I've been retired going on ten years or so an never had a problem going to sleep until a month or so.It's not uncommon for me to not fall asleep for several hours and I'm now considering asking my doc for some prescription meds as the OTC ones I have tried don't seem to let me get fully awake the following AM regardless of my caffeine intake.

You ???

Cbd oil is your friend. At least try melatonin a few hours before bedtime.

Can't help as I'm one of the blessed ones that can barely remember going to bed. Exercise regimen?

Exercise much?

How active are your compared to 1,3,5 years ago.

Try natural as much as you can first.

melatonin is hit and miss for me but oddly scalded milk works a tad better. Gonna go the Rx route I suspect.

Pretty sedentary now compared to years ago but PE never factored much in my sleep. Stoke from years ago and getting older really [bleep] up my PE and hunting activity lately. Blows big time.

Dosage/source ?

Thanks, doc.

Same boat here.Four back surgeries is my excuse.Melatonin works for me,with an occasional Benadryl.Heard some interesting escapades from folks on the Ambien train.Don't think I need any of that...

Agreed. Once you start jacking with what you're body produces naturally, it seems to turn into a game of whack-a-mole with side-effects.

I don't know about your situation 284, but anxiety or even just being excited about something can keep me awake half the night. Also if I'm not burning enough calories during the day I am wound up at bedtime. Tell you one thing for the last three weeks Nyquil has saved my bacon. Slept all night while I had the flu.

Ambien is baad mojo

Warm milk has tryptophan which may be helpful or perhaps melatonin.

I've been taking warm / scalded milk nightly for years. I think somehow that I've created something of an addiction to it as if I miss a night sleep in any amount is impossible.

Lunesta

Turkey samich right before bed?

Sorry, never had that problem. The wife and I will sometimes be talking in bed, if she stops for 30 seconds or so I'm out.

X2 for Lunestra

I take some “calm”. It’s some sort of supplement my wife got. It’s a magnesium supplement. I sleep hard for 7 hours with it. Pretty good for me.

Almost forgot. Really good sex? So maybe a younger sharper girlfriend.

Nooooo....
Dont do the scripts...
Try z quil... works for me.
Last resort, smoke some pot.
But, stay away from the meds.
I tried that route 5years ago.
Almost got addicted to them. After a surgery, got out, and went fishing, shooting, and got fresh air, and even went back to work !!
Been off work 3 months now for back fusion. Z quil is working.

Melatonin gives me bad night mares. No way on that. No way I would take any prescriptions for that issue.

Z quil will work

Acetaminophen pm is what I use, the active ingredient is Benedryl, so you could use that too.

DON'T BUMP UP THE NUMBER OF TABLETS IF YOU TRY Acetaminophen. Stay with 2.

25mg of CBD is all I need. I like it better than melatonin.

I've had good success with Trazodone (50 mg I think) and time-released Melatonin. Also, are you getting enough magnesium?

Jack off and eat a bologna sandwich, that’s pretty good nap medicine.

Wash hands though, you filthy bastards.

If you eat cheetos everyone will know.

I don't drink alcohol (hooch, or beer) anymore been almost 2 years but a couple of months ago i tried wine. Couldn't think of it for recreation purposes but it knocks my azz out on those evenings with lots of "normal " (?) worries .coffee cup full or almost and I'm out. Not the healthiest solution but it works for me. During the day I drink hot valerian tea to sort of keep the edge off. Best of luck hope you get some sleep. Keep working. Tire yourself out

I have a prescription for Restoril. It is one of the benzodiazepines. I take one every 4 or 5 days, as needed. The prescription is for 90 pills. That is renewable, but the one lasts me all year.

I had a hard time last night, be a long day today

Stay the heck away from Ambien and don't take any naps during the day.

Ambien is bad for you! I think it caused my brother in law to kill himself.

I drink black tea right up to bedtime, often two quarts within the last 1.5 hours, & sleep like a baby. However, eat protein (eggs, chicken, etc) within two hours of bedtime & I will do the "Crappie flop" all night long.

No sleep is hell if you have to go to work!

I remember seeing a bumper sticker that said......Pud Pounders Sleep Better.

When in doubt, whip it out!!

Get a reputable CBD take a 1/4 ml and work up to where you feel it working and a cup of blueberries at night!

D,

Try melatonan. Start with 2.mg at bedtime. Go up to 5 mg. Improves sleep quality in most everybody.
J

How much is your caffeine intake, and how late in the day?

I try to water up during the day, drink little after 4:00 pm

Going to sleep isn't my problem. I usually conk right out. My problem is staying asleep on the other end. I wake up for the 4am pee and I'm awake for the duration.

Drinking ..will add to no sleep

Stay away from Ambien, Lunesta or any of the benzodiazepines except as a last resort. You can become dependent really easily and when you stop taking them the sleeplessness comes back worse than before you started. No tv or computer screens of any kind for at least an hour before bed makes a big difference. Also take a pure l-theanine supplement 2 hours before bed and melatonin an hour before bed if necessary. My neurologist gave me that combination and it seems to work well.

Some people have problems with ambien, others have none. I take 5mg ambien nightly. Immediately fall asleep. I don't have any of the problems associated with ambien. I guess I'm lucky. Ymmv

I will 2nd the CBD it has really helped me. I use a product called Naturulz CBD, Ugli Butter ( night) (Don't buy the Daytime). I buy it at BIG R farm store. It is a cream and I use it on my hands and knee for arthritis, but the 2nd effect is it lets you sleep and with no hangover.
All the prescriptions I have tried and OTC meds gives me a hangover and groggy feeling the the AM

Straight CBD oil didn't seem to help much.
Your really have to watch on buying any of it as there is lot of snake oil with no CBD in it out there

Stay away from the prescription drugs if you can. My ex wife was taking those and they made her crazier than a schit house rat. She tried a few different ones and they all made her loopy. She’d wake up talking nonsense like she was still dreaming and then sleep through whatever she had scheduled the next morning.
A glass of whiskey followed by a glass of water works well for me and don’t make me any crazier than I normally am.

Before or after you eat the bologna sandwich?

I drink a glass of cold milk an hour before bedtime.I am very sensitive to sounds at night so use white noise as a background and sleep like a baby.

I take an Advil PM on occasion and that seems to help me sleep through the night.

Love to sleep, nine solid hours last night.

Jack off on the sandwich first!

Beat me to it! When restless at bedtime, good sex always helps sleep after! The best sleeping pill in the world!

Special sauce.

These sleeping threads come up pretty often. I don't have a problem with going to sleep or staying asleep but my wife and practically all her family does. They have tried about all the remedies listed by posters here with varying degrees of success.
Some of them are pretty active and some sedentary.

These people struggle to get to sleep and once they get there they stay in bed till they wake up.

What I've wondered is this: Can you control how you go to sleep by controlling when you get up? It seems obvious from the struggle these people go through that you can't force yourself to go to sleep but you can, however, force yourself to get up.

If you force yourself to get up at a regular time even though you don't have all the sleep you need, will the accumulated tiredness let you go to sleep closer to the time you need to?

Been taking it long? I thought it was highly addictive. A good friend started sleep walking when the was taking it. We were fishing at South Padre and he graduated to sleep walking/driving. He left to go home at about 4:00 am (we didn't know he was leaving). He crossed the center line just south of Laredo and hit another vehicle head on. He didn't remember the accident and didn't know where he was. He called us from the hospital.

I sleep best when I keep regular hours, stay up on my feet all day, walk or work when I get home, stay off sodas and tea after 3:00 pm. I didn’t sleep well last night because I slept late, took afternoon nap. I’ll be fine tonight.

I'm usually in the same camp, wake up to pee and have a hard time falling asleep. Last night I took a Nyquil and went to bed at 10:30. Got up at 10am today! First time I've slept that late in 30-40 years!

I'm one of those in the hard to stay asleep categories. I get to sleep quickly and easily, for the most part, but then I also often wake up from a few to a lot often, too.

Since I've been doing the keto thing, I've stayed asleep better. Not sure why, other than my appetite is more easily satisfied, so that I don't over-eat.

Last night was a good example. I fell asleep nearly immediately after going to be around 10 PM I woke up 3 hours later at 1AM. I had problems getting back to sleep but once I did around 2AM, I slept until 6:10. That's about the best I usually get.

Don't you listen. Like I said, a new girl friend.

My left hand don’t work too good for that.

Glycine.....a natural amino acid. Melatonin can work well but becomes addictive. You're body will quit making its own. I take 4000mg of glycine and I find it helps getting and staying asleep.

On the exercise front. Don't know what medical or physical limitations you have, but walking may be an option and more effective than you might think. If possible, try to work up to at least 30 minutes and 45 minutes or more would be better. But if you've been really sedentary, gradually build up on distance or time. Don't have to go all out to start. Eventually, you might do both a morning and evening walk as well. Since you're retired, time and schedule shouldn't be a constraint.

On melatonin, less might be more. Instead of a full 5 mg or 3 mg dose, try breaking a 3 mg pill in half and taking 1.5 mg 30 minutes before bedtime with maybe a little warm milk. Other OTC option is Benadryl (Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride). With any sleep aid, try smaller doses first and probably best to not take them every night to avoid dependency. Use sleep aids as little as possible. Not a doctor, but have dealt with insomnia. I'd emphasize the exercise. The body is meant to move to stay healthy and once that is ceded, it's a downhill trip where you'll be boxed in by medical options only.

Good luck.

I cut a 10 mg amitriptylene in half (5mg) It does not knock me out, it just lets me fall asleep. No groggy feeling in the morning. I'm good for 6 hours of sleep. if I do the full 10 mg I am a total waste in the morning. 5mg works just fine.

kwg

I'm in the same boat a several of you guys. I can't sleep laying down because of a neck problem. Sleeping in a recliner is getting old. I can't use my C pap because I can't keep my mouth closed in a recliner. One thing leads to another. I wonder about those "Purple" mattresses, but I'd hate to spend that much and find it was a bust. All I know is sleep is no fun any more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5dE25ANU0k

which brand , i can't take Benedryl .

this mirrors my experience as well. ^^^^^

Also, you need to spend your day doing things that make you physically and mentally tired.

The last thing you want to do is take drugs for it, except something like naproxen if you have physical pain or discomfort. The only prescription drug I would take for it is oxycodone and then it's kind of weird sleep.

are you on prescription drugs for anything else, anything that may have the side effect of keeping you awake? if so, maybe you need to look for a different one or change your dosage schedule.

Take a walk after dinner?
Better than watching network news...Those bozos will keep anyone awake worrying about what has happened to the likes of Walter Cronkite....

About once a month I take a half of a Flexoral, 30 minutes later I'm done for 8 hours. Normally I wake up every hour or so.

284LUVR: Try going "cold turkey" on the caffeine!
I have been blessed in my 72 years of living for being able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat and in the most uncomfortable of places!
That was true up until about 5 years ago when incessant knee pain kept me awake, woke me up and made it hard to go to sleep - never did try "sleeping medications" maybe I should have.
Got a full "knee-replacement" two years ago and I am back to MY normal instant sleep habits.
Are you troubled (even slightly) by any pains?
I know exactly how frustrating and tiring it is to be unable to sleep - I feel your pain there.
Try the ZERO caffeine and if that doesn't solve things in 3 or 4 weeks go to the Doctor for help - it will aid your overall health with better sleep.
Best of luck to you in solving this.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Went to sleep too early, wide awake at 2:00 am

How was the sandwich with your extra sauce? 😂😬😎

Didn’t help!

Yes. Most of the time, watching a rerun that you've seen many times before is helpful, especially if you make an attempt to follow the plot carefully while in bed.