Paul's swimming blog

Nothing is more of a downer than a vicious bout of insomnia. My empathy and sympathy. Turn the TV off, sleep alone if you have to, eliminate caffeine, relax before bedtime and take drugs if necessary in the short term.

I feel your pain Paul. I can't remember the last time I had 6-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. I usually wake up hourly after sleeping 2-3 hours. Sometimes, like this morning, I wake up around 4 and cannot go back to sleep. I usually get up and go swim when the pool opens at 6:00. This morning, instead of swimming, I shovelled the 8" of snow that fell last night, off the walks and driveway.

Sleep is becoming a real issue. Getting to sleep, staying asleep for more than an hour, waking up not feeling like death on toast. I have so far not worked out Monday morning, not swam Tuesday morning, not worked out Wednesday morning. This is really starting to seriously bug me and might actually start a descending cycle. I NEED SLEEP!!!! Paul Your body is going through some serious changes right now. Your metabolic rate is going into warp drive, and this will effect your sleep patterns, and there isn't an easy way around this. Take naps if you can, and drink lot's of tea. Camomile at night, and rooibos during the day, add a table spoon of Essiac into each. Also, make sure to eat properly during the day, frequent smaller meals... Stay away from coffee, if you need to perk up, have earl grey tea instead... If you still can't sleep after a few days of this, try having a jet bath for 30 minutes before bed... Best Regards, Jonathan

Once again, sleep or lack of it, hit me this morning. So I did the evening workout. 10 Jan 2008 8pm SCM with team 400 swim, 150 kick, 150 pull w/u 6x50 Free on :55 4x25 Fly on :30 2x75 IM on 1:30 6x50 Free on :55 4x25 back on :35 2x75 IM on 1:30 6x50 Free on :55 4x25 Br on :35 2x75 IM on 1:30 4x50 Free on :55 100 w/d 2650m Now, I was really sore from yesterday's workout so I dogged the 25s and 75s BUT I went real strong on all the 50s and was clipping along at 34-35 seconds per. I was really focused on long strong pulls and was hitting the same mark on the flip turn on every rep. Was hitting a good streamline and breaking out past the flags every time. I felt really good on every 50, even the later ones when I was starting to tire. All in all I'm very pleased with this one. One of the better level of efforts that I have put together. Paul

Paul, get yourself some pills to help with the insomnia. Melatonin works pretty well. Diphenhydramine is a sedative and it can give you a bit of hangover, but it will really knock you out if you need it. Ha, ha, ha. No way. This stuff doesn't work for a bad or ongoing case of insomnia. Only for some mild stuff. If you want to go the pill route, and it's not bad for a short term fix, get some ambien. Do not get Lunesta -- doesn't work as well and that stupid butterfly commercial makes me ill.

If you've never taken OTC stuff, it might work. I'm assuming you have. I think people in their 40s also are different. For me, OTC stuff never works. Benadryl gives you a worse hangover effect than ambien. If you don't want to use drugs and the sleep issue becomes chronic, you can use the mayo clinic's behavioral conditioning system to snap yourself out of it. It's a very tough fix; I've done it myself. Check out this prior thread from my draculina twin: forums.usms.org/showthread.php

Sleep - My father told me for twenty five years he could not go to sleep. He visited me for 4 months every year from 1978 til he passed. I used to find him cat napping during the day. I would wake him up and ask him if he was sleeping. He would come out of this deep sleep and say (no just restin me eyes). Could it be we don't need all of that night time sleep.

Paul, get yourself some pills to help with the insomnia. Melatonin works pretty well. Diphenhydramine is a sedative and it can give you a bit of hangover, but it will really knock you out if you need it.

Not everybody responds the same way. Paul could be the sort of person who responds well to the OTC stuff, and it's a worth a shot if it's bothering him. My brother uses diphenhydramine a few times a week, and he's been doing well with it.

Behavioral conditioning for insomnia? How does that work? Personally, I don't always sleep well. An OTC sedative-hypnotic will just plain knock me out for at least 8 hours.