Sleep trackers and general sleep bullshit.

[Cosmopolitan]

I've had a garmin watch thing for a while now and I'm generally noticing a drop in my sleep quality scores (over the course of about a year) . And normally I'd be like 'whatevs' but I am so so so tired all the time so I know I'm not sleeping well.

I've tried a bunch of stuff to help - magnesium, mushrooms, night nurse ( :))), antihistamines, amitryptiline, exercise, melatonin, not drinking, drinking, not eating, eating, eye masks, sleeping alone, sleeping with Mr Cos. All I've cracked is that I can now fall asleep much faster than I used to but I'm still shattered.

I'm about to turn 46. Is this just the dreaded peri? What do you all think? I'm mainly asking you all because a doctors appointment seems like an impossible task

[Luna]

I’d say it is. I’ll join you in the shit sleep corner. I woke up loads again last night and feel crud today, I was told progesterone would be the magic bullet but it wasn’t for me. It might help you though so it’s worth tracking other symptoms and contacting your gp.

[baargain]

I'm going to my gp about this too. I think it's peri menopause for me as it comes along with being boiling when I wake up (but not sweaty, oddly), as well as a few other symptoms.

[Estrella]

I think it’s peri too. I’m 45 and have been experiencing the same. And have just started on HRT which will hopefully help.

[Cosmopolitan]

I'm rarely hot these days, have never had a hot flush and have limited other symptoms but the lack of sleep is killing me.

[Rebel Pebble]

I don't think you need to have other more obvious symptoms for it to be hormone related. I have zero doubt that hormones and sleep quality are intimately intertwined. One of the many reasons I hated the pill in my 20s was it fucked with my previously lovely sleep quality like a bastard. And long before I had other peri nonsense like flushes, erratic sleeping ability reared its ugly head in my mid 40s.

I'm not the person to ask about HRT because due to pill hatred I avoided it and now couldn't take it even if wanted to but I agree with everyone else that this is a peri-menopause thing.

[bramblerose]

It's also menopausal and post menopausal too. Sorry.

[Luna]

Yes, from your mid 40s you can expect sleep disturbances.

[Ruby]

Have you all tried the TikTok sleepy-girl cocktail?

It's 100% bullshit but I like it. Basically it's sour cherry juice, fizzy something (I use the pink Trip), and an opened magnesium glycolate capsule. Mix it up with a bit of ice. Maybe suck it up from your Stanley cup, huns.

[Cosmopolitan]

I will try anything. I freaking love sour cherry anything, love Trip drinks and take magnesium anyway. The Good Rays cbd is nice.

[Ruby]

It's genuinely really nice. Did it help sleep? Unsure. But worth a go

[Disco]

THhat's even more batshit than my eyeball routine.

[Ruby]

What is your eyeball routine?

[Disco]

It's some kind of ptsd thing for insommnia caused by anxiety, I read about it ages ago and so I do a little eyeball movement routine if I wake during the night. Essentially I move my eyes - while closed - from side to side, up and down, round and round and then this seems to trigger sleep. It's probably the power of suggestion but it works nine times out of ten for me.

[Luna]

I was reading about this the other day! So it works then?

[Disco]

Oh really?! It does for me!

I feel like it's the upward movemtn that really triggers sleep for me.

[Luna]

I think it triggers the vagus nerve :vague: I’ll try it tonight if I can’t get back to sleep.

[Luna]

Vagus exercises I’ve seen looking up and to the side will make you yawn. So it’s using similar principles.

[Disco]

Oh ok! Give it a go as it really does get me off to sleep when I've woken at 5.

It didn't work the other night when I was trying to get to sleep after my work do but I was processing the bants that made the senior manager have a go at the manager who then stormed off like a wounded soldier. :lol:

[Luna]

Ha. Yes, I’m going to try it.