aka i still don't know how to have the best sleep but at least i've made progress

[Goldleaf]

Hi everyone,

 

I previously posted how I bought a latex layer for my mattress and that solved my not-nice sleep problem..until I moved house.

 

But at least my sleep now is nowhere near to how bad it was before.  No bloody nose or painful diarrhea.

 

In this new house, I have struggled to have a good sleep.  I feel scared instead of confident, feel like hiding instead of taking on challenges.  The difference between sleeps is so vast!! 

 

I don't expect that anyone will know how to help me with this, especially given all I have tried and learnt.  But I hope at least you guys can help me gain some clarity about what to try / not try.

 

My gut instinct is that its an intolerance or allergy of some kind to the new room.  Once I leave the house for the day, I clear my nose a few times and feel like my throat is clogged with phlegm.  The room itself doesn't have a smell, but then again I should be able to smell something in the room shouldn't I?? I vacuum and clean my sheets regularly.  

 

The great advice you guys gave me before about not taking things too seriously has helped: i'm now doing volunteering twice a week and a yoga class and it feels great.  the days I do yoga I feel a bit more "nicely exhausted" and it might help me fall asleep quicker , but sleep quality is the issue.

 

I also went to a sleep study and had electrodes and I don't have sleep apnea.

 

My only other concern is that maybe these years of poor sleep, and past years of drugs and sex, plus overthinking and negative attitudes, have eroded my health so much that even a friggin molecule of dust might cause my body concern.  I sincerely hope not.  My acupuncturist says I am yin-deficient but he never says to what extent, but I know one thing: whenever I do acupuncture I feel deeply exhausted.  (And no have sex drive to speak of even though relatively young).  So the deep concern I have is that how can I restore my yin to strengthen my Wei Qi if I have trouble sleeping well in the first place.

 

I welcome all thoughts, however small.  I will compile these ideas plus the ideas from my last desperate thread on sleep and then distil them into another post and lets help many people who have or will have sleep problems.

 

[thelerner]

Congratulations on the yoga and volunteering.  That's great and will bear fruits.  Maybe save up for a yoga vacation.. places like the Sivananda Ashram on Paradise Island can be relatively inexpensive except for getting there.  Even if it takes years of little savings the expectation is also worth something.  And the secret of life is the small savings, or investments like the yoga classes and volunteering.  Little things done consistently make a difference.  One we often overlook.  The goal is getting better we used to be. 

 

Sleep, Food, exercise.. are the platform of health.  Sleep is hard cause worrying about it hurts.  I'm a lifelong insomniac and mostly no longer worry about it.  I'll try new things every now and then, but mostly at peace with it.  The best thing I can do is get out of bed, meditate or do something vaguely positive but not too stimulating.

 

Some things help for awhile.  Certainly long slow exercise helps, spray of lavender, no electronics an hour before hand.. stuff in every how to sleep article. 

 

Eating well and exercise can be easier, and done in small steps.  When lacking motivation, join a group.  It can help.  Just showing up is most of the battle. 

[Goldleaf]

Thanks for sharing, it was nice to read and I totally agree with all you have said.

 

Sorry to be greedy, but any other takers?>?

 

Is there anyone out there who has fantastic sleep every night, and would care to share, what bedding and mattress they use??  (I.e, worldly approaches).  

 

I know that sleep is individual, but at least having some unique perspective might give me additional options.

[silent thunder]

I normally wake without aches and pains in spite of working in construction/sculpting and propmaking for the last twenty odd years 50-70 hours a week.

 

My wife and I sleep on an airchamber mattress that sets on a wooden platform.  

I nap at work from time to time on lumber stacks, always on my back with a small rolled up blanket under my knees and neck.

 

At home at night, I sleep on my sides only, though when I nap mid-day, I sleep on my back in free fall pose.

 

At home, I have a rather elaborate system of pillows I use to keep my legs separated and in line with my hips, and to support and spread open and support my chest and shoulders to maintain good space in the lungs while maintaining a good line for the neck and spine.

 

I find myself going to bed far earlier as I approach 50 than I did any time previously in life.

I no longer fight it when I feel tired.  I hug my son and wife and bid them goodnight and head off to bed without hesitation.

 

Sleep is glorious.  I love her dearly and squirm with joy when I enter my bed sheets and begin my settling process.

 

There is another sleep thread around here that I recall had some good information.  Though the search engine on this site tends to mock me heavily whenever I try to use it... you may have better luck than I. 

 

 

[silent thunder]

some potentially useful info in this thread...

 

[silent thunder]

ok, done spamming now

[Goldleaf]

Thanks , silent!

 

I appreciate your efforts, truly.  I will now necro the sh*t out of these threads :PP

 

[Goldleaf]

Quote

airchamber mattress that sets on a wooden platform

 

If its not too much trouble , silent, would you mind taking a pic of this, along with the way you set up your pillows, just so I can understand?  If you value privacy you can always PM me or we can use dropbox via email, etc. 

[silent thunder]

sure thing mate... I'll grab some pics one evening when work lets out early and post them in this thread.

 

 

[Gerard]

OP,

 

You suffer from damp-heat after reading your post.

 

From a Chinese Medicine perspective is hard to treat and takes a long time. Herbs work a lot, lot better than needles which are quite ineffective at clearing this health condition. 

 

In the meantime here is some very helpful advice:

 

https://www.acupuncture-points.org/damp-heat-foods.html

 

Best!

[Goldleaf]

OP = Original Poster , for those like myself who weren't born from the 90s onwards

 

Yes thanks Gerard, I too have suspected I have a little of this and especially that I might have an overworked /undernourished spleen, so dampness and mucus ring true.  I have never heard that it is hard to treat or takes a long time though? ?  I know that yin and jing deficiency takes a long time.  But I didn't think that clearing heat and resolving dampness should be too difficult?  (Note: I am probably yin deficient as well!)  I might be splitting hairs, but I want the readers out there to know that no problem is too difficult to treat in Chinese Medicine!!  (Besides HIV which is at a genetic cellular level).

 

Having a job is said to nourish the spleen in Chinese Medicine, and I have one but its only part-time.  So ironically, it might be best to apply for full-time work (while studying), and do it all with my tired self, all so I can sleep better lol. 

 

The joy of a little sacrifice in life, of giving yourself when you think you have nothing left to give, but you still can, makes you marvel at life, and the human spirit!

[Marblehead]

To sleep without dreams and awaken without worries.

 

Isn't this the perfect sleep?

 

[Goldleaf]

Isn't life but a dream?  Perhaps, the dreams are more real?  Hahaha

 

No but seriously, there are 3 stages of sleep as you probably know: with the SWS stage being where you basically dead to the world and the REM stage where dreams occur.  I know taoists have said that sleep without dreams is "best" but personally I think in today's hyper-modern world, we need dreams, to help unravel so much input and stress that we choose to allow into our lives.  I think dreams can also being a source of inspiration / self-reflection, that make the day and life a bit more meaningful. 

[Marblehead]

10 minutes ago, Goldleaf said:

Isn't life but a dream?  Perhaps, the dreams are more real?  Hahaha

 

 

Yes, that has been seriously argued.  Personally, I don't accept that argument.

 

I haven't actually studied sleep/dreams but I like what you said in your second paragraph.

 

Perhaps it is true that life is becoming so complex that our conscious mind cannot deal with it and we need dreams to try to filter all the crap that gets in there during consciousness.

 

And I also agree that if we study our dreams we will find the roots of many of our "problems".

[silent thunder]

In memory all actions are equal... to me. 

 

When an experience manifests with a strong reaction, or reveals some aspect of myself, or my essential nature previously unknown, whether in the dream realms or the waking, then it has power and value in my path.  Dreams are so real when I'm in them, that there are times distinguishing them as 'not real' is not possible, until I wake up.  Only then do I look back and sigh and say "well, it was just a dream."  However, I no longer say that to myself...  for too many times, I have had experiences in dreams that revealed key aspects to my essential nature, that have brought about realizations and insights that have lasting, powerful resonant effects in my experience of true self.

 

Does it matter where the source of an experience came from, in the potential for that experience to reveal truth?

 

Any longer, I say no.  Dream experience and Waking experience are both often equal in memory, when dreams are vivid enough and recalled with clarity.  And if an experience can bring about insight and realization, then to me, it matters little to me, how solid the event was... *(particularly when waking life is proven to not be solid, or permanent )

 

I honor my dreaming life as I do my waking life... but I also only take that so far and don't worship either as ultimate truth, nor do either lend me a sense of absolute certainty in any way, other than to reinforce the one certainty that still remains with me...

 

i am aware.

 

Waking life to me, is more like a shared dream, than dreams are like individual fantasies of unreality.

 

 

[Rakiel]

'for the best night's sleep in the whole wide world, "visit" my pillow.com!'

 

 

[Marblehead]

I prefer my blankey.

 

 

[Starjumper]

When I had insomnia due to being overly jazzed with energy from my chi kung my teacher told me to take a tablespoon of whiskey ... and put it on a washcloth next to my pillow.

 

However I have a better way, smoke a big hairy joint an hour before bed time.

[Andrei]

The best sleep I ever had either with or without dreams is after I drink Reishi/Lingzhi mushroom (Ganoderma Lucidum) tea just before going to bed.

At a certain concentration I start having lucid dreams but at lower concentrations just knocks me down and sleep like a log with no memory. This dreamless sleep is the most resting and refreshing sleep.

https://g.co/kgs/wzrp3Z

 

 

[Lost in Translation]

On 4/4/2018 at 5:00 AM, Rakiel said:

'for the best night's sleep in the whole wide world, "visit" my pillow.com!'

 

 

 

Cute. I prefer a lumpy down pillow. It's nice to be able to scrunch a pillow into any shape. As down pillows age, they start pushing feathers out through the side. Sometimes my pillow's feathers poke me in the cheek, or in the eye. That's awesome. I really love my pillow. ;-)

[Goldleaf]

Your pillow loves you too

[Goldleaf]

On 4/6/2018 at 10:24 PM, Starjumper said:

When I had insomnia due to being overly jazzed with energy from my chi kung my teacher told me to take a tablespoon of whiskey ... and put it on a washcloth next to my pillow.

 

However I have a better way, smoke a big hairy joint an hour before bed time.

 

As long as you don't do it too often if you don't mind me sayin'. A loved one I know has been doing this, every night for most of his/her life, and they look so weak and their brain is slow and fuddled, I feel sorry for them.   I read a good article which I can't find now that long-term marijuana use drains the Lung Qi and then eventually the Yin Qi chronically.  Apparently if you reach a point where you feel like you are "swimming underwater", you have gone too far with your blazin'.  The danger of weed is that it lets you down easy.  You don't actually realise how much damage is done until you stop, and the drug is out of your system for awhile, and you can think clear again.

 

Why not try a hot cup of organic decaf coffee for your drug of choice.   Besides, nature, food, a good loving relationship, these are much, much better drugs, than weed, coke, or E, could ever be (and i've tried 'em all...)

[Kar3n]

On 4/6/2018 at 12:09 PM, Lost in Translation said:

 

Cute. I prefer a lumpy down pillow. It's nice to be able to scrunch a pillow into any shape. As down pillows age, they start pushing feathers out through the side. Sometimes my pillow's feathers poke me in the cheek, or in the eye. That's awesome. I really love my pillow. ;-)

I had an old down pillow I thought I couldn't sleep without. I kept waking up with tiny scratches on my face and neck. It took months for me to figure out it was the feathers in my pillow.

 

I loved it, but we had to part ways after it made me bleed.

[Goldleaf]

On 3/29/2018 at 2:49 AM, silent thunder said:

My wife and I sleep on an airchamber mattress that sets on a wooden platform.

 

Still eagerly awaiting pics.  (Of the mattress set up.  Not your wife.) XP

[MooNiNite]

work hard, sleep hard. 

 

I have been interested in latex mattress. It is supposed to be an all natural material if manufactured in such a way.

 

im thinking if it isnt an insulator, I could put grounding material under it and it will give best sleep ever. ever.