i got a good night's sleep last night. for the first time in decades.

went to my second sleep study. they hooked me up to the cpap machine. woke up this morning and it was like...wow. i feel at one with the universe. does everyone feel like this? i felt like i was dead all night. but in a good way. it was unreal. the guy who did my study said he has been doing studies for 16 years and he has never seen anyone sleep as deeply or soundly. he said my slow wave and REM sleep was unbelievable. SIXTEEN YEARS. i knew i could be a wonderful sleeper if only i had a little help. i don't want to think of the lost years of depression/sadness/weariness...onward and upward!

(i'm actually embracing the sunlight this morning. i NEVER embrace the sunlight in the morning. it is my mortal enemy! i feel like taking a frigging yoga class right now or something...)

That is fantastic. Ever since I had surgery in April to correct some sinus issues, I have been sleeping very soundly and have lots of energy when I do wake up. It's funny to think how much sleep issues affect the rest of your life.

I've been using a neti pot every day for six months. Before it would take over an hour for me to get to sleep, now it takes less than ten minutes.

I got a good night's sleep last night for the first time in a month!

awesome man enjoy your snoozing

I had the best night sleep in a week last night, but i wouldn't call it "good"

Aw Scott. It sucks not being able to sleep well. I hope that you have the chance to sleep well again!

i wish everyone a good night's sleep.

i'm not gonna be able to wait for my home machine. have to wait for my doctor to get a home health service to come to my house with one. hopefully it won't take that long. so, still have some cruddy apnea sleep to look forward to.

he guy who did my study said he has been doing studies for 16 years and he has never seen anyone sleep as deeply or soundly.

this is awesome by the way. viking at sleep!

i've got a slight flowers for algernon feeling right now. like tomorrow morning i'm gonna be all grogged out without the machine and i'll forget what this feels like right now. so, i'm enjoying the moment.

oh man tho dude my best friend from high school got a home machine -- just don't stop believin hold on to that feeling, you know? because it improved his life 1000%. talked like you: "wow, is this the level of comfort others are accustomed to"? I stopped sleeping well regularly in 2004 but I can only imagine what it's like to have never really had a good night's sleep.

i haven't slept well/regularly in years and it's the worst

I pretty much always sleep well, and I pretty much always feel rubbish when I've just woken up - groggy, disoriented and vulnerable, for about half an hour.

Have wondered about this but the thought of having to plug into a machine in bed at night doesn't appeal. No idea why I have sleep apnoea anyway, I'm not overweight.

congratulations, scott! life will be brighter!
i think i'm going to start prioritizing sleep again. it does make such a big difference to my personal happiness and brain function.

upstairs neighbour means guaranteed wakefulness between 5am and 6am ;_;

so sleep apnea is the cause of this? have not slept well in...ages I think, it's the worst

sleep apnea is often the culprit yeah

but we live in a time when people routinely fuck with their sleeping habits - the thing you'll get told at a sleep study is that you first have to start going to bed at the same time every night, no brain stim stuff (reading, internet) for an hour before bed, etc - gotta get yr sleep hygiene in shape first

^ i'm swearing to myself starting today that i'm gonna follow this.

wait what about y'know, the other thing?

ah gotcha - doesn't help that ILX starts getting busiest right about the same time I should be going to bed

Getting busy!

stop trying to turn this thread into a slash thread

no brain stim stuff (reading, internet) for an hour before bed

^this is why I will never be mr best practices sleeper

lol

and also fuming because my therapist told me that reading before going to bed was a good way to go to sleep quickly.

thirty quid an hour bitch

I sleep very well when I actually get sleep

my current fb status is "said to himself at midnight maybe I'll just watch the first 5 minutes of mad max"

i count a great nights sleep anything over 6 hours. mostly it will be 5 hours tho with lots of waking up in between.

I can understand not using computer, because of the light source and the fact that you have to move hands and eyes quickly and click on things and it seems pretty stimulating. I don't know if I think the same about reading a book at night? But hey, whatever!

i've been using this thing that dims yr pc screen at night in an effort to stop yr brain thinking 'ow bright light it must be daytime!'

http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

depending on the book it can help or it can make me want to stay awake and keep reading

this thread just made me dim my macbook's screen...seems to be working, ya'll seem a lot more boring now

ILX is so bright, I gotta wear shades...

(performed by TOMBOT 3)

sleep apnea is most often a physical disorder. blockages in your throat, restricted airways, etc. though, of course, there are lots of things you can do to sleep better if you are just a normal person. no caffeine after a certain time, no alcohol or food after a certain time, etc.

i was diagnosed with "severe" sleep apnea. most normal mornings i get out of bed and i feel like i'm 80 years old. and not a spry 80 either. every part of my body hurts. my back, legs, neck, etc. cuz i move around so much at night and am never comfortable sleeping. i'm often dizzy and disoriented. light-headed. from lack of oxygen. i'll sleep 8 hours, wake up, and it feels like i haven't slept in weeks. i ALWAYS want to sleep during the day. pretty much every day. and it has just been getting worse. this is kinda gross so don't read this if you are squeamish, but i gasp for breath so much during the night that sometimes - not often, but enough to be alarming - i choke and i have actually started to throw up in my sleep. luckily, i have always woken up when this has happened and i stop myself or run to the bathroom, but it has scared the hell out of me. i try not to eat too late at night. i've cut back on drinking a lot. needless to say, it can be depressing as hell.

this is sad and embarrassing to admit: this morning i went bike riding with rufus. i have never gone bike riding with rufus.

(the idea of physical activity outside of work often feels painful to me. i spend my night in a marathon of fucked up sleep/sleeplessness and by morning i'm spent. maria bought me a bike last october for my birthday. this is the first time i have used it. and i WANTED to use it. i wanted to be outside! i never want to be outside.)

anyway, if you think you might have a problem, see a doctor! don't wait years like i did.

damn! reading that and knowing that you've finally diagnosed your problem/are getting treatment makes me genuinely happy, especially the part about going bike riding with rufus. sweet dreams! (meant sincerely)

here is some sleep hygiene info in case somebody's deal is more can't-shut-down-the-brain instead of sleep apnea!

scott I am so stoked that you are (finally) taking care of yourself. other people, heed scott's words, don't be a badass and try to tough through shit that's keeping you off your game!

scott do u think you'll hate metal now that you won't feel like a 1000 year old man

ha, no way! although right now i am listening to Carnatic music from India and it hits the spot. have to find more raga metal.

man, i just finished reading dfw's "oblivion" last night (and then couldn't get to sleep for awhile because of a cough), so good sleep has been on my brain

On a side note, I absolutely hate the phrase "good sleeping weather."

Scott, I am so happy for you! (and also I imagine this will be good for Maria too!)

Scott, that's such good news. Mr. Jaq tells a similar story about when he first went on CPAP. No more falling asleep at the wheel while driving home from work! Waking up rested in the morning! It's a whole new world.

does anybody get that state where you feel really really tired and sleepy when you're awake/in front of the computer but as soon as you lie down and close your eyes it's like your mind goes into overdrive and you can't sleep

hate that

does anybody get that state where you feel really really tired and sleepy when you're awake/in front of the computer but as soon as you lie down and close your eyes it's like your mind goes into overdrive and you can't sleep

hate that

yeah, would strongly recommend shutting the computer down an hour before you turn in

Oh scott, i am feeling a warm feeling in my heart for you. Ride that bike!

My fingertips are smoother. My face is redder. My lungs are stronger. My hair gets dirty faster. My emotions are higher and sometimes quite raw. Nerves at the surface after being buried for so long. So close to tears! Like when I was a teen. But its okay. I can handle it. Even my restless leg is back. I get up early and I want to go outside. The sun was my enemy for years. It mocked me. It reminded me that I couldn’t go to bed. I waited for dark every single day. I only felt better when the sun went down. I waited all day long to sleep. And then when I finally did sleep it didn’t do me any good. I would wake up and be asleep. Groggy. Lack of oxygen. Seeing stars. Dizzy. My whole body aching. My legs in pain from moving around at night. My blood not pumping. Poor circulation. Crabby. Wanting to go to bed as soon as I got out of bed. Wanting to lie down all day. Everything deadened and flat. My natural enthusiasm the only thing keeping me going. My natural strength working overtime to get through the day. Never wanting to play. Coffee my only fuel and even that barely doing the job. I started smoking when I was 19 to help me stop my brain. To stop my fidgeting. My racing thoughts. My anxiety. My nervousness. My tics. My OCD. And it worked! Like a charm. That and booze, sadly. But as the years went by I just got slower and slower. At first, I blamed it on the hangovers. And I kept drinking because it didn’t seem to matter if I didn’t. I felt like crap with it or without it. Now, well, its like I was under heavy sedation for years and years – like having a heavy blanket wrapped around me – and suddenly awakening from a deep sleep or coma and seeing light and feeling air and wind and heat for the first time in a long time. Everything is 3D. Before it was flat. I can see patterns again. Faces in clouds and trees. I couldn’t really SEE. It’s so nice to see! I actually feel like my brain is learning how to work again. It was drowning and couldn’t get any air and now it is making up for lost time. Which means I don’t want to be fuzzy anymore. Which means I’m not into drinking so much anymore. Because I feel so good in the morning that I don’t want to mess with that feeling. I like the purity of wakefulness. (having said that, I’m no saint. and the irony is, if I wanted to be, I could be a world class drinker. I have stamina now up the wazoo. But I don’t feel the need to go that route. My biggest problem now is actually going to bed at a reasonable hour. I can stay up all night no matter how early I get up. I can’t really smoke pot either. It actually makes me feel like I’m on meth or something. Having said all THAT, I was feeling inspired the other day and I bought a bottle of gin and maria and I drank it after the kids went to bed and we stayed up all night, uh, making out and it was a lot of fun. Don’t tell anyone that though. I don’t want anyone to think that we are irresponsible parents. This never would have happened in my previous life. I would have conked out after my second drink and had a horrible headache and felt like hell the next day.) I never asked for help when I was younger. I was allergic to help. I was miserable and manic and depressed all through high school and my 20’s. Near suicidal at times. A weepy wreck. I was all alone with it. I didn’t tell my friends. My parents. I suffered like an idiot for a long time. I came out the other side just out of sheer dumb luck. I got older. I learned defense techniques. My body was just strong enough to handle the abuse. But not this time. This time I really did feel like I wasn’t gonna make it too far without help. I was getting worse. Way worse. Every month I felt worse than the month before. It was an effort to stand up. I never wanted to go somewhere that I never been to before because I never knew if I would be able to sit down comfortably! MY body ached and my head ached and the idea of doing anything outside of my job or the house made me miserable. Everything was an effort. My kids like me more now. I have always loved them and loved being with them, but now I feel like I can REALLY and truly be with them. Body and soul. It’s a trip. I already had so much to be thankful for, but now I can be present and awake and alive and genuinely enjoy it. All of it.

A happy skot is a fine thing in this world. :-)

Congratulations, man...that sounds wonderful. How was your sleep lab experience? I'm going in for the same thing (consult this week, the overnight lab probably sometime next week) and worried that I'll fuck it up somehow, or that I'll do something that will cause inaccurate results, or etc.

wow. that's awesome. congratulations scott.

"first and second sleep" ... YES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16964783

I do this about 6 of 7 nights.

Scott, that's the best thing I've read in forever. Keeping it positive in 2012!

I almost never sleep straight through the night. My normal pattern is to wake up at least once, often three or four times. Generally I go right back to sleep, though there are times when that doesn't happen. Getting to sleep in the first place is more problematic.

It's interesting to think about how our sleep patterns might shift in the absence of electric lights and glowing screens. Over the last few hundred years, changes in sleep routines have probably been as dramatic an influence on health as changes in diet and physical activity.

never fail to have first and second sleep. sometimes a third.

hate it when i wake up an hour early in the morning, feeling really alert but i still stay in bed. and then when it comes to like ten minutes before i have to get up i feel really sleepy and sometimes even nod off and wake up 5 minutes late.