Trouble sleeping, not dreaming

[Kaskade]

I've been having problems sleeping for a few months now its really getting bad when I sleep i wake up every 20 to 30 min and when I wake I feel really tired.

I'm healthy, I don't over do caffine very often, I exorcise. My normal sleeping length is 6 to 8 hours a night.

And I honestly can't remember the last time I've had any dream, or nightmare in a very long while.

I'm thinking that since you go int REM state to dream every 30ish min that I'm always so tired cause I'm not dreaming. That I'm waking up every time I would normally go into REM to dream.

Any thoughts at all would be useful

[Moon_Stone]

Ugh, that sucks! I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem.

Offering real assistance to help at fixing this issue really depends upon why you're waking. Some questions:
-Do you live alone?
-Could the noise of neighbors/roommates/family/animals be jarring you out of your semi-conscious sleep?
-Do you consider yourself (prior to your problem), a light sleeper?
-When do you knock out caffeine for the day? (My rule is no caff after 4pm, period... and that includes chocolate as well.)
-Are you drinking anything within the 2-3 hours before you go to bed? (I have a tendency to drink a lot of water in the evenings, so I'm up and in the restroom a lot throughout the night. Also, alcohol will keep you from decent REM sleep as well.)
-Have you started taking any new medications? (Some drugs can actually make you jittery or at least unable to sleep restfully. Allergy/cold meds are the worst at causing this.)
-Any issues with heartburn? That can keep you up too.

....Hopefully once we identify why you're waking, we can offer suggestions on how to make it stop. I think going over these questions should be able to at least point you in the right direction toward receiving a resolution... may have to try a bunch of different options, but anything is better than nothing, right?

Bright Blessings~
~MoonStone

[Kaskade]

No i don't live alone I have a boyfriend and roommate that lives with me

Usually is really quite here we live close to a road but its not usually noisy, my boyfriends usually a quite sleeper he doesn't snore often and when he does its not loud. we've recently started using a humidifier at night and according to him I no longer snore

I never used to have problems sleeping, although I never remembered dreaming much. I consider myself a medium sleeper not easily woke up and not sleeping really heavy.

I try not to have any caffine after 4-6pm usually.

I do drink alot of water in the evening but i have strong bladder control i hardly ever have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

I don't take meds, except vitamins, but i take those in the morning, i don't drink often.

i don't have heartburn or any stomache problems

[Moon_Stone]

Hm, ok- my first suggestion to try is to limit yourself to one small glass of water in the evening. Also, stop the caffeine after 4pm- caffeine is an accelerant and besides keeping you awake, it makes the bladder overactive. Even though you have a strong bladder, you may be woken up by your body telling you that you're bladder's full and to go empty it. Even if you can ignore the bladder and go back to sleep briefly, the bladder has a mind of it's own and will continue waking you. And as annoying as it may be, it's actually good our bladder's do this... it's what keeps our sheets dry.

My daughter actually has the same exact issue- and as soon as she gets up to go use the bathroom, she's able to fall fast asleep again and stay asleep for hours. She too has a "strong bladder" and will push off her getting up to "go"... but whenever she does, she's woken up every 30 minutes or so until she finally concedes and gets up to go to the bathroom.

In your case though, just getting up to use the bathroom isn't the best way to fix the issue- limit the water intake in the evenings first and see how that works. Also, the first time you wake at night- go sit on the pot and drain whatever may be in your bladder, then return to bed. Perhaps also try snuggling your boyfriend when you come back to bed- often the scent of the one we love is very comforting and can put us into a relaxed state right away, ready to fall asleep faster than normal.

If the evening water decrease & bathroom use doesn't fix the issue, perhaps try having your man sleep in another room & see how you sleep that way (alone.) He may be flopping around in bed and waking you-- and it makes sense for you to not be snoring, if you're not REM'ing, you're most likely not going to be snoring either... so don't give too many kudos to your humidifier. (Though I do recommend keeping it at least for it's white-noise elements.) --If this becomes an issue of your man flopping and waking you, different mattresses (or a cheaper option, a mattress topper) can help... and if it's a noise issue, white noise or enough noise-blocking can help in that case too. I'd really recommend starting with the evening water decrease and more frequent bathroom usage first though. If you keep waking, go sit on the toilet again and drain your bladder out. Eventually the day's water will be gone and you should be able to get some restful sleep once again.

Keep us posted!

~BB~

[Kaskade]

thanks for the thoughts, and usually snuggling with my boyfriend is what puts me back to sleep quickly but i'll see tonight if i have that problem, to try to use the bathroom even if i feel i don't need to.

[Moon_Stone]

Let me know how it works! :28: (Hopefully, it will work)

~Blessings to you~