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DVZ Loc: Littleton CO

They say lack of 8 hours of sleep can lead to early dementia. They also say nearly every sleep aid also leads to early dementia. What the heck, we're all done for! A couple of things helps me sometimes, exercise of the cardio type and moving to the couch or just getting up for a drink (water) and quick stretch of my stiff back. I pull the covers off my side when I go for water or pee so the mattress cools off, that seems to help.

TonyP Loc: New Zealand

A big problem with many of us 'seniors' is lack of activity. By the time we reach traditional bedtime, our bodies aren't tired enough. Our brains, perhaps stimulated by computer play and the bright screen, may be tired but are still fizzing with the mental stimulation.
I'm waiting for a double hip replacement and queried the fact with the doctor that since the discomfit etc (pain) has got worse, I seem to fall asleep pretty quick, even during the day but also at night.
I've been relatively inactive apparently, but the pain/aches are tiring the old body enough that its ready for a rest.
Ive also stopped using the computer and reading books on the ipad, for at least an hour before bed.
Am sleeping better now than I have for quite awhile, except when I get woken by turning over in bed and ending up in a bit of pain again. That wakes me up till I can get comfy again.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Jerry there is both modern information and old information about sleep in humans.

First the old information, the average sleep cycle of almost any human is four (4) hours. There is no science for this but there is history. Across the civilizations and the times both long ago and somewhat current is that humans sleep for a cycle of 4 hours. This is shown through out the history of man's literature. Remember seeing about Pilgrims and early American history of small towns. There was a town crier. He was up all night (no sun to identify time, just stars and such), and he walk through town telling you the time and how things were, mostly "All is well". Along with it is 3 obviously in the night, what we would say as 3M, 3 at night. Why? Because people slept through the time os no sun, they could do little. But when they did wake it was important to know how long till sun rise. Sun rise was up and breakfast and work.

If it was the middle of the night (3AM) you did do things, you were awake so you attend the fire, and stirred the pot for the morning meal (so you were ready to go to work). Check on the children and see to the elderly and the animals. A lot of busy work before going back to sleep, while your spouse who slept to a different drummer, but when she awoke she looked to you, and the children and saw the pot had been attended to because the fire was in good order. It was a filmily unit

People made records, wrote about the non writing folks, how things were going that night before they returned to bed/sleep. Remember they too knew what time it was in the night because they herd the town criers.

Ask or read about modern times. 8 hour is NOT a normal sleep cycle. 8 hours is how industrialists broke the day into three even divisions because machines don't sleep. People sleep and you guessed it, if a normal person sleeps on average of 4 hours then tat is two machine cycles. Any wonder that night shift workers have the problems that do. But Jerry, you aren't on night shift. And Jerry, 4 hours is an AVERAGE not an absolute. So as you got older you needed less sleep. Perhaps Jerry's sleep cycle as a working adult was 3 and 1/2 hours? Perhaps it was 4.% hours cycle. But now Jerry tells us his sleep cycle is two hours. May be it is really 2 hours and a bit, maybe 2 1/2, maybe even closure to 3 hours. The important thing is to begin mapping that cycle and learn to embrace it. Maybe begin to move it to a place you want.

Now jerry, you actually have a great salvation. Jerry loves to get on his computer and write and post all manner of life ideas and THINGS he reports on. Oh but, the idiots who know, well they know that if Jerry gets on his computer he will not get drowsy and be able to want to go back to sleep. Yes, Jerry, the idiots do make a valid point, BUT they are NOT helping. Just like anyone can use statistics to tell you a lie, so have these limited thinkers are blowing smoke up your back side.

The solution is a simple and can be inexpensive if you ignore these fools and use your smarts.

The solution is to modify your computer and your lighting. If you place a cover over your computer screen (or your TV screen) with a photographic filter called an 85B filter, then the effect of negating your sleep response will be negated. If that screen is too bright and you can reduce the volume of that screen well then you use an 85B filter with built in one stop (.3) neutral density, or is that is not enough, there is an 85B nd.6 (2 stops) or even an 85B nd.9 (three stops). And that is pretty dark, but if you wanted more then you can get an ND .9 ad added it to the 85B .3nd.

More info. The people who tell the poor public about this are like PT Barnum, operating from a place that is informed by Barnum's maximum "There is a sucked born every minute". Where can you get all these 85B filters dirt cheap. Roscoe or Apollo filter companies.

When you make a movie, shoot video for a TV presentation where there are widows looking out on a landscape, you have to change the color balance of the sunlight/daylight to match the tungsten lights illuminating the interior. This is done dozens, even hundreds of times a day by film crews. Long rolls of cheap filters are taped over the windows the camera will see, so that the interior matches the color balance of the lighting equipment.

I know all this because I have worked on TV and film sets, on location and that is how it is done.

How I got involved with this was with my elderly father towards the end of his life. He went to a sleep center and they at least told him some suggestions (it was a US Military sanctioned sleep center for retired vets) but even they sent him home with a little filter sample and an expensive list of orders to get his house ready to have his house better set up for improving his sleep. When he returned home he showed me what he had and what he was told.

Joe (my Dad) showed me the sample, I could not help but laugh! I told him that it was an 85B Written filter. I then explained that we were NOT ordering anything from the sellers, that I had all the 85B filer material needed that I used with studio gear. I went back to my studio and an hour later Dad and his kid were wrapping light bulbs and sampling them together and a big 85B filter over Dads big screen TV so he could pull it down the last three hours he was watching his TV before bed.

The real problem was that Joe (Dad) was falling asleep during the day watching TV with a big soft male cat curled up around his shoulders and neck, and the small female cat curled up on his stocking feet, all afternoon. Three goomba's fast asleep, which was fine for the kitties but it was keeping Joe awake half the night! (Yes, I told them at the sleep center what was going on, we had a big laugh and it all kept up, why would we change his two cats loving on him all afternoon?).

So Jerry, now you know what you need. A large sheet of window covering 85B filter for your computer screen and some extras to encircle your light bulbs (no worry about fire, these filters are used in vary close proximity to 1,000watt tungsten lamps. And then when you wake up you can just keep posting away till you get sleepy and either make it back to bed or do what I do and just nod off in my big comfy easy chair! LOL!!!

les spencer

what the heck does this have to do with photography?

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Les,
It is Chit Chat. Anything goes!! You've been a subscriber for a while. You are not familiar with the section, Chit Chat?
Mark

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

Jerry
As a retired CEO of hospitals, may I make a suggestion based on my own personal experience and that of several friends. Also, I have very little respect for VA care on any level. Yes there are a few VA Centers that provide good care, but they are a minority.
Suggestion: Go to a large hospital and find a medical group that does "Sleep Studies"; that is where you spend the night in their care and they study your brain wave activity while you are sleeping. There are legitimate times when medication is recommended; however, quite often a CPAP machine set to a pressure unique to your weight and sleep habits is prescribed. The machine stops you from snoring, stops sleep interruption, and coupled with an adjusted fluid intake (tapering off from dinner down to a couple of swallows at bed time. Almost everyone I have known throughout my career, and including me, comments of having more energy and happier bed sharers. The "Sleep Studies" are considered by Medicare and private insurers as any other medical study necessary to determine diagnosis for treatment.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

You might look at the mattress. Had this problem also and the mattress I was using was crippling me. Shopped long and hard for a mattress but life is so much better.

Toby

Interesting. Some doctors do not like to prescribe because of addiction.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

The whole OxyContin thing has made doctors gun shy about any drug that might be abused, including benzodiazepines, but since I have a very long history with both my primary care physician as well as multiple specialists and the local hospital, combined with my appearance, medical knowledge and age, I’ve found no concern about the relatively small dosage I use for sleep. all depends on the individual and the relationship.

BTW, it was originally prescribed for anxiety/stress after my first MI, and while I keep one in my pocket (along with a beta blocker and a nitro pill) for high stress cardiac situations (that very rarely occur since I retired), I maybe take one a couple times a year, perhaps before a high stress medical procedure. I have found that it is an excellent anxiety reliever (important if you’ve had multiple MIs, partly caused by stress) with zero side effects and zero tendency to take any more than needed or increase the dose. There are valid reasons for anti-anxiety and sleep aids, just like other medications, and I think because of the OxyContin disaster, the public and some doctors are overreacting to any drug that can possibly be abused. I’d hazard a guess that alcohol and tobacco are much more likely to be addictive and dangerous than a small dose of Xanax to sleep. Is that TMI?

JimBart Loc: Western Michigan

Jerry…. Same problems here even wearing a CPAP machine. Also have another problem with literally jumping, jittering and complete body shakes during the night. I don’t notice them but the wife does.
I’d suggest you see a sleep dr and take a sleep test to isolate your problem. If they’re not able to help try a neurologist.
Nothing has alleviated my jitters however.

Toby

Understand. It is indeed disappointing we have spoiled the taking of meds such that most good ones cannot be bought over the counter any more.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Jitters, jumping, body shakes, sounds like your muscles are trying to reset themselves. My body goes through this quite often. It is the result of several slips and falls over my lifetime that have many things out of alignment. If your bones are not broken or your not bleeding, medical doctors will say you're ok.

Find a good massage therapist, a good chiropractor, and look for some one schooled in Feldenkras therapy. Massage therapist deal with soft tissues (muscles). A good chiropractor will deal with muscles as well as the alignment of bones. Feldenkras deals with retraining the pathways and connections between the muscles and nerves controlling them after a person has had an accident, or just problems with aging.

Something I have learned about massage therapists and chiropractors, if you feel the same when you leave as when you walked in, find another one. If you feel different when you leave than when you walked in. Give them another chance. As for "different", if you feel better, great. If you feel worse, give it two to three days, that will usually change. If you don't feel better or worse, but you do feel different, something was done that usually helps.

One more thing. People often think these doctors and therapists are miracle workers. If that injury was many years ago, it's not going to be fixed in one half hour treatment.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Jerry, everyone knows you spend too much time on the computer. So do I. Getting off the computer, the cell phone, and the TV at a set time every night would probably help us both. Reading an old fashioned book or magazine does help. So does flipping or spinning your mattress every week or two. Or maybe it's just time for a new mattress. Try some place like Mattress Firm or Sleep Fitters that will let you just lay around on on one after another. When I fell asleep on one, I knew I had found the right one. I've got a friend that takes Melatonin every night at 10, then hits the sack at 11. Avoid late night snacks. Eat your supper, and no more. Spend some time every day making ukuleles and cases. Hope something here helps

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

In stories of Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and others of that era, a “second sleep” is presented as being normal. They expected to wake @2am to study, read or write, then return to bed for another four hours of sleep.