Sleeping Troubles

Student Lounge College Life
1

Hello all, I am posting to see if I could get some help with my sleeping habits.

I am a busy student (what student isnt though let’s be real) who needs a lot of sleep to avoid having headaches and being so tired during the day. I’m taking 17 credit hours this week (I have three classes a day) and I work 8 hours a week. My MWF start at 9am, but Tuesday and Thursday I open for work, meaning I have to be there at 8:30am. So all of my mornings are pretty early.

I try to wake up at 7:30am, and I have a wrist alarm that goes off (fitbit) at 7am first. I find myself dragging myself out of bed late, pushing 7:45 and even closer to 8am at times.

I like going to bed early, but it’s not too fashionable to do so at my school. My roommate comes back late most nights and I don’t want to inconvenience her by having her be quiet at night when she’s winding down. I also have noisy neighbors and a noisy hall in general. Quiet hours aren’t enforced too heavily, unfortunately. I also live close to the bathroom and am in one of the first rooms of the hall, meaning that there’s almost always noise in front of it.

When I’m going to bed, I do my night routine and have some relaxation time in bed, watch a couple of videos and scroll through the social media I missed while being in class/work. I wear a sleep mask and bluetooth headphones when I sleep, and I sleep with music to mask out the outside noises of being in a dorm.

Lately (aka the past couple of weeks) I’ve been relying on Advil PM to sleep. I do have leg pains so it takes care of that, but it also helps me feel tired enough and get deeper sleep. I would sleep deeply and wake up around 4am, but then go back to sleep and wake up groggy when my alarm goes off. It’s not perfect, but I got the deep sleep that I had been craving.

However I’ve not taken it for the past couple of days and have had trouble sleeping and mostly staying asleep. The stuff says it’s not habit forming and I want to believe it but I also want to keep a healthy liver :frowning: napping during the day depends on which day so I can’t rely on it if I’m waking up at all the same times.

does anyone have some advice for me, or sleeping advice in general? It would be most appreciated :slight_smile: I really need to get some good sleep. If you need more detail I can gladly supply some more background.

2

I forgot to mention something vital about the advil pm: it gives me terrible nightmares! That is also a pretty big deterrent for me taking them, I don’t like/need to wake up in a cold sweat every night :frowning:

3

First of all, advil pm maybe too strong for you. It definitely is for me and makes me super groggy. Once I slept over 12 hours and had to miss school in high school (I thought it was regular advil lol). Try some over the counter sleep aid or z quill. Next, it is totally not unreasonable to make your roommate AT LEAST be quiet after 11/12. My roommate and I live on different schedules as well, but I’m sure to be quiet when she wants to go to bed.

Also, there are some nighttime teas on amazon that I heard work really well.

4

You might try using a fan or white noise instead of music for masking noises; I find music, especially with lyrics, distracts me and keeps me awake. White noise masks other sounds without keeping you awake, and if you use headphones it also allows your roommate to be less cautious moving around you after you go to bed.
I know it’s hard in the age of distraction and social media, but try limiting your screen time within the hour before bed. The light of the screen is a type that keeps you alert, not to mention all the emotional content on social media that can wind you up! If you really must look at your phone or laptop during the time you’re winding down to sleep, use a nighttime light setting that has more reddish colors in it. It sounds weird to say that makes a difference but it does.

Also! Make sure you’re eating healthy. I was having weird sleep cycle issues when I arrived back at school for this semester, feeling like I was falling asleep at 3 PM and then waking up at 2 AM. I started taking an iron supplement, and poof! my problem quickly subsided.

5

Try good ear plugs instead of headphones. Don’t do sleep aids, especially at young age. Try valerian root instead. And if you need to go to bed early, it’s your right and it’s reasonable to ask your roommate to stay quiet. Maybe you can try to switch roommates and find somebody with the same sleep patterns if nothing else works?
I don’t know what your leg pains are from, but if this isn’t serious you should do physical therapy instead of advil.

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  1. Advil PM -- ick. I've tried it too and it's very strong. It also gives me nightmares. It's not natural sleep. No wonder you're exhausted and cranky.
  2. Exercise -- I know you're busy but for me to get good sleep I need to exercise regularly. Get up, exercise (minimum of 30 minutes), then eat breakfast. Religiously. Because I found it helps my mind -- not just sleep, but calms me for the day and makes me feel optimistic. No matter the angsty problem I had before running, after running it's manageable. or at least more so. Exercise could be a 30-min walk or run, or biking (some campuses have bikeshares or borrow a friend's bike) or swim or head to the gym or yoga on youtube or in a class. Whatever works for you. Just make sure that you get in that 30+ minutes a day. You will be happy you did this when you're 65 too, because you will still be slim and you will be younger-looking. No joke.
  3. Noise machine -- it will be the best $50 you'll ever spend. Make sure that you get the ones that therapists use. It's not electronic sound, it's air swooshing. The difference between it and a fan is that there's no wind blowing aruond your room in the winter . . . .and it's smaller. Dohm Sound Conditioner.
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Thank you all for taking the time to reply to me!

First, @goatgirl19 I may try white noise. I do remember trying to do thunderstorms one night, but it didn’t muffle out the noise as much as music that I knew would have. I sleep with wireless headphones since my roommate needs the room completely dark and silent to sleep. that includes fans/noise machines. My phone goes to night mode and it reddens the colors at 8pm every night, and my computer goes into its own nightmode around 6 or 7pm, earlier than when i would be going off to bed. I’m vegetarian so there isn’t much food choices for me to eat on campus. I’ve also been eating less, not sure if it’s from stress or just not having time (probably both). But thank you, I’ve looked into various supplements but I wasn’t ever sure which i should be taking.

@yucca10 I have considered ear plugs. They give some out for free in the library for people who need absolute silence to study (but who says I can’t swipe some for my own use). However, they make me worry that I’ll miss my alarm. This is already my second roommate (which is another thread) and i like my roommate that I have now. She had 8ams three times a week last semester, so she should be a little more understanding than someone who had a 12pm on Mondays. But she doesn’t seem as tired as i was when she died. I have arthritis in my knee, which is the source of pain. I’ve aggravated it by walking around campus so much and working out too hard/often. And I don’t always wear my brace when I should :stuck_out_tongue:

@Dustyfeathers I love to exercise, but I either don’t have the proper time (I don’t like to rush through my exercises) and it’s what caused my knee to get as painful as it is. which was why i was taking the advil, and now it’s a bit of a cycle. I don’t have the time/luxury of waking up to workout. the gym is open before i wake, but getting an early morning shower and changing clothes with a roommate sounds tough. i would likely wake her. I worked out for 1.5-2 hours each day for about five/six days a week. I’ve gone down to once a week now, if even that. and it’s all cardio since I can’t do squats or anything with my knee. And I’d love to get a white noise machine, but i don’t think my roommate would be able to sleep with it on. She needs complete dark and silence in the room.

8

Buy ear plugs and google “sleep hygiene.” Taking Advil pm nightly is not ideal; I don’t think Advil is great for your stomach. There are other medications that are non-habit forming for sleep, like Trazedone or Clonidine.

9

Also, I bought my nephew a very loud alarm clock from Amazon that also vibrates his bed. I think I googled “loudest alarm clock.” He can hear it through his ear plugs.

10

@Emsmom1 I can’t have a loud alarm clock I’ll wake up my roommate. Also, my alarm clock (phone) not only stays on my desk, but I don’t have anything that can rest on my bed.

11

On weeknights I think it’s reasonable to ask your roommate to be quiet at least after midnight, if not earlier.

12

There are alarm clocks that only vibrate, so you wouldn’t wake up your roommate.

13

I don’t know if your school would allow this, but try looking into a dehumidifier. If you are in a humid place, it can be a ticket to a comfortable night’s rest.

14

I told a friend about the vibrating alarm clock and she recommended I put it under my pillow. I’m a restless sleeper so I may end up knocking the alarm clock to the floor as I sleep. I also have a vibrating alarm on my wrist but I’ve learned to turn it off in my sleep :frowning:

My school sadly does not allow dehumidifiers.

My roommate is generally quiet. She isn’t the problem, it’s the young women around me (in front of and beside). Dorm room walls are thin.

15

Have you tried melatonin? My D takes an extended release pill at night.

16

Taking Advil PM regularly isn’t good for you. It’s very hard on your stomach - I got a bleeding ulcer from taking a couple every night for a few weeks because of shoulder pain. Was not a fun experience and I spent the night in the hospital.

I believe they’ve also figured out that it can cause cardiac problems.

The sleep aid in it Is just Benadryl, but they’ve also discovered that that can contribute to cognitive decline and dementia! I know you’re young, but the medical community is learning that a lot of drugs that were considered safe in the past can have negative effects that don’t become a problem until later in life.

I do think the suggestions for exercise (maybe swimming?), melatonin starting with a low dose, and no screen time an hour before bed are good. No caffeine or any other stimulants should be used for at least three or four hours before bed - even chocolate. Finally the room should be cool. Studies have shown that cool is better than warm for sleeping.

Sleep problems are frustrating. I hope you figure out something that helps.

17

I second trying melatonin, one of my Ds has found it to be helpful. I have a husband who sometimes snores and I have found that I can still hear my alarm with ear plugs in.

18

There are a few simple solutions. Download a white noise app on your phone. For an even better effect, you could plug in earbuds. You’ll be “deaf” all night :slight_smile: Of course, you might not hear your fit bit in the morning…no problem :slight_smile: Use your phone’s alarm instead. The alarm will stop the white noise and ring whether you’re wearing earbuds or not.

19

well @coolguy40 I have used white noise with my bluetooth over-the-ear headphones. It slips off (i wear a bonnet to bed and am a pretty restless sleeper) but it works to put me to bed. The headphones also don’t play all night, the battery doesn’t last that long. My alarm goes off either way.

20

I have to say the bonnet idea is super cute! You could strap your phone to your wrist with one of those wrist straps for runners, then plug in wired earbuds to your phone and scotch tape the wires to your arm. You can get a very long extension cord from your phone charger to the power outlet, so this way it’s charging Just don’t use duck tape. That’ll hurt :slight_smile: You might look like a cyborg with a bonnet, but you’ll sleep better.