Nice65]

Tonight I will knit an angel.

Lovely. BCUK quote of the day.