Monday, February 23, 2009

I'm tired

For most of my life I have been an excellent sleeper. Mostly because I know how important it is. In University I was called the "Old Man" because I would always make sure I was in bed for 11 PM. That way I would be as fresh as a daisy in the morning.

However having 2 children seems to have wrecked my ability to sleep. I assumed once the kids got bigger and started sleeping through the night then I would too. This has not turned out to be the case.

Every night I wake up about 10-15 times. Sometimes I just roll over, sometimes I get up to relieve myself and other I change location entirely. All this waking up means I am not getting the sleep I need.

Sleep as we know is the best way to defeat and recover from stress. My current job is very stressful so I need my sleep, and I am not getting it.

I started doing research into how to stay asleep. Not getting to sleep, I have that one nailed, its staying asleep that I have issues with. Now the big "cure" is vitamin B-12. It is supposed to help your body to produce melatonin. And melatonin is the hormone that regulates sleep.

The problem was I didn't have any B12 in the house but I did have B Complex Slow Release that my massage therapist recommended to me. It has B12 in it but also all of the other B's. Some of which boost your metabolism. I was afraid that instead of helping me sleep it would keep me awake. Boy, was I wrong. I slept like the dead, my alarm couldn't wake me in the morning and my alarm is a very energetic 4 year old.

However, one nights sleep does not make a trend. So I tried it for the next two nights. On the third, I had to go to the bathroom so badly but I could hardly open my eyes. Either I was tired, had mono or the B was working.

So to confirm the results I did not take B for the next three nights. Guess what, I was awake quite a lot. Not 10-15 times but more than I would have liked. So for the next 3 I took the B again and again 3 good sleeps. It was obviously working.

After more reading I determined that B-12 was indeed the active agent so my wife purchased some regular B-12. I took it for 3 nights and had really crappy sleeps. I didn't take anything for 3 nights and I was back to waking up a lot. And for the last 3 nights I went back to the B-Complex and have had great sleeps.

What is going on? I have 2 theories. One, there is another B by itself, or in conjunction with another B that is helping me stay asleep. Two, its the slow release that is keeping me asleep.

I am going out to buy B-12 Slow Release and B-Complex regular to see which one it is.

Oh, and in case you are wondering if this is Eyeteaguy specific, Mrs. Eyeteaguy (sorry girls, there is a Mrs. Eyeteaguy) has experienced the exact same results.

I'll keep you posted, pleasant dreams.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Francis,

What about the placebo effect? Can you test that too, somehow... maybe sneak some vitamin C pills in on Mrs. Eyeteaguy to see if she still sleeps through the night when she only thinks she's getting a B vitamin?

I sleep through, sort of, but I sleep incredibly light. Any noise disturbs me, so I don't wake up all the way but I rarely feel like I'm fully asleep, either. Leaves me very sluggish until about noon. I get Bs in my morning vitamin but if you have any success with this slow-release thingy I might just add it in and see if it helps.

Good luck with it.

By the way this was neither ranty nor snarky. Not one ROFL. How unexpected of you!

Regards,

Kelly

eyeteaguy said...

I forgot to follow up, thanks for the reminder Kelly.

Its something in the Complex. B12 slow release did not do it for me and the Complex regular helped a lot.

Now what to do with all these pills?

As fot the placebo effect. I don't think Mrs. Eyeteaguy would like it if I experimented on her. Poor girl, she already has to live with me, give her a break!

And I'm not ranty or snarky all the time, just on Friar's blog and only because it drives him nuts. And for some reason, he makes it so much fun to do it.

Eyeteaguy

Anonymous said...

Watch out for that B12. It's somehow connected with iron and men of a certain age can have problems with too much iron -- the test results of which can get skewed with too much B12. Sigh... the human body is so friggin' complicated

eyeteaguy said...

@XUP, thanks for the warning. I did some research and you are completely correct. B12 helps with the creaion of blood, toomuch and you could get sick.
That being said I looked at the dosageI was taking and it is 1/4 of the maximum. The bottle said take 2 daily and I was only taking one. Whew!
Anyway, some new information. I did not take any B's the last 2 nights. And I slept through. Very interesting.
So I just did some research and it looks like the body gets into a pattern os sleep, which is very difficult to break. I suffered the same type of problem when I returned from Europe a few years ago. I couldn't get over jet lag. IN that case I used melaonin to help me get to sleep.
So it turns out that you can us whatever means required to get you to go to sleep, and stay asleep and then once the new pattern is established, you can stop.
The human body is indeed very complex and interesting.
I am back to my regular multivitamin in the morning and a balanced diet.

Eyeteaguy

Brett Legree said...

When are you getting tired during the day?

No matter how well we sleep at night, we are all "programmed" to get tired around 1 or 2 pm.

Civilized countries recognize this and have "siesta".

Insane countries (like ours) *demand* that we work a solid 8 to 9 hours and we're not allowed to sleep.

Are you still able to head home for lunch and grab 20 minutes? If not, use your office door and don't tell anyone you're there.

There was a tech I used to work with at The Factory - sharpest guy I know, consistently and he stood out especially in the afternoon.

When everyone else was reaching for cup after cup of coffee, he was on the ball every day.

His secret? He never ate lunch with anyone, he ate alone in his car.

Then he set an alarm, and went to sleep for 20 minutes.

I'm probably going to start doing the same thing, now that "the boss" has premium parking inside the compound.

I have some good quality meditation tracks (the company that makes them is called pzizz, I can send you some) and I've tried it at home - 20 minutes like that and it is incredible.

I think unless we as a society get off this insane treadmill, we are doomed. What the hell is wrong with taking a mental break in the form of a nap?