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Take any meds to fall asleep after a medium size hiking day?
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › Take any meds to fall asleep after a medium size hiking day?
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May 22, 2013 at 4:25 pm #1988819
We find a good hot dinner works wonders.
Cheers
May 22, 2013 at 5:23 pm #1988830When I'm awake at night, I take pleasure in the sounds of nature (bubbling streams, coyotes howling, frogs calling, insects chirping) and look at the stars. Rather than stressing about lack of sleep, I remember why I'm there in the first place.
May 22, 2013 at 5:53 pm #1988842"+1 on the Melatonin; nature’s hormone. It’s a little less harmful than other drugs.
And a few times, if I need a knock out and curb some muscle pain, the Tylenol PM (Vitamin T) does wonders for me.
Even if I go out every weekend, the first night out is antsy for me. I’m not sure why. It could be I’m with a different group of people and that causes me anxieties. Or the anxiety could be from unfamiliarity with the trail I’m tackling.
May everyone have a good night’s rest."
Thankfully, I rarely have to take meds to fall asleep on the trail. At home, a bit more often due to my nighttime sleep cycles constantly getting interrupted at work. I cant take any meds for it at work.
Melatonin works good for me as well, but even though its a natural hormone, you need to be careful not to take too much as it can be more harmful than Benadryl based meds such as Tylenol PM if you take too much. Also, they don't have any real studies on the long term effect of Melatonin supplements on your body's ability to produce it naturally, which it must do. So be careful with it. The other thing about Melatonin is that I usually feel drowsy well into the next day despite getting a good nights sleep.
I usually bring a few Tylenol PM's with me on the trail. Not only does it help me sleep should I need it, but it also helps should I or someone I'm with have allergy problems.
Its miserable trying to sleep if your nose and eyes are itching.May 22, 2013 at 8:33 pm #1988905The active ingredients in some of the products mentioned on this thread are:
Benadryl – 25 mg Diphenhydramine
Tylenol – 500 mg Acetominophen
Tylenol PM – 500 mg Acetominophen plus 25 mg Diphenhydramine
Advil – 200 mg Ibuprofen
Advil PM – 200 mg Ibuprofen plus 38 mg Diphenhydramine citrate
I prefer to keep my active ingredients separate. That way, I can use or give the dose I want of the active ingredient I want.
— Rex
May 22, 2013 at 9:04 pm #1988916A couple ounces of scotch works like a charm for me.
May 22, 2013 at 9:15 pm #1988922Ben H. said: Careful! Mountain stream water is quite high in naturally occurring DHMO (dihydrogen monoxide) so you are effectively getting a double douse in your concoction. A DHMO overdose can be fatal: http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html"
Was wondering if anyone else was going to get that reference…
May 22, 2013 at 9:26 pm #1988927I got in into trouble one winter when excessive frozen dihydrogen monoxide kept me tent-bound for 3 days. I couldn't travel at all.
May 22, 2013 at 10:06 pm #1988936Hammock and a radio. Zzzzzzzzzzz
May 22, 2013 at 10:13 pm #1988938Oh, great you guys had to bring up the DHMO (dihydrogen monoxide) problem. Now someone will tie DHMO to Global warming and and how DHMO effects things and is effected by it and another carbon flame war will start!
Maybe we could use a whole bunch of Chlorine dioxide to help clean it all up?
Back to the original thread- I agree with Ike, Roger and Nick; I just go to sleep and if I wake up I enjoy the sound and sites of the night.
May 24, 2013 at 12:29 am #1989341@ Art ""I need something that will put me to sleep right away, allow me to sleep soundly for 4 hours,"
The Zolpidem starts working within 10 min. I get easily adrenalised and the Zol seems to let my mind start to wander and then- bang – I'm asleep.
My hikes normally result in me getting physically beat up a bit, so I'm usually scraped, scratched and sore. So, I also pop 1000mg paracetamol and 60mg codeine as well.
If I ever use the Zol at home I find I can wake up refreshed after even 2 h sleep.
I find melatonin does nothing for me.
May 24, 2013 at 6:32 am #1989375– that's a lot of medication… Do you guys just take these pills when hiking or do some of you do the same back home?
May 24, 2013 at 6:43 am #19893796-7 years ago I asked my doctor to privide me with something to help me sleep in bear country. He prescribed a low dose of the original Ambien. It worked for precisely 5 hours each time, then I would wake up fully at 3 AM, unable to go back to sleep. Apparently others had the same experience, so now they make an Ambien CR (controlled release), which apparently lasts all night and is extremely expensive. I prefer a couple of generic Benedryl tabs myself, as I mentioned above.
May 24, 2013 at 8:58 am #1989405I take powdered magnesium, lemon flavored, or even berry flavored…drink it hot like a tea. Sometimes I add honey. Works like a charm. The brand is called Calm, by Natural Vitality. YOu can drink it cold as well. It has always worked for me.
May 24, 2013 at 3:31 pm #1989490Hi Donna
Magnesium is a metal. What 'Calm' contains is magnesium carbonate and citric acid, plus flavouring. It's a nutriceutical product which has not been tested or verified by the FDA, so one has no idea at all. All the rest is marketing spin.
Does this actually do anything at all for the body? I haven't the faintest idea. Provided one does not drink too much I doubt it would do much harm. The placebo effect may be quite useful.
Cheers
May 25, 2013 at 8:04 pm #1989758"I find melatonin does nothing for me."
First to consider is that there are a lot of junk supplement products on the O/C market.
3 mg of Nature's Bounty works great for me, but you can also buy the much more expensive 5 mg controlled release O/C.
Regular use of the Ambien (brand) or Zolpidem (generic) makes it impossible for many people to get to sleep without it. This has been abundantly reported by users on threads on health sites. And then there are other even worse effects as well, often reported in the media, involving people walking, even driving around with no memory of it. The consensus is that the generic is worse with the side effects.
Tried all the holistic remedies also. No luck with them, with the possible exception of Rescue Remedy on one occasion, but that may have been just a placebo effect.
Also think it's helpful to pitch camp well before bedtime and relax while cooking dinner, etc. That's one reason why a camp chair has not been dropped from my super ultra extreme light weight list.
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