I have had sleeping problems for ages. My main problem these days is waking up in the middle of the night, several times over. A lot of the time it has to do with my bodyheat, which seems to change regularly which has me alternating between 3, even 4 layers.

But usually I'm too hot. I started using an Outlast.com mattress protector which uses NASA patented thermomolecules with an adaptive heat rating of 5000.

It's suppossed to absorb your heat when you are too hot and release the heat back when you get too cold. Maintaining a constant micro-climate of 37C body heat around you for optimal REM sleep temperature all night.

In practicality, I find it can keep you warm when your room cools, but its just slightly too hot for its own good, I'm guessing that having the cover 50% polyester has something to do with this.

I get so hot I often sleep with just a sheet over me or very thin bedspread. Outlast says that to get an optimal Adaptive heat rating you need a 8000 rating which means using another one of their products. The quilt though is 4.5 tog which is still too thick for me. I hear they do a cooling blanket but I cant find it in the UK.

I have tried Coolmax sheets which are suppossed to funnel away moisture and thus heat away from your body. It has minimal effect.

I use a Chillow for the pillow which helps with head heat but nothing else really.

gamingeek said:

I can only sleep on my side.

 I'm the same. I remember when I did Buteyko they suggested putting a backpack on the bed so you couldn't roll onto your back, but I didn't need it due to my supreriority!

I am practically vampiric when it comes to sleep.

I resist falling asleep for some strange reason, so I am up TO all hours...

...but then I am up AT 4:30AM almost every day!

[That's why you'll see me post sometimes at 1AM, 7:30AM, 4:30AM then throughout the day. I'm like 7/11... Open 24 hours.]

I would LOVE to be the kind of person to cuddle up under the covers and sleep in every now or then... NEVER has been the case yet!

I have never in my life known a restful night's sleep. It's not a matter of too hot, too cold, alone or with someone... It's just that the mind never shuts down. Just as a side note: You can sneak into my room at 3:13AM and whisper a question in my ear... I will hear you, I will answer coherently. There's NEVER a time when I fall into a deep enough REM sleep where I am not aware of my surroundings!  

gamingeek said:

SteelAttack said:

The fuck?

I guess going through medical school, internship and residence makes you far less prone to have any sleeping trouble. I can sleep anywhere. ANYWHERE. Hot or cold, blanket or no blanket, light or dark, noise or quiet, laying down, sitting, fuck, once I fell asleep standing up while holding a pair of retractors in the middle of a surgery.

You sound like my father. He falls alsleep and then wakes up all of sudden blaming me for letting him sleep.

I do that to my daughter!

bugsonglass said:

as a CFS/ME sufferer i can hardly stay awake at the best of times.  the only times i wake up at night is when i have had too much liquid to drink and i need to pee.

what position do you sleep in?  i find that sleeping on my tummy makes me much more peaceful than on my side or on my back.  i also sleep with music on through the night.  i would like one of those machines which make natural sounds but i can't find one to buy

 Not even an alarm clock? You could have the alarm on for the whole night. You should be able to buy a CD of those sounds though.

I have ME/CFS too! I've had huge problems with sleeping up until recently because of it, though. Disturbed sleep patterns, never being sleepy, pain, temperature problems etc. Recently, though, I've actually been getting sleepy, and if I don't fall asleep within the first hour or two, I don't need to get up for a few hours again.

One thing that's awesome about, though, is the lucid dreaming, and recently I've been dreaming wihle semi-awake eyes open and all. It's quite an interesting experience.

I fall asleep immediately and can shut out most noise.  I'm deaf in one ear, so I  sleep on the good ear to block out noise.  But after four or five hours of sleep, once I wake up then I cannot go back to sleep.

I've known people who take baths to relax before they go to bed.  Have you tried that?

aspro said:

GG, do you take in any caffeine or sugar or alcohol in any particularly different manner?  I find I sleep better on days when I've had less caffeine and beer (which means that last time I got a good nights sleep was in 94).

I try not to have caffeine after 7:30 pm. Only drink socially, I use sugar substitutes.

travo said:

I fall asleep immediately and can shut out most noise.  I'm deaf in one ear, so I  sleep on the good ear to block out noise.  But after four or five hours of sleep, once I wake up then I cannot go back to sleep.

I've known people who take baths to relax before they go to bed.  Have you tried that?

I always shower before I go to sleep. Otherwise my sweaty balls keep me awake.

SteelAttack said:

gamingeek said:

Otherwise my sweaty balls keep me awake.

Ew. Isn't London like...cold all the time?

But my balls are always hot.

I keep talcum powder next to the bed.

I like to stay up late but I love to get my 8 hours of sleep every night if I could.  I sleep under an air vent, I need it to be cold, luckly as long as the air is on it is. But for the most part I have no issues sleeping. Maybe once every few months I have one of THOSE nights where you cant go to sleep no matter how hard you try, drives me nuts.

Oh and I always sleep prone.