h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.myzeo.com/pages/4_what_is_zeo_.cfm

Hey y'all. I've been reading about a new sleep device/program called Zeo. It's a gadget that monitors your sleep rhythms and then analyzes them online. The user wears a headband that measures your periods of light sleep, deep sleep, REM, and wakefulness. The headband transmits the information to a sort of clock, that displays the info. You can find out the next morning how long it took to go to sleep, how much sleep you actually got, how many times you woke up, how much REM you got, etc. Then you can upload your individual results to a website that analyzes them, and sends you coaching emails on getting a better rest.

The only drawback? It's very expensive. Yipes. But man, I really need this thing. What do y'all think of it??? Should I start saving my money? If you know me well at all, you know that I have considerable sleep problems. While it's expensive, it could really help me, and other people shell out nearly as much for Blue Ray players and Kindles. Whatcha think?

Hmm. I wouldn't waste your money. You can probably do your own coaching - or we (or I!) can try help.

What have you tried so far?

One important thing I know is forcing yourself to keep to a rigid timetable. Fix yourself a badtime and don't go over it, Stay in bed, even if you can't sleep. No TV, No 'puter.

Relaxation CD?

Lavender oil?

Lights down low?

I studied some sleep psychology at university and I really can't see how knowing the pattern will help you.

Well I've ordered some "sleep music" CDs that are supposed to lull you to sleep. One is classical, one is nature sounds, one is ambient, and one is relaxing songs. All have delta brain wave signals built in.

I wouldn't put too much faith in the delta wave stuff - but relaxing music is bound to be A Good Thing.

What I'd suggest is something that can take you through a proper relaxation technique. Breating and muscle relaxation. (In Scotland, the NHS give these out for free). I'll have a look and see if I can find one.

There's a lot of charlatans out there - but this guy's meant to be good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Can-Make-You-Sleep-Book/dp/0593055381/ref=sr_1_1/275-0182723-1121138?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248858784&sr=8-1

I have "Sleep Solutions" by Roberta Shapiro, which is a pretty poor CD. She repeats herself so much, I start laughing. Then I've got a better hypnosis CD for sleep, can't remember the name, but it still doesn't work.

Ah, the second one is by Steven Gurgevich. It's very relaxing, but not sleep inducing.

Ah, I just got a chuckle out of realizing that my subject line sounds like a quote from The Matrix!

Obvious question...what's your caffeine intake like?

btw I have a friend @ work who has a sideline in hypnosis and relaxation. I shall ask her later.

Hiya JEllen. If it were me, I wouldn't shell out that kind of money for something like that. Especially since we've no idea how legit the claims are that it does what it says it does- even if there were many testimonials.

I do know about your sleep problems and don't know to what extent they are caused by chemical imbalance or side effects of medication or what all else. So the only "coaching" I can offer might be utterly useless for you. But I always want to help you out if I can.

Don't do non-bed related activities in your bedroom- reading is OK, but no DVDs or TV or anything like that. And yes, set a bedtime and be in bed at that time every night, whether you are tired or not. Also on days when you don't have to drive or something, try to force yourself out of bed at a "normal" hour even if you are still tired.

I don't know what else to suggest right now. I'll talk to someone I know who works with people with sleep and relaxation issues.

I agree with the concensus here, thats a lot of money for something that frankly may not work.
Sleep hygene is paramount. As others have said, try to get into a routine of going to bed at roughly the same time and getting up same. I didn't have such an issue in the early years of my being off work as I was looking after an elderly couple and was kept busy to say the least. My problem started when that ended and I was moved to current home. I got out of the routine, had no work to get up for etc. I'd stay up and watch that late film or be online, (usually here in hootoo ) till the wee small hours. Its taken a couple of years for me to get back into the routine again. Even if I have a kip in the day I still try to be in bed by 11 to 11-30 ish each day and am usually up at some time between 8 -9 am.
I've disabled the TV in the bedroom, leave the laptop in the lounge as well.
I hope you get sorted soon, nowt worse than lack of sleep, it affects all both physically and mentally.

Here you are - Free downloads of relaxation and sleep exercises from a non-cranky source:
http://www.umw.edu/cas/psychservices/resources/relaxation_exercises_downl1.php

Also:

- Don't try to go straight from activity to bed. Sit down and have a cup of tea or something first. Or even do your relaxation exercises before turning in.

- Differentiate between daytime and nighttime lighting. Bright in the day. Dim in the evening. Dark at night. (ships and oilrigs do this. It resets the circadian rhythms).

- If you're awake in bed and really can't fight it anymore - don't get out of bed but sit up and do something fairly unexiting. Reading, knitting, embroidery, crosswords, sudoku.


1st thing to do...
- Start a sleep diary, with planned going to bed and getting up times.
- Mark on it how you did against your targets
- Or if you couldn't sleep, how you coped with that.
- This might give you some insight into a management plan ('When I was wide awake...could I have tried my sleep exercise?...Or knitting?...')

Ignore my 'don't get out of bed'. It says here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/
*do* get up - but do the kind of activity I mentioned. (They suggest jigsaws). This makes sense. You want your bed to be associated with sleep.

That BBC stuff seems to have been written my my teacher, Prof Jim Horne.

Hi guys, I appreciate all the tips and advice. I've mulled it over some, and decided that I do in fact want to save up and buy a Zeo. The curiosity factor alone is considerable. I want to see how well it works! In the meantime, it's going to take a while to save up for it. Several months I should think. And I can use THAT time to implement the suggestions you are making.

Ed, I drink about 2 Coca Colas a day, and maybe one chocolate milk. I try to drink them well before I head to bed.

I know I sound perverse deciding just the opposite of the consensus. But it's like Harrison Ford's story about choosing between New York and Hollywood. At the start of his career he flipped a coin to see where he should live. It came up New York... so he flipped it again! Hope that makes sense.

Hmm. I'm stil sceptical. *Very* sceptical. So I hope the mainstream methods work meantime.

Start with:
- Strict timetabling and diary keeping
- The relaxation downloads (the Progressive Muscle Relaxation technique is the gold standard)
- No 'puter or TV at night
- Adjust lighting levels

I'm skeptical, too. At the risk of sounding rude, it sounds like a scam to me. And I'd hate to see someone I care about get scammed, especially if you have to save up for so long to do it. So I also hope some conventional methods help soon, too.

Maybe full spectrum light bulbs would help? I use them during winter to stop me falling asleep at 4 pm.

It's more brightness that's needed than spectrum. Bright by day, dull by evening, dark at night. (Do you have good drapes?) That said - nobody can sleep uncer those ghastly full-spectrum bulbs.

But good point - we haven't addressed daytime napping. That's a habit you might have to break. How would it work scheduling some exercise for your normal nap time? Bellydancing?

The full spectrum bulbs I'd been using weren't ghastly- much nicer than incandescent. But if it's brightness that matters... how about a lamp with a dimmer so you can adjust the lighting brightness to lower levels as bedtime approaches?

Daytime napping- or sleeping well past my normal wake-up time- makes it hard for even me to fall asleep at bedtime. How about exercising in the evenings, to help tire you out?

Hi y'all! Well I managed to stay up most of the daylight hours yesterday. Not all of them but most of them, even though I felt like hell. And last night I managed to sleep from about midnight to six am. I tossed and turned a good deal and woke up a lot, but it's still an improvement.

Ed, I don't have an Ipod to listen to this relaxation stuff on. But I did do a mental walkthrough of a relaxation last night, tensing muscles and letting them go. I need to go by the grocery today and pick up a notebook to write this stuff in.

Although...exercise can reduce tiredeness. (When I took part in sleep deprivation experiments, it's how we stopped participants falling asleep). Exercise early evening might be best.