Reading makes me sleepy

[[tr...]]

My most recent cut in clonazepam to 1.125 mg proved disastrous, I simply stopped sleeping at night and was going to work in zombie mode nearly every day. Not sleeping at night created anxiety about not sleeping at night and thus perpetuated my sleeplessness.

Long story short, I had to go back up to 1.16 mg (still down from 1.5) to break the cycle. This past week my sleep was better, not such a huge delay in sleep onset, still awake many times in the night, I got enough hours of sleep to function at my job - that's priority #1.

I still have some cog fuzziness, but better than it was on so very little sleep.  I have started reading books every evening instead of reading online or watching TV, and it helps to make me sleepy and to calm my mind. In fact I find nodding off reading on the couch - sleep hygiene dictates no reading in bed! - but by the time I get into bed I'm awake again. Still, it has helped to calm my thoughts and make me drowsy enough to fall asleep before the passing of many hours, as I have been experiencing. I have always been a reader but recently have felt too tired and crazed to focus on the page by night time, so this takes effort but has paid off. I don't know what I'll do about my taper. I know I can't go on as I was on 1.125 with my work schedule.

I may have to hold for several months until I get more time off work to continue the taper - when there isn't so much pressure and anxiety about getting sufficient sleep. For what it's worth, reading could be a drug free way for folks to quiet their minds and make themselves sleepy enough to catch some zzzzz's.

[Guest [ba...]]

fwiw - proper sleep hygiene also dictates no computer use in bed, but playing a stupid mindless computer game at night puts me to sleep.  Laying in bed doing nothing rarely gives me sleep.  I need to have my mind occupied with something trivial.  Mindless gaming works for me (nothing intense).  Sometimes reading does too, but it can also activate my mind.

 

Sleep hygiene shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all directive.  Individuals need to determine what works for them.  My wife reads in bed pretty much every night, and falls asleep in 5-10 minutes.  Sounds to me like you should too.

[[be...]]

I read in bed every night for an hour before light's out. I have done so for months. I don't care about the sleep hygiene rule because it works for me. And I sleep well.

[[Li...]]

Yes, read a book! A printed book!

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/readers-absorb-less-kindles-paper-study-plot-ereader-digitisation

 

I've gotten away from this last few weeks, especially doing so in the evening/night, so I'm going to pick it up again.

 

My sleep is terrible, too, after 2 recent cuts - first to 9/16 mg to .5 mg 2 nights ago. Part my face feels swollen, the bags and veins are palpable as my skin goes brittle. I was trembling earlier and raged up. These cuts are brutal, especially the lower we go. But the old mantra, "my brain is healing." I goddamn hope so. If this is what it's going to be like for the next year or two, then I'd rather stay drugged up.

[[Di...]]

I'm not a big believer in all those sleep hygiene "rules". One of the biggest no-nos is no TV in the bedroom, yet when I wake in the middle of the night, and I can't go back to sleep, TV is the thing that will have me nodding off.

 

You really need to do what works for you. If playing computer games, reading or watching TV in bed works, then it works. If it doesn't then it doesn't. Rules are meant to be broken.... 

[[ea...]]

I do believe in the "sleep hygiene rules" but I also know that what works for one may not work for another. I do not watch TV in bed. I bought a tablet so I could easily read in bed, and have the backlight turned very low, because studies have shown that the blue light from TVs and computers disrupt sleep. I also listen to my sleep hypnosis videos on the tablet...for about $60, it was a great choice for me. I always eat a high carb snack at bedtime, and I start to wind down several hours before my sleep time. These simple rules have helped me, but they aren't for everyone.

east

[Guest [in...]]

I have MY sleep rules 

I dont look at a computer/cell/tv after 8pm w/o my amber tinted glasses on

I keep the house lights low after 8pm

I take a hot bath sometimes epsom salt 1/2 hr or so b4 bed

I read by a 7 watt? It's pretty low-light for awhile, until Im sleepy. I have a box fan on medium AND wear silicone ear plugs!

If I awake and cant go back to sleep, I read for awhile, then back to sleep. Or I concentrate on fan noise and dont allow thoughts to enter my mind until I fall asleep. (can still hear very distant fan noise w/my ear plugs in!)