Subscriber Shout-out: Sleep Questions

Hi everyone,

I wanted to give a shout-out to our paid members who asked questions we covered in the recent extensive sleep Q+A podcast with Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan.

I’ve copied the questions we discussed below. There may be a few other questions that substantially overlapped with the ones mentioned here.

Thanks everyone for participating and we hope to do something like this again in the future!

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MaryK: I have heard that you need a completely dark room to get the most beneficial sleep. Is that true? I struggle with sleep but I don't have window treatments on the large windows in my room - so I use a mask that makes me feel like I'm in darkness. Will that have the same effect or will the light that comes into the room at night still impact my sleep negatively?

Ellen Beley: I struggle with a cycle of pain and urge to urinate. In my case, bladder is shot due to 5 big babies including twins. I also have upper extremity nerve damage after five surgeries on elbow, hand, and shoulder (prosthetic humerus bone). Cycle goes: urge to urinate wakes me up, pain keeps me from falling asleep, REPEAT. Any help would be so much appreciated! Thanks for all you do ❤️

Andrea: Does more dreaming correlate with better quality sleep?

Mary-Anne Sillamaa: Does nutritional status (levels of vitamins/minerals/etc. in your blood) affect the quality (continuity/restfulness) of sleep? In particular, do low vitamin D levels affect the quality of sleep?

Paula Gregg: If someone has bipolar disorder with difficulty sleeping due to racing thoughts, does the doctor have recommendations in addition to psychiatric medication for this problem?

Tanya: I am frequently almost “shaken” or “startled” awake around dawn. Feels like a shot of adrenaline. I happened to start propranolol for migraine prophylaxis and it stopped. Why was this happening in the first place

Albert Ruel: To what degree can we rely on gadgets like AutoSleep on the Apple Watch, or Fitbit watches? How accurate are they and to what degree should we use those tools?

David Paul: Even when I was young I would wake up after only a few hours of sleep and would have to read or watch TV for 2-3 hours before falling asleep again. As an adult I hardly ever sleep for more than 4 hours and end up taking a nap later in the day. I have always wondered why this is. Additionally my many years in the military had conditioned me to be up early usually before sunset.

Therealwesty: Are there certain supplements / vitamins that should NOT be taken before going to bed at night?

William K.

I am 70. But have had this issue for decades I fall asleep fine at 9:30 pm but wake up every night at about 3:00 and can't fall asleep until maybe 5:30. Then I wake up 6:45-7:00am but I am tired. Exhausted. I don't want to take anything. I dont drink alcohol or caffeine.

Ken Hiebert

In 2014 I fell off a five-foot scaffold onto the concrete. Wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't landed on my head. Anyway, it put me in the hospital for the full month of October. It took me about two or three years, to be what I consider fully recovered from that (well, my wife says I swear more now, but at least I have an excuse.)

My brain doctor prescribed Trazedone to help me sleep after I got out because I couldn't sleep at all.

Now, 10 years later, I'm still on it. If I don't take it before bed, I just lay there all night and then get up in the morning. I've tried a couple times for a week or so to try to get off it but it hasn't worked yet. I'd love to not need it anymore, so I'm open to ideas...

Maenad Ask about Ambien please.

Paula Gregg: What is the best treatment for insomnia for someone who is severely sleep deprived who has no access to sleep treatment centers.

brianne fitzgerald

Changing sleep cycle. Some folks are owls and some are larks. Can owls become larks?

Marcelinsb: What are the doctors thoughts on Dream interpretations?