Posted by bluedog on February 23, 2003, at 0:42:41
In reply to Sleeping better WITHOUT sedating meds, posted by Tabitha on February 21, 2003, at 12:58:37
Hello Tabbycat
I'm in exactly the same boat as you and have also been struggling with my sleep cycle for years. I actually believe that working for a living and the times thay expect me to arrive for work in the morning goes completely against my natural sleep/circadian rythms. I actually believe that my natural sleep rythm is to go to bed around 1.00am to 2.00am in the morning and then getting out of bed at 9.30am to 10.00am in the morning. If I can stick to this rythm I function fine during my waking hours.
All those so called sleep meds and herbs were also INCREASING my difficulties of getting up in the morning (the difficulties I experience vary along a scale ranging from VERY difficult to impossible). Anyway, I still take my anti-anxiety meds like Valium and Valerian but because thay are long acting the latest I now take these meds is 2.00pm in the afternoon unless I know I don't have to get up the next day (like on the weekend). Also the latest I now take my magnesium supplements is around dinner time say between 6.00pm and 7.00pm. These small steps have assisted me in my daily struggle to get out of bed on workdays.
By the way my personal advice is to be VERY careful about melatonin supplements. Other than the fact that they completely knocked me out, melatonin is actually a HORMONE that is naturally produced by your pituitary gland (located deep in your brain) as soon as it gets dark and floods your body with melatonin until it gets light again when the production shuts off. Taking melatonin supplements is actually the equivalent of the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that doctors have been prescribing for years for menopausal women. And we all know the dangers that are only now coming to light about the dangers of HRT.
There is NOWHERE enough evidence out there yet that taking melatonin supplements is actually safe (it's just another form of HRT really) NOT that the manufactures who are pushing these so called natural pills will ever let you know that.
Thanks for your post...very interesting!!!! In summary you might not have problems with your sleep cycle at all but are simply in a job that forces you to fight against your natural circadian rythm.
warm regards
bluedog
poster:bluedog
thread:202510
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030219/msgs/202988.html