Changing Habits, One at a Time

[Sunstroke]

I really like the Arnold Palmer half and half that you can get at the store or I'll drink the shit out of some Country Time Lemonade mix/Tang. 

The Palmer is one of my go-to drinks lately. I buy the sweet tea by the gallon, and keep a small pitcher with some lemonade (country time powder) on the top shelf. Half a glass of ice, two parts sweet tea, one part lemonade...total quenching of thirst achieved.

On the alcohol...I learned that lesson in my 20's, and I've never had an issue with it since. My three biggies are going to be pot, cigarettes and sleep.

[BigDaddyFin]

Has anything religious become involved in this just out of curiosity?  I know right after I got saved is when I quit drinking.  I'm not going to advocate religion or try to talk you into it or bore you with how I became born again, but in my case it helped.

[Sunstroke]

^^^ No, not at all... I honestly have no interest in organized religion at this point in my life.

[Sunstroke]

Just a little catch-up... I've gotten a little casual on the specific dates to start certain changes lately, but my first two (no sodas and no late night snacking) are still going strong. Haven't lost much weight in the last few months...10-12 lbs, max, but I have tackled one of the biggies on my list...the lack of sleep. I've increased my normal sleep by almost 50%, from 4 hours to 6 hours every night. Started about 2 weeks ago, and it's starting to feel comfortable. My problem with sleep is that I have to have some sound on while I go to sleep, but when I watch TV to help fall asleep, I just end up watching TV and not sleeping, and when I listen to music trying to fall asleep, I end up singing along in my head and not sleeping. If I turn off all sound, it's even worse... I decided to turn off the TV, and use my iPhone and Pandora while plugged in on my bedside table. I have 6 channels of different music with no vocals, from classical to contemporary piano, jazz, Spanish guitar, etc... My David Lanz channel (contemporary piano, heavy mellow) has been really good lately, and I tend to spend less than 20-30 minutes listening before I fall asleep.

The extra snooze time has definitely helped from a mental alertness perspective...I simply feel more rested.

[CF DolFan]

Just a little catch-up... I've gotten a little casual on the specific dates to start certain changes I have to have some sound on while I go to sleep, but when I watch TV to help fall asleep, I just end up watching TV and not sleeping

I am a terrible sleeper and on top of that I have tinnitus pretty bad. A fan no longer is good enough. My wife doesn't sleep well with noise so I have to use the sleep timer on the tv. I usually set the sleep timer for 1 hour and turn it to TV land or Nickelodeon and turn away. I know pretty much all of the old shows so I don't get too invested in listening and will fall asleep.  When i wake up at night I do the same thing.

[Buddhagirl]

I get horrible sleep so this is something that I'm really working on. I have to turn off the tv around 10ish. Then read for an  hour. I also have to have some sort of noise. Either my fan or my ambient noise app on my iPhone.  No booze. No caffeine after noon. Drink some tea and start winding down around 9 ish. Helps if I get decent exercise, too. But not too close to bed or I'll be up all night.

If I REALLY work at it, I can get decent sleep.

I was on Ambien for a while to help, but it just made me cook in my sleep.

[CF DolFan]

^^^ No, not at all... I honestly have no interest in organized religion at this point in my life.

Great ... I can hook you up with some disorganized religion!! 

I was on Ambien for a while to help, but it just made me cook in my sleep.

This is exactly why I am fearful of taking these kinds of things. My wife sleeps through everything and there is no idea what I would do in my sleep. As a kid I would actually leave my house and go next door so not sure how bad that could get under the influence of something.

[Buddhagirl]

Great ... I can hook you up with some disorganized religion!! 
This is exactly why I am fearful of taking these kinds of things. My wife sleeps through everything and there is no idea what I would do in my sleep. As a kid I would actually leave my house and go next door so not sure how bad that could get under the influence of something.

I actually am an extremely light sleeper (to the point that I don't sleep), so had never experienced anything like it. I was waking up and finding brownie pans and stuff around the house. I also bought a bunch of HIDEOUS clothes in my sleep. They wuold just randomly show up at my house and I wouldn't remember buying them.
 
Also, ambien left me really out of it the next day if I didn't take it early enough to get a full 8 - 10 hours. It was fine at first, but then it just got bizarre.

[bsfins]

I like noise in the room to an extent,I do use the T.V. on sleep timer...Public T.V is awesome...

My biggest problem when trying to get to sleep is getting the noise out of my HEAD.I think about everything while laying in bed.What I have to do the next day,what happened during my day,things I'm working on,planning things in the future,etc,etc...Every night no matter how exhausted I am, or what I'm thinking about,there is a period where a wave of stress,negativity,depression hit me. Usually it hits right as the noise of the room fades,the mind noise starts taking over,and I'm about to fall to sleep.If I can't block it out quickly it will snap me awake,almost like a nightmare type feeling...I then have to try to go back through the whole process again,or end up getting up and watch T.V. for 30 minutes to an hour before trying again.

In recent events,I have turned off my police scanner at night,not because of falling asleep,but if I got up to use the water closet during the night...I'd hear a chase,robbery,something going on...Rather than sleep walk to the water closet,do,my business,and back to bed.It seemed as it would wake my mind up...

Lately,an added problem has been one my dogs actually hurt his back leg 3 weeks ago. (He's a massive faker) He pulls an injury,illness once a month that lasts about 12-24 hours..So when he started crying so much,and the limp didn't mysteriously disappear after a couple of days...I'd open the door,ask him to go out for 2 hours,nothing,keep asking ,nothing...Then all of the sudden he would start crying,stand up and pee a river. Well as he's heeled it's been much better,but every time he walks into the bedroom, I jump up you got to go outside? It's thrown his normal routine out of whack...

[Buddhagirl]

Lately,an added problem has been one my dogs actually hurt his back leg 3 weeks ago. (He's a massive faker) He pulls an injury,illness once a month that lasts about 12-24 hours..So when he started crying so much,and the limp didn't mysteriously disappear after a couple of days...I'd open the door,ask him to go out for 2 hours,nothing,keep asking ,nothing...Then all of the sudden he would start crying,stand up and pee a river. Well as he's heeled it's been much better,but every time he walks into the bedroom, I jump up you got to go outside? It's thrown his normal routine out of whack...

This is why my little girl is trained to ring a bell when she needs to go. No guessing!