What do old people have nightmares about?

I'm a former Marine, and worked in a notorious state prison. Not hard to figure it out.

---

Be Uncommon

Young people

---

"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

What’s your sleep routine? Do you go to sleep at same time every night? Eliminate tv and phone time maybe a couple hours before bedtime. Lower temp in your room. Sound machine. Eye blinders.

Don’t know if you’ve tried melatonin. It says not to take it every night but I do and have for several years. I take 30mg a night. I suggest trying 5 to start and move your way up if needed. I figured my body makes it so it can’t be that bad for me. If you do try it, try the brand Natrol. They have a quick dissolve tablet. That seems to work when others haven’t. Plus no grogginess in the morning. I can’t shut my mind off and this works for me

---

Team Zoot

Try Medical Marijuana. Will help with your nightmares and sleep.

Worked in a sleep lab for many years. My opinion is that we do not have enough information. What is your height/weight and BMI? Do you snore? Are you tired during the day? You have to rule out causes like sleep apnea etc before you look at other things. Talk to your Dr.

Typically as you get older your sleep efficiency gets worse, you may spend 9 hours in bed but only sleep for 8 where when you were younger in might have been 8.5/9.
Make sure that you practice good sleep hygiene, don't exercise to close to bed, etc.

I do not take melatonin, there is one side effect of very vivid and lucid dreams. Was really too bizarre for me.

I've lost weight, and don't want to put it back on :o

---

Be Uncommon

Dicks like you (pink).

Try CBD (Hemp....zero THC) I've been taking it for my shoulder, but it's definitely helped my sleep. I've taken melatonin for years, and for me, the affect is similar. Very deep sleep and not groggy when waking up. Although It's a little more difficult to get up (the sleep is that deep), but once I'm up, I'm alert and good to go.

I second this. Do you drink coffee, tea or soft drink? Simply cutting out all the caffeine can help you a lot with sleep. I fall asleep in a couple of minutes as soon as I hit the pillow and sleep like a baby for 7 to 8 hours. My body is so sensitive to caffeine, pre-workout drink, pain killers and whatnot. I can't sleep well if I take any of those after 12pm. One thing I noticed lately is if I do open water swim (about 1500 yard), I'm out!!! It makes me really tired and sleep really well. Everyone is different so you should try different things and figure out for yourself. Good luck!!!

30 mg!?!

I do not dream or remember them when I do not take melatonin. If I can't fall asleep I take 3mg and I fall asleep like a damn baby and have some crazy lucid dreams.

30 mg for me would be the same as dropping acid! Good lord haha

Stay off the drugs for now. Most (read 4 out of 5) people take WAY TOO MUCH melatonin. The recommended start quantities are in the tenths of mg with the max dose of 5 mg. The guy who takes 30 is using the wrong tool to fix the wrong problem. Period. Overdosing melatonin (over 5mg) will lead to DECREASED quality of sleep and increased irritability. Even though it's and OTC, check with your doctor on what they recommend.

Focus on SLEEP HYGIENE.

For me, the #1 cause of sleep disruption is/was light in the room. We're talking street lights, power LED indicators and cars driving past your window. any of that light hits your skin and you will rouse from sleep. Studies have shown that even a light blue light across the back of the knee while sleeping will be enough to rouse you out of deep sleep. Black out curtains WORK and so does a sleep mask.

#2 is sound. I can fall asleep and stay asleep for about 5 or 6 hours but I always always wake. This is not a bad thing. The idea that we need 8 hours uninterrupted is wishful thinking at best. Don't stress about waking up. Get up, go to the bathroom and get back in bed. I used to not be able to fall asleep again, but I've started putting ear plugs in and I have been getting a much higher late morning sleep than ever before. With the ear plugs I haven't slept as well into the morning since I was a teenager!

#3 is cooling. 65 degrees. having a cooling event on the skin helps to fall asleep as well. A quick shower will leave skin damp and evaporative cooling will kick start the sleeping process. Also getting into a cool bed will work the same trick. Calling back to the early morning wake up, I always pull the covers back when I get up so my body heat is able to dissipate so when I crawl back in bed it is cool and ready to send me back to sleep.

Finally, stabilize bedtime. For me, 36 male, getting to bed between 10 and 11 regardless of week or weekend is important. Shifting sleep every few days is a recipe for absolute disaster. No alarm needed on the weekends; I let myself sleep as much as I need which really isn't a lot more. Maybe an extra hour in bed over a work day.

Your body is a machine. If you can give it consistent input (stable light situation, stable temperature, stable noise situation, similar schedule) you will get better at sleeping. As with anything it takes practice and the more practice you have the better you get.

I've been on all kinds of sleep medication and what not and these tips work THE BEST FOR ME. Though worth remembering N=1! Good luck!! All the training in the world doesn't matter if your body cannot absorb the stress through rest and recovery.

I suggest you read "The Sleep Solution" by Dr. Chris Winter. Helped me a lot. Worst case, gives you something to do while you can't sleep at night.

Nobody mentioned unloading your “weapon”. Thought that was a gimme to help a man sleep. :)

Just wanted to say thanks for all the tips. I limit my coffee to 1 cup at 0530. I'll give that CBD a look see. A sleep mask would probably do me right too. Thx again.

---

Be Uncommon

https://www.youtube.com/...My3NUphK97Qsr2KYKPj4

Worth a shot

Just be careful with the CBD ~ it's still illegal in a lot of states and if you don't get the hemp-based kind then you are putting THC in your body.

I also wanted to comment because I also take melatonin and I found it fascinating that I have the same side effects as others on this post. I initially took 6mg (2 gummies) and I found it incredibly hard to wake up. Then groggy a good 20-30 minutes later. I adjusted that to only taking 3mg (as needed). I do experience a wonderful deep sleep all night and feel well rested afterwards. But I also have extremely violent nightmares when taking it.

You will get lots of advice here from armchair QBs. Mine is melatonin. I do 5mg each evening, about 30 minutes before bed, and find that my first few hours of sleep each night are much deeper.

With that said, there is a difference between sleep and rest in the endurance world. Yes, you need sleep. But if you are also "resting", giving your body some days off, not doing back-to-back-to-back hard days, that will help too.

ZimZam,

As a coach and athlete care. First thing I would need is a sleep study to figure out the issues on why you are having trouble sleeping. The body can work with less food and training, but it can not operate without a good amount of sleep. REM is key. I would say until you get the sleeping under control you should not add other things into your workouts as it can cause injury or other issues. Working out may fix your sleep issues, but I still feel a good sleep study will help much better than adding more training.

Coach #thelazysoldier

Read posts in LR ;) that should put u to sleep.

Danke.

---

Be Uncommon

Thanks. I'll let you know if it works.

---

Be Uncommon