Just making a note, more for my own reference than general news.
I have not slept a full night, even with sleep aids, in the past month. I wake up around 2:30 or 3 a.m. and I am awake until 5 at the earliest, sometimes I never get back to sleep. I don't seem stressed-there's not some worry that creeps in and keeps me awake-my thoughts are all over the place. I am actually so tired my eyes burn, I have rubbed off about a quarter of my eyelashes (I hardly had any to spare to start with) because my eyes itch/burn most of the day.
I have not had caffeine of any kind in 6 weeks. I don't eat chocolate often and never after about 3 in the afternoon. I eat at least 2.5 hours before I go to bed. I do 40 crunches just before bed, but I have been doing that for several months and I do fall asleep fairly quickly. I usually run my last stint on the treadmill just after dinner, so 2 hours before bed.
I have tried melatonin and Valerian root, which do help with falling to sleep within 20 minutes of getting into bed. But I still wake up. I have tried Calms Forte with the same results. I can not get back to sleep at the 3 a.m. point even if I take more, though I usually fall asleep a few hours later, around 5 or 6 and sleep until 9.
On nights that I do not fall back to sleep, I am averaging 4 hours of sleep.
This happens often enough that I am aware it's a cycle of some kind. But I usually have 10 days to 2 weeks of bad sleep followed by the same stretch of generally good rest. I still wake, but am able to fall back to sleep within 20 minutes, often much less. This has been going on twice as long as normal.
