Poor sleep hygiene

[ziggypiggy]

Before the age of 20 when I started making sense of RLS I think I learned to violate every rule or guideline they suggest for a good nights sleep. I was too young and clueless to know these bad habits and coping mechanisms would become hard wired and difficult to overcome. I remember trying to be distracted by radios and tvs as a kid to avoid being alone with my restlessness. I would avoid going to bed, and on the reverse end I delayed getting up because morning sleep was the best. I often would sneak out to sleep on the couch and watch tv multiple times a night. I would raid the fridge. Cereal being my go to comfort food. The loud crunch of Grape Nuts and cold milk was a great distraction. So now at age 50, I'm still finding these habits comforting and easy to slip back into without even noticing.

[Munroist]

Sounds very familiar. For me I tried all the sleep hygiene standard methods and they didn’t seem to help in any significant way. Going to bed at 11 just meant more time twitching. Not drinking coffee meant I fell asleep in front of the telly and then didn’t feel like sleeping later. I suspect the eating at night becomes a habit (certainly for me) and you might actually be waking up for it but it also acts as a consolation for being up in the middle of the night and I’ve seen some suggestions that the pleasure of food raises dopamine levels which might help reduce the RLS and let you get back to sleep. I use the radio with a 15 minute timer again to distract me if I’m very restless and my partner has gone to the spare room but other times it’s not necessary. For me the most useful techniques are not sleeping in the day and moderate to medium exercise. I’m also starting to suspect glutamate in food and I think I’ve noticed some benefit from magnesium supplements.

[Momma71 in reply to Munroist]

Thank you for sharing. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one dealing with the twitching. I have found that falling asleep to the TV is sometimes helpful as it seems to distract my mind so they are less noticeable. I’m also glad to hear magnesium seems to be helping you. I read that they can help and was considering talking to my doctor about that.