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What do you do besides 'PAP to ensure quality sleep and successful therapy?

I have always touted using the machine 100% of sleep time would solve everyone's problems with feeling better with 'PAP therapy.  A couple of posts recently made me realize that sleep problems aren't cured by 'PAP alone.  We need to have quality, restful sleep.  This can be a lot of work.  Sleeping pills aren't the answer (though some people need them).  We may need to revisit sleep hygiene  and really study it and be sure we're doing all we can to achieve good sleep.  The intervention of a sleep specialist may be necessary.  Perhaps a therapist for a time to deal with stress and worry that keeps us awake at night.  I am studying my sleep hygiene, making sure I go to bed tired.  I've  weaned off lunesta, but still take benadryl because I'm scared not to sleep.  I think I need to wean off the benadryl- perhaps with a cup of bedtime tea and a conscious effort to put worries and concerns of the day behind me.

What are other peoples thoughts?

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Sleeping during the day is quite different than at night. I have to make sure that my room is completely dark.

      I think you're on to something, Mary.

      I'm concerned about taking any kind of medication, including sleep medication. A friend sent me this information: Adults who take sleeping pills in even small numbers over their lifetimes may be nearly four times more likely to die earlier compared to those who are not prescribed sleeping pills, according to new findings published in….

       I looked it up. Here's the link: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Sleep/sleeping-pills-linked-times-incr...    Note: if the link doesn't work for you, go to ABC.com and click on the health link and prowl around. My friend's link didn't work for me but I found the story.

       I do think that sleep hygiene is important -- and it's hard for me. Example: I have trouble going to bed at a regular time, eating early, etc., etc.  That said, when I do manage to do all these things, including "powering down" in the evening -- cutting the computer before 8:00 pm, sitting down reading quietly, getting up at the same time,  etc., etc. it all makes a difference.

        I managed to quit caffeine. Today I wasn't feeling well and was at a conference for the past three days. I decided that I needed the "kick" from caffeine.  Well, it's now 2:15 am and I think that cup of coffee in the early afternoon may be part of the reason I'm still up. I'll add drinking wine at the cocktail party, coming home on a bit of a high (it was a great conference!) and not taking time to "power down" (I had things to do.things to catch up with because I was out at the conference every day for the past three days).

     Another recommendation, btw, is to remove things from your mind that could niggle and bother you.. Write down your To Do list so that you're not carrying it around in your head. Things like that so that you can relax more.

      Sleep is considerably more complex than I ever imagined. I thought once I had my CPAP, I'd rejoin the human race. People who fall asleep when their heads hit the pillow have no idea....no idea at all....

Mary said:

"I think I need to wean off the benadryl..."

 

Benedryl?

 

Do you know what the half-life of benedryl is?

I have a regular bedtime, and a regular rising time... on weekends on vacations and throughout the week. I also exercise early in the day, hard enough to raise my heart rate for one half hour to forty five minutes. I eat my largest meal at lunch and stop eating after 6:30 in the evening.

Besides wearing my CPAP I think this helps me to sleep soundly throughout the night and wake rested.

molette, I have read the half life of benadryl is from 5- 10 hours.  8 was the number found most often.


Mary Z said:

molette, I have read the half life of benadryl is from 5- 10 hours.  8 was the number found most often.


Right!

Consequently, one must carefully consider this as a drug strategy to aid sleep, and more important, performance the following day. Take this stuff too late in the evening and one could very well wake up with a case of the grog.

Then be blaming the CPAP on it.

      What time do you go to bed, Bee?  And what time do you wake?

      I'm trying to start eating earlier (very hard for me) and finished tonight about 9:00 pm. If I go to bed around midnight, that's three hours after my last meal. That said, I think that I have to adapt to your schedule, i.e., stop eating after 6:30 pm.

      Also, are you an owl or a lark?  I'm definitely the former, which annoys me. I notice that by the time I get up, all the worms are gone -- darn those early birds ;-)



BeeAsleep said:

I have a regular bedtime, and a regular rising time... on weekends on vacations and throughout the week. I also exercise early in the day, hard enough to raise my heart rate for one half hour to forty five minutes. I eat my largest meal at lunch and stop eating after 6:30 in the evening.

Besides wearing my CPAP I think this helps me to sleep soundly throughout the night and wake rested.

Hi ZolliStar.

I am an early bird, I have most of my energy early in the day. I work out early, at 6:00 am then get ready and go to work. I am in bed by 9:00-9:30 each night and up at 5:30 am. I read that working out late in the day might keep you awake. I find that exercise wakes me up and gives me a lot of energy though out the day, so by 9:00pm I am ready to hit the sack because my body is pooped. I eat at about 6 pm, something light and no sugar or alcohol which might keep me awake.

Sounds pretty boring all written out....lol

     Now I know who gets all those worms in the morning!

     Actually, I'm going to try to emulate your example EXCEPT shift everything forward two to three hours and go to bed around midnight and getting up around 8:00 am.

     Another question: How much, how hard and how long do you exercise in the morning?

     Oops, another question:  Do you drink coffee?  I've pretty much quit it (had half a cup at a brunch I attended today). I have to admit it: I absolutely l.o.v.e. coffee but I feel better -- calmer and with a better sense of well-being -- when I don't drink it at all.



BeeAsleep said:

Hi ZolliStar.

I am an early bird, I have most of my energy early in the day. I work out early, at 6:00 am then get ready and go to work. I am in bed by 9:00-9:30 each night and up at 5:30 am. I read that working out late in the day might keep you awake. I find that exercise wakes me up and gives me a lot of energy though out the day, so by 9:00pm I am ready to hit the sack because my body is pooped. I eat at about 6 pm, something light and no sugar or alcohol which might keep me awake.

Sounds pretty boring all written out....lol

bump

My husband and I love Sleepytime tea by Celestial Seasonngs. People should be able to get it relatively easily in the USA. Many health shops stock it in Australia and Coles sometimes have it. Lots of other flavours are good too.

I think is important!  I also check with my sleep specialist with medicine I need to take and know what not to take that can affect sleep.  I stop drinking caffeine in the afternoon.  I so wish my dad would stop taking sleeping pills because I am sure he has OSA but it hard on him since he work different shifts so it throw off his sleep schedule.  I think sleep routine is harder for those who work crazy, unstructured work hours.  I still need to master the sleep schedule of going to bed at the same time. 

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