Trouble sleeping

[RFC1873]

I have never been a very heavy sleeper buy recently I have been waking up 3-4 times a night and occassionaly I have been waking up 1-2 hours sometimes 3-4 hours before I need to get up and I cant get back to sleep. I always make sure I have enough time to get 7-8 hours sleep but the problem is I am not sleeping the whole time. I dont really want to take sleeping pills (they freak me out) and I would only take them as a last resort. Is there anything I can do to help me stay asleep without taking pills? Thanks

[Tokyo007]

Well I know you said no pills.. but.. I'd also like to ask as well.. what legally we can do to help us? I've heard about 5-htp pills you can get at a nutrition store (no prescription) that help with sceretonin...is that legal? I've searched @ the Faa website and I can't find much about it.

I'm also a light sleeper..trying to exercise to help but any other ideas would help as well.

[scramjet]

Try sleeping only four to six hours a day for a few weeks. It helped me out when I was having a sleeping problem.

[avi8tor]

Just have a few shots of whiskey before bed and that will take care of you sleeping problem j/k Seriously though I had the same problem a few years ago, and I found the reason that I couldn't sleep was because there was to much on my mind. I would spend all night just thinking about different stuff and couldn't fall asleep. Now I listen to a sleep soother that plays white noise and I fall asleep right of way, and sleep all night.

[tgrayson]

Originally Posted by RFC1873

recently I have been waking up 3-4 times a night and occassionaly I have been waking up 1-2 hours sometimes 3-4 hours before I need to get up and I cant get back to sleep.

Sleep apnea is a possibility. Victims sometimes wake up short of breath or have dreams of suffocating. Often, the only way they know is when a partner describes the noises they make while sleeping.

[RFC1873]

Forgot to mention: I eat well, I exercise 5-6 days a week, I rarely drink anything with caffine it, I rarely drink alcohol, I dont smoke, overall I am pretty healthy. Also on the rare occassions that I do take a sleeping pill I sometimes still wakeup a few times during the night, when I take a sleeping pill that is usually when I am unable to get back to sleep after about 4 hours of sleep.

Also I have never had anyone tell me I make any strange noises while sleeping so I dont think it is sleep apnea.

[My Flight Surgeon]

Here are the sleep hygeine tricks from Stanford University.
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/howto.html