Originally Posted by
QTip
English has a good post in the general forum about sleep hygiene. Having been in the military and dealt with sleep issues a lot in my guys, these are some of my observations and advice I've heard.
1. One of our battalion doctors described sleeping pills this way -- if you see someone get in a fight and then get knocked out, you don't think, that guys just fallen asleep, it's all good. You think, that guy just got knocked the f*ck out! Sleeping pills and a lot of controlled Rx drugs people use to fall asleep are in the category of sedative-hypnotic, meaning they are designed to knock you the f*ck out, not let you go to sleep. It's not the same, it's not natural, and your brain does not respond the same way.
2. The mental aspect of sleep is described well by English in his post (check the general forum) -- the more you stress about it, the harder it will be to sleep. Just go to bed and if you can't sleep, just stay in bed and don't worry about it. If you sleep or not, no big deal, just lay down and enjoy the rest (for most guys that work out regularly just being horizontal is restful). Think to yourself that when you need sleep, you're body will let you know and you will get sleep. Just don't stress about it, the body has a way of working it all out -- you're not going to die from lack of sleep.
3. If you need something every now and then (like once or twice a month max), it's OK to take something mild (not a sedative-hypnotic). Make sure you can sleep in (at least 8-10 hours that you don't have to be anywhere). What I've found to work well is 1-2 flexeril + 2 benadryl (10-20 mg cyclobenzaprine and 50mg of diphenhydramine HCL). Neither of those are controlled, and they don't "knock you out". The flexeril is mild, commonly-used muscle relaxer. It makes you relaxed and for me, makes me feel like I'm melting into the bed. The benadryl is an allergy medicine, but one side effect is making you drowsy (common ingredient in night-time medications). The flexeril may give you a drugged feeling in the morning, but some caffeine should get rid of it. Just don't plan to do clean and jerks or operate heavy machinery early in the morning. Post-army, been using 2000mg of Phenibut, but as stated above, be careful with this.