Don't go to bed till around 11:30 am or 12 midnight usually. I know sleep is important.
Can someone tell me how much sleep would be enough or 'good'? I'm thinking that consistently getting the amount of sleep I am getting might be holding me back or making my recovery slower.
lymeHerx001
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posted
I get about 6 or 7 hours. Anything after that and I get very depressed if not suicidal.
I cannot oversleep.
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Ocean
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I don't know that there is an exact number, but do you feel rested when you get up in the morning?
I've been trying to go to bed by 10 or 11 and sleep until my body wakes me up to heal my adrenals. Adrenals heal the best from 10 pm-1am and also like it if you sleep til 9. Last night I didn't go to bed til after midnight and got up at 8:30, but the past few days I slept until 9 or 10. I'm currently not working and my husband is a software engineer and gets to work from home, so when my 5 year old or 2 year old gets up, he can get them around for me. We both want me to be able to heal sooner rather than later.
That being said. Before my last relapse (didn't know I had Lyme), I was working 7 pm to 7 am as an RN and sometimes I would work 7 pm to 11 am. I was sleeping about 4 -6 hours per day and after several months of this (and being pregnant) I started getting panic attacks again (adrenal sign I think).
So I believe sleep IS very important, however if you feel rested throughout the day, then maybe you are doing what is right for your body.
posted
My doctor insists that you need about 8 hours of DEEP sleep. (Alpha I think).
If you sleep lightly you will have a tough time getting well according to him.
I take two muscle relaxers as well as ambien to ensure i sleep deeply since I was a light sleeper.
Both my wife and I noticed a benefit to this.
In fact my wife is currently going through a stage where she can no longer sleep more than 5 hours and she is slowly getting sicker by the day.
I think at least 7-8 hours should be the absolute minimum to promote good healing
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randibear
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sleep is a real problem for me. i get a couple of hours then wake up for 1/2 hour or so, then maybe an hour or so, wake up, and this goes on all night long.
finally about 5-6 i start sleeping good, and dang, mike gets up and wakes me up....
i'm so tired of not being able to sleep......
i'll have to ask doctor for renewal of ambien....
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Lauralyme
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posted
I can tell my body need 9 hours of sleep. I agree with others here that 7-9 hours of sleep would be the best.
Sweet dreams
-------------------- Fall down seven times, get up eight ~Japanese proverb Posts: 1146 | From west coast | Registered: Mar 2008
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Keebler
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The article starts out: ``You should awaken each morning fully rejuvenated.''
Well, quite frankly, with lyme that is an unrealistic expectation. but a nice goal. Still, trying for the best sleep hygiene we can will pay off - everyone needs sleep. I would try to study all night (long ago) when in college. But I'd be a zoombie by day. Oops! That late night quiet is so enticing but that really set me up with bad habits.
Sleep and Rejuvenation by Dr. Benjamin Friedrich - April 1, 1995
You should awaken each morning fully rejuvenated. But what if sleeping is haphazard, light, and offers little deep relaxation! Premature aging will result.
One of the keys to life extension is the ability of the body to rest soundly for approximately eight hours a night. During this period of sleep, the body repairs itself both physiologically and psychologically.
Indeed, sleep deprivation is believed to be one of the causes of premature aging. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reported earlier this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that melatonin brings on sleep within five to six minutes.
Up until a decade or so ago, health researchers and medical practitioners believed that the pineal body, a tiny endocrine gland in the brain, was victim to evolution and served no purpose at all in the human body.
Now, doctors know better. The pineal gland produces melatonin. There is mounting evidence that aging and insure that the human body receives its needed rest.
Reddish in color and shaped like a pine cone, the pineal body is located near the center of the brain. Linked to the eyes via the hypothalamus, the pineal gland is extremely sensitive to the light-dark cycle.
Dr. Richard J. Wurtman, professor of neuroscience at MIT, points out that earlier studies have associated high nighttime levels of melatonin with sleep, and showed that older individuals with chronic sleeplessness usually show much less melatonin in their bodies at night than do young people.
They also age more quickly. The catch, of course, is that as a person grows older, the pineal gland produces less and less melatonin.
An 85-year-old produces only 5% of the melatonin of a 25-year-old, when secretion is at its greatest. So with increasing age, there is less melatonin to support body functions and insure a sound, restful, and rejuvenating sleep. Researchers believe it is these decreasing levels of melatonin that make sleep difficult as some people grow older.
A limited number of companies have made this powerful sleep-inducing hormone available to the public.
Generally, the user should take about fourl to six mg one-half hour before sleep is desired.
Many experts believe that melatonin is the most powerful and safe sleep-inducing substance now available. Sleep, when deep and relaxed, rejuvenates.
Melatonin is a key hormone, available to consumers, for inducing this relaxed state. Reprinted with permission from Journal of Longevity Research, Health Quest Publications, February 1995.
Editor's Note: Many melatonin products carry a warning against use by those under 25 years of age. Order Melatonin
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[ 29. October 2008, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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posted
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For someone who needs to recover from illness, at least 8-9 hours. Getting to bed by 10 pm is best. The liver detoxes overnight and needs your body to be still to do its best job.
Cellular repair also happens during sleep. Miss sleep and you miss out on needed repair, according to researchers.
Keeping light out of the eyes for at least an hour before going to bed helps a lot. Light low enough to read is okay, but the bright lights (especially of TV and computer) being turned off, turns on the brain to get ready for sleep.
If you only get so much sleep at night, can you get a regular good sleeping nap in during the day?
Liver support can help sleep be better quality, too. If the body is overwhelmed with toxins sleep is often compromised.
I forgot all about this until yesterday, actually. When I used this, I found it to be wonderful and safe for the liver:
www.prohealth.com is a good place to search articles and products, too.
Magnesium and B-6 (P5P) are very helpful to settle down the excitatory NMDA receptors (that wired, but tired cycle). Magnesium also helps to relieve pain.
Melatonin, too, is helpful for some. Start VERY low dose.
And, all that said, it's the hardest thing for me to do, this getting to bed before midnight. I know my adrenals are messed up but I have to become more disciplined, too. I enjoy some of the late night television "company" but have just discovered that I can see clips of some of that the next day on computer.
No doubt about it, sleep is one of the most important keys to recovery. I hope you find it gets easier for you with the time change coming up this weekend. Each year at this time, I vow to do better settling down earlier.
Rest, as needed during the day, is also important to healing, as is gentle exercise - it can help the quality of sleep, too.
As a sleep aid, valerian is sometimes evaluated in combination with hops ( Humulus lupulus) and/or lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) In the book Herbal ...
The meeting of yin and yang creates a peaceful serene state, which is sleep. If the yin is deficient and unable to receive the yang, or the yang is in ...
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And a Google search for: "Sleep hygiene" brings up some wonderful articles. A few of those:
These tips are also known as "Sleep Hygiene." Sleep only when sleepy. This reduces the time you are awake in bed. If you can't fall asleep within 20 minutes ...
This test is designed to evaluate your general level of sleep hygiene. ... Take the Sleep Hygiene Test and find out if your bedtime behavior enhances your ...
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[ 29. October 2008, 02:30 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
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Keebler
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posted
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You can read much more about sleep issues specific to lyme in Singleton's book:
This book, by an ILADS member LLMD, holds great information about pharmaceutical and complementary treatments:
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
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