I am caring for my aunt who had 2 strokes and recently, a broken hip. (I am a regular poster, so I won't go through the whole story). Lately, I have been waking up in the middle of the night and unable to return to sleep. I try to get to bed between 10 and 11:30, but now I wake up like at 2 or 3 a.m. and can't sleep. Aunty is still in rehab until this Saturday. In the past, she would call me out of bed in the middle of the night to either turn the heat on or off if she was too cool or too warm. Then after I took care of her, I couldn't get back to sleep. Do you think that this problem is stress-related? I sometimes take Tylenol PM pills for sleep, but I don't like depending on pills since I already take other meds.Any advice?
Ideally, exercise as suggested would be the best answer. Meditation can help, as well. Clearing our minds is tough but exercise and meditation can go a long way toward doing that.
There are some natural sleep remedies available that don't have the dependency or side effect issues of many prescriptions but it's best to clear that with your doctor if you take any other medications or have health issues.
It's recommended that we stay away from computer and smart phone light for several hours before sleep, too. I'm a reader so that works for me but I know that prying our eyes off the computer can be tough - especially when time alone is at a premium.
Keep the ideas coming! This is a huge issue across the board.
Carol
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