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Sleeping Pills before a race or bad night of sleep?

 
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flafonta
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Joined: 04 Feb 2011
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 3:07 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Sleeping Pills before a race or bad night of sleep? Reply with quote

The night before a bike race, which is the lesser evil:

Taking a sleeping pill and have a great night of sleep (e.g. Ambient)?

Or not sleeping much because of stress, travel, noise, uncomfortable bed, etc.?

Thanks!
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The Bike Doc
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Joined: 08 May 2003
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Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas

PostPosted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 6:34 am GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

flatfona:

One of the undesirable side effects of several of the sleeping pills is feeling hung over the next day. So you will have to be the judge here. If you get that hung over, groggy, can get yourself started feeling after a sleeping pill, avoid it.

Melatonin may be a better option for you. It can be bought over the counter. Dosage range is from 0.5mg to 10mg taken 30 minutes before bedtime. Melatonin is a compound secreted by the brain that helps with the circadian rhythm. Melatonin levels increase in the evening waning hours of day light. Modern lifestyles mess up the natural circadian rhythm of secretion of melatonin with artificial light. Keep the lights down low in the evening, if needed put on some sun glasses to reduce the exposure of bright artificial lights after sunset, this will help your natural melatonin levels rise in the evening hours before going to bed.

Another trick is to eat food high in tryptophan before a couple hours before going to bed. This includes turkey and dairy products. A trick I use after a stressful day is to make myself a hot mug of milk that I add ¼ tsp of vanilla and a tablespoon of maple syrup to and sip that 30 minutes before going to bed. The heating of the milk helps in the release of the tryptophan. It helps me drift off to sleep and does not have any side effects except a fuller bladder when I wake up. Wink
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