Melatonin FTW
Jun. 23rd, 2011 06:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkyI've had trouble sleeping, pretty much all my life. Molly seems to have inherited this trait from me as evidenced by our numerous 2am and 3am bed times. We tried all the regular, sane solutions such as maintaining a bedtime routine, reading, drinking warm milk, singing songs, reading more stories and even just sitting there in the dark just waiting quietly for sleep to come. Sometimes it worked, most times it did not.
Since we will be starting the AM Kindergarten this September (*gasp*), we've been concerned that Molly and I would have... issues. And so we started looking in to solutions.
The first thing Crystal suggested was one of those Natural Light Alarm Clocks that wakes you up gradually by raising the light level in the room ever so slightly bit by bit, like a natural sunrise. But waking up isn't our problem, and the actual sunrise doesn't wake us up so why would a fake one? No... I insisted that the problem wasn't the waking up, but the falling asleep. Get us to fall asleep earlier and by golly we'll wake up earlier as well.
But for some reason society frowns upon giving children sleeping pills and/or booze to get them to sleep at night :(
And so Crystal did a bunch of research and found... Melatonin. It's a vitamin, available OTC, safe and mild, and tons of parents SWEAR by the stuff. So Molly and I each took 3mg of the stuff last night at about 8pm.
Molly passed out within a half hour. It took me about an hour to fall asleep, but that's INCREDIBLE for me considering that my usual bedtime routine is to get in to bed at about 1am and listen to podcasts till 3 or 4 trying to fall asleep. The entire hour listening to podcasts last night was spent drifting i and out of consciousness... I actually had to take the headphones out so I could fall all the way asleep!
Molly and I both woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at just a bit before 5am this morning. This is great! I hope this is how it's going to be from now on :)
Since we will be starting the AM Kindergarten this September (*gasp*), we've been concerned that Molly and I would have... issues. And so we started looking in to solutions.
The first thing Crystal suggested was one of those Natural Light Alarm Clocks that wakes you up gradually by raising the light level in the room ever so slightly bit by bit, like a natural sunrise. But waking up isn't our problem, and the actual sunrise doesn't wake us up so why would a fake one? No... I insisted that the problem wasn't the waking up, but the falling asleep. Get us to fall asleep earlier and by golly we'll wake up earlier as well.
But for some reason society frowns upon giving children sleeping pills and/or booze to get them to sleep at night :(
And so Crystal did a bunch of research and found... Melatonin. It's a vitamin, available OTC, safe and mild, and tons of parents SWEAR by the stuff. So Molly and I each took 3mg of the stuff last night at about 8pm.
Molly passed out within a half hour. It took me about an hour to fall asleep, but that's INCREDIBLE for me considering that my usual bedtime routine is to get in to bed at about 1am and listen to podcasts till 3 or 4 trying to fall asleep. The entire hour listening to podcasts last night was spent drifting i and out of consciousness... I actually had to take the headphones out so I could fall all the way asleep!
Molly and I both woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at just a bit before 5am this morning. This is great! I hope this is how it's going to be from now on :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 07:36 pm (UTC)The body should produce melatonin on its own, as part of the normal circadian cycle. It's harder in the summer, though, since light inhibits the production of the hormone. If you spend time in dimly lit room a while before you want to go to sleep, it should help. You may not even have to take as much of the hormone.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 07:54 pm (UTC)Anyway, good luck and sweet dreams!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-23 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-24 06:52 am (UTC)