Claire
Master Chef
I am also one who has no problem falling asleep if I go to bed early, but cannot stay asleep, and spend hours and hours awake in the wee hours of the morning, only to fall asleep when I'd like to be up and about, getting things done. Now that I am no longer gainfully employed, this isn't that big of a deal. If I stay awake until 11 or later, I won't fall asleep, sometimes at all, all night. If I go to bed with a book at 9, I'll fall asleep within an hour and at least get 4 or 5 hours of sleep before I awake in the wee hours. Booze is a convenient short term fix, and I resort to it more often than I should (mostly on weekends). To be honest with you, I've found that not worrying about getting enough sleep is the very best solution. Easy for me to say, without a job or kids to deal with in the morning. But even when I was in the workforce, I found that it was much better to spend those waking hours doing something relaxing, preferably something I could fall asleep at (reading or writing -- not on a computer, mind you, a book or notebook so you can fall asleep doing it).
Interestingly enough, quite often that hour or so of sleep I get at sunrise (for some reason my system shuts down right about then) is loaded with dreams. So much for booze being bad for REM, because those dreams are there whether I use booze, tea, or soup as a sleep aid (I find some starchy soup is really a sopophoric). I often will awake, finding I've slept maybe 45 minutes, but have had hours and hours ... or even days ... of dreams.
Interestingly enough, quite often that hour or so of sleep I get at sunrise (for some reason my system shuts down right about then) is loaded with dreams. So much for booze being bad for REM, because those dreams are there whether I use booze, tea, or soup as a sleep aid (I find some starchy soup is really a sopophoric). I often will awake, finding I've slept maybe 45 minutes, but have had hours and hours ... or even days ... of dreams.