Does It Matter Where You Sleep?

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RSteve

RSteve

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As I've posted earlier, I'm a chronic insomniac. I have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. My regular bed has a mattress which is a hybrid natural latex and memory foam. I also have a 3" memory foam mattress topper. It is very comfortable. The bedroom is quiet and dark. Last night I decided to sleep on the living room sofa. The living room has a two story vaulted ceiling with an uncovered window near the peak of the vault. It never gets totally dark because of window and street lights. Last night, for a reason I can't explain, I decided to sleep on the sofa. Without getting undressed or grabbing a blanket, I laid down on the sofa, immediately fell asleep, and only woke up once during the night to use the bathroom. I slept almost 10 hours. I don't think I was any more tired than normally. I certainly don't want the sofa to become my regular bed, but getting that much sleep was an incredible luxury.
 
During a post-surgery recovery period I had to sleep in a big cushy La-Z-Boy chair for about a month, and transitioning back to a flat bed took some time. Maybe your couch is firmer or provides needed support on one side of your body?

Another time when I was going through a period of headaches nearly everyday, I went to my doctor with extensive notes on diet, activity, sleep, stress levels, everything, but said I could find no common denominator for the cause of the headaches. He said that I never would, and that I was wasting my time, and that the body is too complex for even medicine in our era to fully understand. And perhaps the real reason . . . further tests would be expensive and invasive, and probably not covered by insurance. The headaches finally went away but I'm still amazed that in our day in age getting to the bottom of problems is very hit or miss.

Good luck with the woeful sleeping ordeals!
 
If you were watching TV it may have something to do with sleeping on the couch. It takes me usually an hour to fall
asleep even if I was yawning when I went to be, My beds comfortable and warm so it's not that. But, I find I can fall asleep
in a matter of seconds in front of the TV no matter how loud it is or bright in the room. What I'd like to do but,
can't afford is to put a TV in the bedroom hooked up to a timer so I could fall asleep quicker.
 
I have developed the ability to be able to fall asleep practically anywhere. I seem to be able to sleep easier when there is noise in the background.
 
Brunello wrote:
During a post-surgery recovery period I had to sleep in a big cushy La-Z-Boy chair for about a month, and transitioning back to a flat bed took some time.
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I'm wondering if it's because the sofa is soft leather.
As did Brunello, following surgery, when I was in recovery from C4, C5, C6 neck spinal surgery I could only sleep on an a leather over-stuffed recliner. Periodically, I have neck pain that travels down my left arm into my hand. To get any sleep, I have to return to that leather upholstered recliner fdor a few days until the pain subsides.
 
Brunello said:
During a post-surgery recovery period I had to sleep in a big cushy La-Z-Boy chair for about a month, and transitioning back to a flat bed took some time. Maybe your couch is firmer or provides needed support on one side of your body?

Another time when I was going through a period of headaches nearly everyday, I went to my doctor with extensive notes on diet, activity, sleep, stress levels, everything, but said I could find no common denominator for the cause of the headaches. He said that I never would, and that I was wasting my time, and that the body is too complex for even medicine in our era to fully understand. And perhaps the real reason . . . further tests would be expensive and invasive, and probably not covered by insurance. The headaches finally went away but I'm still amazed that in our day in age getting to the bottom of problems is very hit or miss.

Good luck with the woeful sleeping ordeals!
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Hmmm. My wife has headaches...bad ones. She’s been to a number of people over the years. Relaxation therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, etc. She recently had to find a new primary care physician due to our prior Dr. retiring. It’s opened up a new world re investigation and treatment of her headaches. Paying attention to diet triggers has helped and a new drug that is also used for anti seizure treatments had worked wonders. My point is that just because one doctor doesn’t know much about headaches doesn’t mean other guys are as behind the times. The attitude that the human body is so complex that we can’t hope to understand it is astounding. Good thing those headache went away by themselves cause it doesn’t sound like you were getting m help in the office. PS: Happy Holidays and stay healthy.
 
The mattress in the house is firm and we both fall asleep easily. The dogs usually have to go out between 2:00 or 3:00 am. and interrupts the sleep but I fall back asleep easily, usually. If I am up I will surf the net and after a few hours crawl back to bed. On those nights the recliner becomes a sleeping spot during the day and if a blanket is added I go right to sleep.

I have thought about a doggie door so they can let themselves in/out and it is on the list of things. I have the door measurements and found one at the hardware store but the issue is not that pressing to me.

The camper nights are a different story. The dogs go out at night which means a trip to the dog park which entails getting dressed, flashlight, leashes, etc. I get much less sleep and usually nap on the couch in the afternoon.
 
Since I retired I sleep exceptionally well. My wife jokes about how fast I fall asleep. I have nowhere near the pressures that I used to have.

I think habit has something to do with it too. I go to bed every night at 10:00 PM. I awaken every morning by 0600. I often wake up at one or two minutes before 6.

I stay active in my shop every day working on projects. I build flintlock rifles and restore old motorcycles. I think a good day of activity helps too.

I learned a technique from a shipmate in Navy bootcamp that I still use today. I lay down and begin concentrating on relaxing every muscle in my body. I start at my feet and work my way up flexing and relaxing muscles until I get to my neck. The whole time I breathe regularly and deeper than usual. Often I never make it past my hips before I'm out.

If I have a dream that awakens me I start the muscle relaxation technique again along with the deep regular breathing and go right back to sleep.

If I've been working on a technical challenge during the day a solution sometimes comes to me in my sleep. Can't explain why but I've come up with some innovative solutions while asleep.

Sounds odd I guess but it works for me.
 
I despise --no exaggeration-- house sounds. Refrigerators. Furnace. Air conditioner. Fans. Washer/dryer. Garage Doors. Cupboard doors. Doors closing. Clocks (F'ING CLOCKS!). You get the idea. I don't want to listen to what I don't want to listen to. I've used jazz music as a sound generator to sleep, but it doesn't always work because I love music so much. I can't stop listening, so I can't fall asleep. I ran into Nemo's Dreamscapes via the youtube algorithm, and it is working splendidly. I'm clearly not the only one, as they have 450K subscribers and 50K views on many videos. These two have been very effective:



 
Zeno Marx said:
I despise --no exaggeration-- house sounds. Refrigerators. Furnace. Air conditioner. Fans. Washer/dryer. Garage Doors. Cupboard doors. Doors closing. Clocks (F'ING CLOCKS!). You get the idea. I don't want to listen to what I don't want to listen to. I've used jazz music as a sound generator to sleep, but it doesn't always work because I love music so much. I can't stop listening, so I can't fall asleep. I ran into Nemo's Dreamscapes via the youtube algorithm, and it is working splendidly. I'm clearly not the only one, as they have 450K subscribers and 50K views on many videos. These two have been very effective:



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I know exactly how you feel, although the frig and other things in my house I've gotten sorta use to it's the barking dogs that keep me awake at night.
I have 3 neighbors that don't give a hoot in hell about anyone else, specially their dogs. They leave them tied up and penned in the back yards and give
them no mind except to feed them. It was 19 degrees out for several nights here and the dogs stayed outside barking their fool heads off most of the night
and every night. I don't think anything can help me except for moving out of this area. Wish me luck.
 
RDPipes said:
I know exactly how you feel, although the frig and other things in my house I've gotten sorta use to it's the barking dogs that keep me awake at night.
I have 3 neighbors that don't give a hoot in hell about anyone else, specially their dogs. They leave them tied up and penned in the back yards and give
them no mind except to feed them. It was 19 degrees out for several nights here and the dogs stayed outside barking their fool heads off most of the night
and every night. I don't think anything can help me except for moving out of this area. Wish me luck.
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Throw them a bone. See if a meat department pretty much gives their bones away. It'll buy you a couple hours if get big ones.

People leaving dogs outside all winter like that. I hope they at least have some shelter and some kind of insulation from the ground. I'd stay up all night pissed off too if I was them.
 
Zeno Marx said:
Throw them a bone. See if a meat department pretty much gives their bones away. It'll buy you a couple hours if get big ones.

People leaving dogs outside all winter like that. I hope they at least have some shelter and some kind of insulation from the ground. I'd stay up all night pissed off too if I was them.
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They do it in the summer, fall, spring and winter, they bark for attention because no ones giving them any, and I can barely feed myself
without supplying the neighborhood with bones. And if one gets sick and dies or for any other reason they'll all be pointing the finger at me
because I've already approach one of them about the barking and they told me basically tuff luck (to put it nicely).
 
I have sleep issues, too, @RSteve . (Here I am, posting at 2:30 a.m., my time, and I'm still a couple hours from sleep.) Seems to me the couch may have worked for any of the reasons you mentioned. It could also be just because it felt like a very casual, cozy nap, rather than Going To Bed. Those of us who struggle to get to sleep, I think we build up a bit of a dread of getting into bed, because we know we're just going to lay there bored and frustrated for hours. Just lying down for a nap on the couch -- not getting undressed or any of the usual routine -- may have let you relax more easily.

I dunno. Just a thought.
 
It annoys my wife that I can go to bed and be asleep in less than 5 minutes. Probably around 2 minutes. I have a regular routine in the evening. Nothing special but nothing too active nor too mentally stimulating. No coffee, tea, soda, etc.

The exception is when I'm doing our taxes. When I'm working with numbers before I go to bed it may take me an hour or two to fall asleep. BTW, one of my majors at the university was mathematics. Working with numbers gets my brain running at high speed. I like it except when I go to bed afterwards.

I'd suggest you get into a routine. Go to bed at the same time every night. Maybe watch some boring TV show well before bed time. I think taking a shower before bed helps me relax. Don't sleep too late in the morning. If you're taking a nap or two during the day stop those for a while because you might not be tired at bed time. You may want to set an alarm to wake up 6 or 7 hours after the time you want to fall asleep so you're tired at bed time. Even if you don't fall to sleep until 2:00 am if you want to fall asleep around 10:00 pm then set your alarm for 4:00 am or 5:00 am for a couple of weeks and make sure to get up. (I'm usually asleep by 9:00 pm and up at 4:30 am or earlier like 3:00 am.)

Anyway, experiment and see what works. Good luck!
 
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I have a difficult time falling asleep, and an 8 year old that likes to pile herself and her pup into my bed every night around 2am... anyways, I found this on YouTube, but it's from the Calm app. I haven't made it to the end of the story yet...

Calm Sleep Stories | The Nordland Night Train with Erik Braa​

 
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