Remedy for insomnia

This guy, Ben Greenfield, was considered a “top personal trainer” like a decade ago. He has some really interesting ideas about sleep physiology.

Cbd and its derivatives have become a kind of patent medicine for the 21st century. It’s being used for a whole host of things, including as a sleep aid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjeb9kOSJ2M&

I find magnesium really helpful for a good nights sleep. It’s not a real sleeping pill or anything, but it relaxes you so you can fall asleep more easily. Plus you won’t feel groggy in the morning.

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Nice. Even if you find a way to acquire and use cbd in Taiwan, or even if you have to resort to Ambien, or even if you sleep like a baby - no matter how you sleep, I think listening to this song makes waking up a great thing no matter what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3bksUSPB4c

Ambien is one of the most messed up drugs out there. They should really stop prescribing it. Especially over a long list of drugs that can help.

Why so many posters in the insomnia thread at 1:17 AM?

Have to agree.

Used to work in a very high-stress IT job in the US. There was no way I could afford poor sleep or its negative side effects, even though negative side effects were an understandable effect of the stress involved. When my sleep suffered bad enough, I went to a doctor and demanded something that would knock me out no matter what. So of course I was prescribed Ambien.

Huge mistake. Ambien’s denial of deep sleep made my “hangover” the next morning so bad that I was better off answering “maybe” in a meeting than answering “I don’t know, I can’t think right now” (not that I would ever say that, just what I felt). My fellow coworkers who’d also tried Ambien told me they’d had similar experiences.

Greenfield’s opinions about THC mirror my own - fall asleep almost immediately but it’s not the healthiest sleep attainable. And that makes me think his opinion about CBD may also be correct.

Nothing really works for me. You’d have to shoot me with a elephant tranq to put me down. I don’t know why I have such a strong tolerance towards sedatives. It sucks getting prescriptions in Taiwan because they give me the same dose of meds as a 40kg female

I think Greenfield makes a good point in the video: you have to start with breathing in ways that are purposeful until you find a way that works. If no such organic exercise works, only then do you look for an exogenous solution. CBD seems to be a super nice solution, but of course it’s not legal here and of course I have my doubts.

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I always knew making my room cold helps me sleep.

https://youtu.be/X-iQHE5tdUI

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Yeah you got to find the right doctor I had one that gave me enough to knock out a silver back gorilla on PCP
horribly addictive though, I ended up throwing them away, and coming off gave me seizure feelings in my chest.

I’m gotten ambien and it sometimes works. Benzos like Xanax work for maybe 1-3 days and it loses the sleepy effects. It’s not poor drug for chronic insomnia. I save Xanax for when I travel and have jet lag.

Estazolam mixed with Ambien. I was prescribed two Ambien (zolpidem) per time as one isn’t enough. They also prescribed Lorazepam to switch to when the Estazolam lost its effect. They even prescribed me a few old school Diazepam. Anyway I just take the odd Ambien now as that stuff is way to addictive. I found out simple things like working out in the morning instead of late in the evening helps and nothing with any caffeine after 5pm etc.

Hoo boy, Ambien. No thanks. I get a bad hangover if I use Ambien. Not a hangover like from booze, I’m just stupid for the next 12-13 hours, sometimes longer. Thick headed, sometimes I would use the wrong word or completely forget which word(s) I wanted to use.

I used to work in a super high-stress job managing IT projects. Many, many nights where the brain refused to shut down at bedtime and I’d wake up at 3am, no chance of going back to sleep. Unfortunately I’m not like my brother, who thrives on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I need 6 minimum, and I do best on 8 hrs a night.

Got so bad that I got a script for Ambien. Being stupid in morning meetings was not a good look for me. Went back to my GP and told him about the hangover, and he immediately put me on something else (another story). He also mentioned that there was medical speculation that some humans like me (hangover) might have no more than a 100-dose cumulative tolerance before permanent brain damage could result. What he meant was that I might be able to take a total of 100 Ambien over 100 nights (one each night), with brain function that continued to get worse (so night 98 was worse than night 97, but night 99 was going to be worse than either), but dose 101 (or something like that) could result in a hangover every morning with, or without using Ambien, that might, or might not show up every morning. I had coworkers who took them for fun, though, so evidently doesn’t apply to everyone.

I have ten or so tablets from an old prescription in the US, but I take them only in extreme emergencies. I haven’t taken an Ambient in more than two years (I’ve also been retired, though, so no real need).

Withdraw from ambien is one of the worst. Can kill you also.

I avoid it. I personally think there are other better options with less risk of addiction.

For example ?

That’s the problem. With the exception of ramelteon, anything that actually works well is horrible for your health. Lifestyle and diet changes are the only real solution.

That’s true unless in exceptional circumstances when not being able to sleep is even worse for your health or more dangerous for others such as in shift work etc.

I find that having a scailtin before bed works best. Makes me sleep like a baby.

Try not sleeping for 2/3/4 days then you’ll crash and slumber for 10/15+ hours nonstop restfully and peacefully.

I’ve tried it and it works beautifully.

Stress, in general, is a powerful stimulant. Your own body has to detox out the hormones/chemicals it is creating, and this only occurs at a fixed rate. If you are a stressaholic, those hormones just build and build.

I too, when work heats up, become a lark, waking up at 4ish. Whether I can get back to sleep again depends a lot on what stimulant beverages I’ve dosed up on during the day.

I go through phases of elimination, coffee first, then chocolate, and sugary stuff. Eliminating coffee seems to help a lot, although with time tea seems to have the same effect, i.e if I’m stressing I will be up early even if I am in a period where I am just restricting myself to tea. I think I can get back to sleep easier if I am just tea drinking. If I am on coffee getting back to sleep seems more difficult.

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