I have insomnia


#21

Hope you all got some rest or are still sleeping.

Thanks for the YouTube noise info @Blue1 I’ll be looking at that later.

I’m the same as you @Goldengirl52 , I get woken at around 4am for the bathroom and can usually get back to sleep as it’s still dark but I hate being woken at all!
@gingersmommy , is initially getting off to sleep your biggest sleep prob too?

I got sleep last night! I’m taking magnesium and valerian about 20 mins before getting in bed.
Listening to an audio book has helped me in the past too, same book for 18 months, couldn’t tell you what it’s about!


#22

for me sleep is 1000% about ‘routine I was, IE…a farmer so I am hardwired now for sun up, fully awake and go full speed’ and feel this is now ‘part of me’ and wake during hrs set for livestock issues like birthing or baby animals requiring whatever hrs. of attendance thru the night…but that second thing for me and this is WHAT IT IS ALL about is energy output.

when we shut down the farm biz, omg sleep was insane cause I didn’t know how to use up the physical energy enough to make it ‘work for me as a retired now person!’ yea it was rough going for a long time LOL

I don’t move enough I can’t sleep. I think your body is wanting action. USE IT OR LOSE IT and sleep is a massive indicator of when we don’t use alot of energy, we can’t sleep well cause the body is using up that energy still ‘when we think’ we should be sleeping.

you said you think about the gym.
or hitting the grocery.

sounds to me ya ain’t moving enough. NOW THIS IS from what I am kinda reading here LOL and my personal experiences.

if I don’t move like the body wants and needs to USE that energy I do have then I find sleep super restless and then the brain kicks in, that stupid hamster wheel thinking of I gotta do this, I gotta do that, and boy am I tired HA

I say do this…move!! Plan a super active day and DO IT! Hike a 3 mile or whatever trail you can handle. Home for chores and don’t take easy ones like dusting, do outside chores to use the body ya know, ones we put off like I did :wink:, then small rest when ya need it and onto next USE the body activity.

make the body activate its reason for sleep. we are tired. body energy used up ya know.

don’t drug up :sunny: no need. Move.

now not saying this is gonna be the end all work for ya type issue ever, but try it. Plan a day, ALL IN movement, stuff you like to do, take that big long uphill walk, get in the car and hit those stores, come home and do some labor chore and MAKE yourself do it if ya gotta, and hit that gym instead of thinking about it :slight_smile:

best way is thru experimenting but your body sounds like it hit sluggy action ya know. Not talking lazy kinda thing ever, just saying the energy level ain’t being used. Use it.

go for it and if you do this, tackle a full on full speed active and movement day and jump in and do it, will be interesting to see after a week of you pushing you on how your sleep can change?

OK THIS IS JUST chatting ya know

but many can work ALL day, do chores, come home and handle kids and this and that and all kinds of crap we all know we got in life and still can’t sleep but that could be other reasons…over exhaustion, brain games of overthinking and brain too active while body is rode hard and put up wet ya know.

not saying this could suit anyone, but hey try it :slight_smile: only thing ya might gain is regulated good ol’ body restorative sleep it needs cause it then needs it from your activity.

best of luck :sunny:


(Marianne) #23

Thanks, Denise.

I have watched Youtube to get information on many things. I am more a visual learner than by reading. Youtube is great for demonstrations on how things are done. I will have to investigate.

P.S. I have tinnitus, too. Too many years of blasting music while wearing headphones or going to deafening concerts. Seems like many of our generation have it.


(Marianne) #24

Both - a lot of times getting to sleep, but then staying asleep. I wonder if I am developing “sundowners syndrome”. The nights just seem so long and the prospect of going to bed is not something I revel in any more.

Last night I did sleep great - for me. I think I was just so exhausted, I felt sick. I caught myself nodding off watching tv during the day but couldn’t nap when I tried to after that. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully more good nights in store.

We have a “puppy” (8 mo. old), who I have to take out every night sometime between 1-3PM. (He’s in his crate from 7:30 PM - 7AM - too long for him not to go). That is always somewhere in the back of my head.


(Marianne) #25

Interesting. Makes total sense to me, although I didn’t really contemplate it to this degree before. Def. something to consider - and implement.


#26

ya know sometimes it IS THAT SIMPLE ya know while we ‘ponder like maniacs’ on wondering why and it falls to a very small basic and simplest action…use the energy then sleep kicks in to restore the body.

sometimes simple is best but when we sleep so badly, there can be so many concepts on us as individuals about that which must be intertwined but in the end, if we go basic…move and use the energy ALL up…yea good chance we are gonna sleep cause we have 0 choice on it. the body directs kinda this measure in us all yet we can so easily upset that applecart. I know I have :wink:


(Denise) #27

I was so surprised but all I did lastnight was my magnesium and I slept 7 hours with only one wakeup at midnight, then was worrying a bit I would fall back to sleep but I forced myself not to start thinking and went back to sleep!!

Thanks Victoria and so glad to hear you had a good night sleep too :wink: Denise


(Denise) #28

Fang, you are right on target for me, going to the gym for an hour, and grocery store is sure not enough for me. I totally believe in “use it or lose it” because yesterday, I stay busy as I could and that’s why I slept better. It’s easy for me to slip into just sitting so I have to keep being reminded of what you just wrote!

Thank you much as I feel so good this a.m. once again. We’ll see if I can do as good or better today :grin:

PS I so believe that “energy” thing because I really have more energy these days thanks to my foods, and the exercise I do get. If I don’t get it burned off, my brain is still going during hours I should be sound asleep, really some common sense :crazy_face:


(Denise) #29

I’m not sure that’s why I got the Tinnitus, but it’s a weird one for sure if it’s not caused by damage to my eardrums. Mostly I’ve learned to live with it, and surprisingly enough, some nights I don’t have it when I lie down to go to sleep, thank goodness. But pretty much 24/7. Sorry to hear you suffer with it as well, and yes lots of people I know around here have it as well.


(Denise) #30

I’m so grateful I was kind of conned into getting a pup, she was already 4 though and such a good girl. She was totally potty trained and loves to go outside, won’t go on a potty pad, tried that during a storm but nope, we had to go out. Ok with me as I see that it is really good for me to have the responsibility, plus extra get up a go get some fresh air (or wind and rain, lol)!!


#31

That is just it. You said it for yourself and ‘kinda know it but don’t wanna do it everyday’ in that YOU ARE MORE HEALTHY and now life’s nature is sayin’ MOVE GIRLIE!

but ya know alot of times it ain’t that simple. We gotta want that movement and activity and that draws on us. I was all horses and riding and all farming. With a bit of metal detecting on vacay and hiking.

but once my horses were now gone and my farm shut down I am like----WHO AM I and I love hiking but enough?? as that move draw? I love metal detecting but like only truly beach detecting and not relic land detecting so that kinda shut that down as a major activity for me personally.

I think it is TIME TO FIND YOU in a passion/excitement motivator and follow it. I know for me I ain’t goin’ to no gym ever but IF you truly like it and a draw, YOU embrace it and see where it takes you.

I think for me being older is ‘what is now’ and what draws me to be all in and active for it and I am kinda still lookin’ too for that in a way…but in the end, you got ONLY you for relying on what works for you and find that niche. Find that little passion that you wanted to do ‘when ya had the time’ and if like me now, ya got time, GO GET IT!

Might take a bit but honestly we have to find a new US the older we do get and it can be daunting for sure but there is a energy path we need to follow to just ‘follow life’ and if you got the time to find you and what works, girl you grab it and be grateful for it.

sending best wishes getting the ol’ body moving, no matter what effort it takes and then we re-balance us. You are more healed up, time to use it and let your body direct ya on use and give your brain some slack, just think what ‘little do I truly enjoy’ and go at it :slight_smile: I am trying the same things now LOL We got this!!


(Denise) #32

This is so well said, and true for me as well. I was very active, and then, retirement, and not a very well-planned one lets just say, but there are a lot of things I could do. I really enjoy the workouts I get at the gym, but it isn’t my heart’s desire. It is my desire to make that “new life” for myself though so I will keep your words handy to remind me of what my goals are.

I did the horse thing, cross-country endurance riding. I loved it for fun, not to race though. My X was way into it and pushed me too hard to where I no longer would put up with it. Other issues as well, anyway I’ve always loved the outdoors, camping, hiking, star-gazing, photography, and enjoyed my time working for temp agencies just so I could move around and see the US. Traveled light, just rented small apartments and kept furniture at a minimum, and had my little pickup and my Toney dog that passed away after 15 of the best years of my life, in 2006.

Anyway I hear you loud and clear and really can’t agree more Fangs :slight_smile:


#33

I see SO MUCH potential in you truly! You gotta pick that direction you desire and run toward it. Put in the work and effort and like you I am SO kinda not quite there yet and it gives me sleepless nights also in the brain game, but IF I move and move thru the day I find my ‘real body rythym ya know’ which is what we healed for and want this yet now it seems to be working against us as we age up sometimes and find ourselves here or there.

Cross country endurance!! WOW and another wow cause I was so on the fence to delve into that but my life of wanting ‘a pleasure ride’ and fun time on a horse to be that without competition in mind. It was a release and fun for me cause when I started jumping in competitions it became ‘wrong’ and I backed off and just loved my horse life adventure ya know, as I wanted it. So I found me in that but I am SO lost without it now.

You know if you NOW go back to a temp agency and go for just a little work and some jobs it would open a new world again for you. I ALSO DID TEMP AGENCIES and I loved them!! It was short term and new people and the ‘work’ I was hired for was always way within my ease of adapting fast and if you are like me and loved temp jobs, then you are the same!!!

ya know ya ain’t too old ever to do just that again. Work on temp jobs AS YOU WANT cause you can control your work environment ya know.

I have thought many times to join again and ‘be that person’ cause I had freedom and control ‘once I got in firm’ in that temp agency and they loved me for jobs and jobs came at me at warp speed, and if this is you----now you can control the narrative way more vs. needing a paycheck ya know.

nothing wrong with a little job to make the day active and knowing you are doing a productive factor in life and putting it out there to help any company get thru as they need and earning a few bucks, til ya think, hey, time off for me LOL

I also loved star gazing and more…how can we make that into a group club or biz? :slight_smile:

I almost joined a ‘older aged hiker’ club on MeetUp in my area but they ‘seemed alot’ younger and when reading they were doing like 10 miles in the mts. and I was like, hell no from the pics, they are more 40s early 50s and I am 60 going on 61 now and I thought, hmmm…should I start a ‘wanna get out and hike mts but not be so darn younger and wanna do more miles to kill me’ LOL but I thought, nah, wait for someone else to do that. I knew I didn’t wanna be some leader in that ‘meetup hiking’ movement.

I kayak too. Water is all me. So I looked for meetups with kayak and all younger groups so I again was like, darn, WAY over what I wanna do so again I thought, hmm, should I? but again I shut it down cause ‘I WANNA join something in progress that suits’ me vs. something I have to ‘create’ ya know.

US olders have to find what suits us. Not as darn easy as it seems considering we have so much to offer and wanna move and be part of what we enjoy but can we ‘fit in now’ ya know.

darn hard crap to navigate for some of us LOL


(Denise) #34

Oh my gosh, I just lit up when I read you kayak!! I so love to kayak lakes mainly, or slow moving parts of our rivers :wink:

I love your replies, I gotta eat now but I’ll be back @fangs, I’ve done one meetup, most boring people I ever met, lol!! I have a pic somewhere of me kayaking a lake in Oregon about 2012. I’ve only done the type of kayak you sit sort on top, not down inside though! I do a great rowing machine at the gym and a lot up upper body stuff so I’d be ready for those “dreams” I still dream :slight_smile:

Love the idea of working temp again and that’s a darn good idea Fangs!! But I best learn to dress myself right again as I just realized my house-dress was on backwards :grimacing::joy:


(Denise) #35

Found the pic, Hemlock Lake Oregon, 2013 I guess. Found my old Flickr account still had a few photos :wink:Hemlock%20Lake%20camping%20and%20kayaking%20trip%202013


#36

Love it. Pic of kid and our Bolt dog the Papillion in one of our many kayak adventures

this is US literally, water people.

Loved your pic and if you are in an area and still own a kayak you go for it…nothing like it to me.

I remember one time me and kiddo did a shore walk around our campsite which was waterfront and no kayaks and we just walked shallow water with our boat floats and ‘just SO much’ til we hit the big lily pad area and the cranes and herons were there and I was sneaking up on one to just be ‘that alligator’ in the water to get close and kiddo goes OMG and raises from her stealth positon near me and says I got a snap turtle coming up and directly in face like she was ‘on the menu’ LOL I remember it so well cause we had hrs of fun time in the water and in the end, ALL that work to ‘get right’ there on herons was just whisked away when she got started by that predator LOL too funny.

I swear GG that I was thinking…hmm, meetup. ‘shore water walk’ and floating and discovering life from just that amt off shoreline and just opened up a world of diff. to me…and yea, IT WAS ALL about water as I do but then I thought, who would care to do this with me?

again just spewing. I am so kayak and do my kayak which is sit on top Ocean Kayak in the ocean also to ride in waves.

yea you know it. Hmmmm SO water gal here and maybe that should be my next focus vs. my land lubber livestock/farm/horse life. Hmm


(Denise) #37

I love the pic, you are such a cutie, and love the doggy too. I so wanted to have more animals to care for but I can’t have more than one where I live right now. I have not children and been divorced over 23 years. Don’t have anyone to do things with either, and I have often thought of meeting up with someone I’ve met on a forum and know more about.
I would love to travel more, just by Air (not on my broom but a plane, lol) or more shorter road-trips, camping etc.

I went to Phoenix a couple Novembers ago to visit a girlfriend that retired there. It was fun but she was not active at all so I went out on my own in their gated community (huge place and very nice) and walked every night when it was cool and lovely out with lots of Christmas decor! I also was allowed to go in the pool, so I did that as I love the water too. Used to love water-skiing, forgot that fun and tubing, LOL!! She didn’t mind a bit and wasn’t worried about covid, I’d been vaccinated and so had she so we said hell with it, lets get together :wink:

First time I went tubing with neat family I knew for about 15 years, they put me in one of those store-bought tubes with the bottoms and I screamed almost the whole way, nothing like have I ever done. Needless to say I ended up peeing in it and was so embarrassed, and they laughed and laughed and assured me I was not the first. Shoot in my later 30s early 40s!

We have a lot in common, been wonderful to talk to you this a.m. I’m gonna get ready for the gym now Fangs, and hope your day is wonderful! You deserve it for helping me so much this a.m., Denise


(Marianne) #38

They are just the best! Such a bright spot to every day. :innocent:


(Denise) #39

She really is and everytime I sort of sigh about going out in the early a.m., but she always just gets up with me about my normal 6 ish each morning, It’s so wonderful once we are out there. The Sierras w/Sun coming over, and at evening Sun going down over the ocean. I can’t see the ocean from my place but you always know it’s there :wink:


#40

I totally agree! Dogs are brilliant companions and fantastic for our health. I’ve got two pups with limitless energy and constant smiles. They make every day very special.
We are going on holiday on Tuesday with 17 others and 6 dogs, our first doggy vacation! I’ve spent more time on the canine menu than the vegetarians!