A short one on two new things I'm doing for sleep...

I have a full-blown on-going blog about sleep on the sidebar if you'd like more on sleep hacks, tips, things to try. These are my two latest additions and thus far both seem to be helping. 

Addition #1 - Ashwagandha 

I make a cup of herbal tea at night. I do it about 3 hours or so before I go to sleep to mitigate the mid-night or 2a.m. bathroom trip. Kinda silly to go through all these hoops for good quality sleep and have it interrupted by a full bladder, right? :-)

I mix my own teas and the one I drink at night is one blended for my specific needs so I won't bore you with the ingredients. However, one thing I do that you may want to try is adding turmeric and ginger. I use ginger and turmeric root, readily available at most grocery stores, and pop thin slices in the tea. I'm working on a turmeric blog will try to remember to pop back on here and link when I get finished. I also add my nightly Calm (magnesium) to the cup (leg cramps, brain, pooping...it's not the only magnesium I take, each type has different benefits...guess I need to do a magnesium blog?). 

The NEW addition is ashwaghanda root. 

I was out and about on-line doing some research and came across the tidbit that it helped with sleep. I use the powder in my smoothies and it is also in a few of the brain supplements I take but it's probably all out of my system by the time I go to bed. Guessing on that one. Could be that just giving it a boost at night is what does the trick.

I started experimenting with it, adding it for a few nights running to my tea bag, missed it off and on. I noticed that my deep sleep improved when I added it to my night tea. I'm still tracking to see if it holds true but so far it's a winner. I work more on my deep sleep than I do on length of sleep. Dave Asprey has a lot on deep sleep, need to get back over and read some more of his "stuff". 

Addition #2 - Quinine (in Tonic Water) 

I recently had my veins done (hereditary issue, thanks mom :-)). I asked the vascular surgeon about the leg cramps I suffer through fairly often. He said that while he couldn't, as a doctor, tell me to do it many of his patients swore by tonic water. 

The magnesium I take doesn't seem to do much for my particular type of leg cramps...then again, maybe they'd be horrific if I didn't take it every night! I don't plan to find out.

So...I went out and did some reading and then went on a hunt for some tonic water that I'd drink at the local grocery stores. Bleh. They all had sugars, sucrolose, a variety of additions that I would never put in my body.

I finally found one at my local Kroger. Their Diet Tonic Water doesn't have a sweetener in it. I bought a 99 cent bottle to see if it helped. 

Wow. I haven't had leg cramps since I started drinking it. I have no idea if it's a placebo effect -- don't believe it is as I've "believed" in other things that supposedly worked on leg cramps that didn't for yours truly. I do think that everyone's body is different and maybe this is the thing that works on my particular type of leg cramp but maybe not yours. It's a cheap thing to try and if it works I will expect a hug if we ever meet. 

I use it in the tea mix I mentioned in Addition #1 to cool my tea. I leave space in the top of the tea cup and add it. I'll also put a little in my daily drink mix off and on but not consistently. 

Note: I gather that quinine is also known as cinchoa or Countess powder. Guess who's off to do some research? Could be that I can just buy some of the powder and use it, or maybe the root for my tea. It's very bitter so maybe I'll just stick to the tonic water.

Have you tried either of these? Doing something I've missed? Experimenting? Figured out ways to improve your deep sleep? Check out my blog on the sidebar and let me know if I should add anything to my list. Thanks! 

Hope you have a healthy, restful, 2021.

Side tip re: Calm --- I buy it on Amazon, have it on their Subscribe and Save program. I was at Costco recently and they had a much larger container (20 oz vs 16 oz) for a dollar more than Amazon's smaller container. I grabbed one. I just popped over to Amazon and noticed they've dropped the price for the 16 oz container by $2. Ha. Keep an eye on it if it's something you use as there may be more price changes!

Short Sleep Gene?

How I wish I slept...

I came across this article while doing some research on sleep studies. It really struck me as I have a "short sleep" gene...and I pretty much miss the mark when it comes to hitting over 6 hours of sleep. I am going to now have to set up alerts so I can watch this one.

I don't get tired. I am not sleepy during the daytime. I start getting tired around 9 or 9:30 p.m. and am generally out by 10 - 10:30.

Do you have trouble getting over 6 hours of sleep? Are you tracking your sleep and finding that you don't get sufficient REM and/or deep sleep? Read the article and let me know what you think!

Short Sleeper: Short Sleep Syndrome
If you usually get less than seven hours of sleep, you are probably a short sleeper. Many people are short sleepers due to lifestyle choices. For example, juggling work, recreation, and family responsibilities may not leave enough hours in the day to get the recommended amount of sleep each night.
But it’s not just the number of hours we spend asleep. It’s also the quality of your sleep that matters. Some people do not spend enough time in deep sleep. So, even if they get seven hours of sleep, it may not be good quality and restorative sleep they need.
If you are a short sleeper or do not get enough deep sleep, you might feel tired the next day and lack energy, which can affect your day to day activities.
https://www.sleepassociation.org/sleep-disorders/short-sleeper/


Some of my previous blogs on sleep:

https://ramblingjan.blogspot.com/2020/02/going-for-sleep-study-tips-for-getting.html

https://ramblingjan.blogspot.com/2020/02/suffered-through-sleep-study.html

https://ramblingjan.blogspot.com/2020/02/melatoninits-good-for-more-than-sleep.html

https://ramblingjan.blogspot.com/2020/02/to-sleep-or-not-to-sleepthat-is-question.html

Suffered through a sleep study

Around 12:45 this morning I told the sleep tech I didn't know if I would make it, might go home. I told her I felt like I was in a torture chamber. I was pleasant, was not bitchy, we were laughing...but I was serious.

There were three sleep-study rooms. The walls were so thin I could hear the TV in the other room, I heard the lady in the other room snoring and coughing, I heard the doors open and close and could hear the tech on the intercom in the room next to me... Every time I would think I MIGHT fall asleep the coughing would start in the next room. My heart graph is going to be interesting --- I know my heart raced every time something caught me as I was trying to get to sleep.

The top half of the wall next to the bed was a window with blinds. No blackout curtains. A full array of parking lot lights shining through the sides and slats. The room was barely dim. I finally took my light coat and wrapped it around my head like a turban, covering my eyes. I tried pillows, the thin blanket...

The lights in the room? Those great blue-light emitting bright-white curly bulbs and fluorescent in the ceiling. No way reading was going to help put me to sleep even though I brought my blue-blocking glasses. They are made for the computer, not for blocking around the edges of the lens.

The bed was horrible. It didn't elevate at all. One of the sleep study ladies left in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep --- her back was hurting too much. She had to sleep sitting up as they didn't have a way to raise the mattress. I grabbed four pillows and made a kinda-sorta chair back and slept semi-sitting up.

The bathroom was down the hall. I heard everyone who went to the bathroom. To get to the bathroom I had to walk out into bright lights. Guess what that does to a brain? Wake up li'l brain, time to get up!

It's hard enough to sleep in a strange place with things stuck to your body...but add all those factors and it is impossible.

They had a TV in the room. Every sleep expert tells you to stay away from the TV if you're trying for quality sleep. Although --- the TV screen was slightly smaller than my laptop screen so binoculars were needed to see it. Not that I turned it on. I don't like watching TV. Period.

I showed up with comfy clothes, my pillow, my sound machine (truly thankful I brought it...not that it was louder than the coughing and opening/closing door noises), a book, my tablet, chargers, toothbrush and toothpaste for the morning, heartburn antacids (a last-minute toss in that I am glad I had given I couldn't sleep with the bed elevated), earbuds so I could listen to a binaural beat meditations (3 times before the night finally ended...), and I also brought a small cooler with water and my health smoothy.

The only reason I knew to bring all of that was because I did some research on-line to see what was allowed. I certainly didn't get any info from this group.

My Fitbit registered 47 minutes of sleep. Light sleep. I actually did get more sleep it's just that I confused my poor Fitbit with all the long times awake, getting up to go to the bathroom (when I'm awake the urge strikes...when I sleep well it doesn't). I managed to get the minimum required two hours of sleep. I think I might have gotten just over three hours.

I am prepared to be disappointed in the results when I go for the follow-up doc appointment.

I wanted to find out if my Fitbit was correct in showing that I didn't get but a minuscule amount of REM and deep sleep. I wanted someone who would help me increase those numbers.

I mentioned in a previous blog that they seemed to be pushing C-Pap machines when I had my initial appointment. I suppose most people go in to determine whether they have sleep apnea, snoring issues, or other physical issues that lead to poor sleep.

I use a snore app and know I don't snore much if any. I have yet to register on the app. I asked the sleep tech if I snored, she said no. Then she backtracked and said "well, I can't say"...'cause they're not allowed to say :-).

I do wake up anywhere from 2 to 4 each night and often can't get back to sleep. My normal bedtime is around 10. Last night I was in the sleep-study bed all hooked up with the door closed by around 10:15 pm. However, I tossed, turned, put pillows over my head, adjusted the bed, played games on my phone, listened to meditations to no avail, propped up the head of the bed, and I read for a bit with my phone light and blue-blocker glasses until 12:45. Sigh.

I finally forced myself to go to sleep.

I doubt I'll find out anything about my deep and REM sleep. How could they begin to know how much I might get based on 3-3 1/2 hours or so of disrupted sleep?

Add a bed and a wall of blinds and you'll know what I thought
of the sleep study and environments :-)

The place is part of a pulmonary practice. They have great reviews. I did some research before going, I just didn't know enough to do the right kind of research. I "assumed" that finding out about deep and REM sleep would be one of the priorities.

When they schedule your sleep around their schedule, end it at 5 a.m. whether you're ready to get up or not (I was already awake so it didn't bother me), when they don't know anything about great sleep environments, when they only need two hours of sleep to get results I don't think they are after anything other than selling those C-Paps!


I'll let you know how it goes when I go for the follow-up, get the results. I would really like to be proven wrong in thinking this was just a C-Pap pushing exercise...

Side note: This is my second sleep study. The other study was at least 15 years ago and it was great. Nothing at all like this experience.

Updated 1/8/2021 - Light it up...if you want to ruin your sleep!

For as long as I can remember I have hated walking into dimly lit houses. It seemed that older people, in particular, seemed to like low lights. I swore that when I got older I would have a brightly lit house. And I have had a brightly lit house.

Until now.

When the government forced us to switch from the old incandescent lights, killing a thriving American industry, moving us to made-in-China LED bulbs, I bought every incandescent bulb I could find. High wattage. Yes, I'm a rebel.

I had read about the issues with LED and was really aggravated that our government was mandating a switch. I dug in my heels and refused to change. As with many stances like that one they fade over time, especially when it became impossible to find incandescent bulbs and my supply was running low. I broke down and used one of the free bulbs our electric company had sent trying to entice us to switch.

As I am a ceramic artist and a painter lighting is super important to me. At some point, I discovered daylight LED bulbs and fell in love with them. My art looks soooo much better in daylight and it's soooo much better when working to have those bright lights. I changed out every light in the studio to daylight LED bulbs. I became a convert.

Bright daylight LED bulbs started replacing all of my bulbs. Take that old people...no dim lighting for me, ha ha!

Then I upgraded my Fitbit and started tracking my sleep. Yowzer. I was getting zip when it came to deep sleep and my REM was hit or miss.

I started delving into how to sleep better. My typical pattern was to fall asleep fairly easily but would wake up somewhere between 2 to 3 and wander in and out of light sleep for a few hours before dragging my butt out of bed.

The more I learned about sleep the more I learned about the impact of light. In particular, our light bulbs. Fluorescent, incandescent, and LED. I discovered blue light blockers. I read posts and info by Dave Asprey, Matthew Walker, and others on how to get better sleep and the issues with computers, phones, tablets, and the various light spectrums.

The irony of my commitment to have bright lights is it turns out that those very same lights are wreaking havoc with our sleep cycles. Poor sleep is a huge contributor to dementia in later life. I guess maybe quite by accident past generations may have been saving their brains to some degree, unbeknownst to them.

We are "made" (ala evolution) to wake up with sunlight and sleep when it gets dark. With the advent of gas, then electric lighting we started blowing our sleep circuits. Over time we have become proud of sleeping shorter lengths. We brag that we'll sleep when we die, not realizing that we'll die sooner and more miserably if we don't get proper sleep.

If you go camping, away from lights and civilization, and don't take any electronics I bet you'll find you go to sleep just like cavemen. Unless you camp like I used to with adult beverages and groups of partying friends!

Now as I type I am wearing prescription blue-blocking glasses. I have Night Shift, a free app, on my phone and tablet. I have f.lux on my laptop. I get up every morning and try to get some sunlight to start my circadian clock ticking correctly, building toward a good night of sleep. I exercise in the morning or early afternoon to avoid revving up my system before bedtime.

I am currently researching melatonin. One expert says not to bother, another says it's great. One says it's needed for our brains, not just sleep. Another says we need it when we reach a certain age as our production slows down. The information and suggestions regarding melatonin are all over the place. I'm working on another post with what I'm learning. Stay tuned.

Sadly, all the things I have been doing to help my sleep haven't helped a bit. (Note: 1/8/2021 --- turns out some of the things have helped. See the bullet points below to see the changes I've made.) I'm going for a sleep study next week. I do not have high hopes as they started and ended the conversation with a push for a C-Pap machine. I don't snore. I have used the SnoreLab app for many nights and not even registered. I mentioned trying other things...even different types of sleep devices...and they harped on C-Pap. I've decided they get a kick-back. But I'm still going for the study. (Sleep study sucked, worthless...see my posts on it for details.)

On the lighting front, I have switched the bedroom lights to blue blockers so I can read at night. I added a few blue-blocking night lights to areas where we wander at night, like the bathroom. I have covered or disconnected every tiny light in the house.

Here's one story that stuck with me as I investigated sleep...someone did a sleep study and during the person's deep sleep they took a tiny penlight and shined it on the back of their knee. It took them out of deep sleep. Turns out our entire body is a light sensor. I think Matthew Walker is the one that talked about that one, will post a link if I find it again.

Here are all the other things I'm doing to try and get a good night of deep and REM sleep. BTW, the C-Pap pushing sleep doc wasn't interested in anything, including the fact that I have a short-sleep gene and another that indicates I might have trouble with deep sleep.

My attempts to get better sleep, in addition to the ones mentioned above, include:

• No caffeine after 10 a.m.
• A cocktail of supplements half an hour to an hour before bedtime:
• 1mg time-release melatonin at bedtime
• LUNA tablets without melatonin
• 2 teaspoons of CALM (magnesium) in a tiny amount of water
•  I have added some GABA, turmeric and 5-HTP to my nightly pill-popping regime
• 1/8/2021 Update --- I have ditched GABA and melatonin as they weren't helping. I now add ashwagandha, shankpushpi and collagen to my nightly herbal tea. I no longer drink the Golden Milk (next on the bullet list). I drink my tea at least 3 hours before bedtime to avoid the middle-of-the-night bathroom trips. My deep and REM sleep lengths are improving.
  
• I tried Golden Milk --- turmeric, almond milk, cinnamon, a touch of vanilla...and I added Shankpushpi which is supposed to help your brain and with sleep. It didn't seem to have any effect on my deep sleep. However, I did start using the bathroom more in the middle of the night...sigh...so I moved it back to 3 hours before bedtime. Drinking it that far from sleep-time doesn't help at all for sleep but the ingredients are great for my brain so the Golden Milk is a keeper.
• I don't eat at least 3 hours before bedtime, usually longer
• I stop using my tablet, phone, and computer an hour or two before bed
• I have a regular schedule, hit the bed between 9:30 - 10 every night
• All of my bedroom windows are covered with dark sheets (they are a strange shape so I can't use the standard light-blocking shades)
• I have the head of my bed elevated. That was initially to avoid acid reflux but it turns out that's also good for your sleep.
• I have tried binaural beats (tried the Atmosphere and BrainAurum apps); that didn't have any kind of impact on my sleep. 
• I use the Insight Timer app for sleep meditations. Some of them do help get me back to sleep when I wake up in the night but they have bright white backgrounds and that little pop of light is enough to light up the "time to get up" part of my brain. I now keep my blue-blocking glasses next to the bed and have learned to put them on before going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, grabbing my phone for the sleep app, etc.
• I have a white and pink noise machine that does seem to help
• If I wake up in the middle of the night and can't easily get back to sleep I read a book. With a blue-blocking light. The suggestion is that you get out of bed and go somewhere else to read, but I have found that if I do that, then head back to bed, I wake up. So I read in bed and it puts me back to sleep, turns my brain off just fine.
  

I joke that I'd stand on my head for an hour before bed if I thought it would help me sleep. Please don't tell me it would as I hate the idea of standing on my head!

Thus far all of my efforts have failed. But I have learned a lot. Especially about lighting. I'm going to continue to switch out the lights in the house. I want dimmers on all of them so I can turn them down at night.

We have fluorescent lighting in the kitchen, pantry and laundry room. Those have to go. That's a big issue though as it'll cost a chunk of change to switch them out. Fluorescent lights are the worst of the worst...so, for now, I am turning them off a few hours before bed.

Blue Lights:

https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/blue-light-detrimental-to-healthy-sleep
https://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/blue-light.htm
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

Binaural beats:
https://www.binauralbeatsmeditation.com/the-science/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-newzzz/201810/how-can-binaural-beats-help-you-sleep-better
https://www.healthline.com/health/binaural-beats