[pbrb]

If you have having issues with sleep, talk to your doctor about it. The last period of burnout I went through, sleep was a major issue. I could not sleep, no matter what. The stress and anxiety from work would keep me up or make me have trouble falling back asleep whenever I did wake up in the middle of the night. The only answer I could come up with was to eat an edible and drink some whiskey. It helped me get sleep, but terrible, horrible quality sleep.

Eventually, I had to go to my doctor and deal with it. They gave me a few different sleep drugs to try, and I found one that worked extremely well at not forcing me to sleep like a sedative, but helping me fall asleep and to stay asleep. Using the sleep meds and strictly enforcing my work hours plus a 2 week vacation was all that saved me (at this point I didn't care anymore, I simply got done what I could in 8hrs and the rest could fuck off).

It took about a month of 8hrs minimum per night of good quality sleep, but man did it make a big difference. After that everything mostly fell back into place. I've since kept the more strict work hours and have taken on a role that actually has me learning new things vs. grinding out mass amounts of tedious but important work. I do work too much still, but I cap it ~ 50hrs a week and take as much flexibility as I can with it. No meetings until 10am and I was online until 8pm the night before? Cool, I'll be in at 10 and will hit the gym before work so I have more family time after work. No more bending backwards to get everything done.

[tinyhouse]

Can you share what sleep meds helped you? Are you still taking them? My primary care doctor is not a big fan of sleeping meds. He also told me they are designed for short term use.

[pbrb]

Sure. Belsomra seems to work the best for me (tried another drug in this same class, and the generic of Ambien I believe). The Belsomra class of drugs block 'wake receptors' vs. making you feel tired and putting you to sleep. There's more to it than that, but that's what I was told and it seems to be accurate. The Ambien made me feel terrible the next day, and the other drug gave me a sensation in my limbs that I didn't like. Hard to explain, but it felt like heightened sensation or something like that.

Both my primary car physician and myself aren't fans of sleeping meds either, but I absolutely needed something to help me sleep at the time.

They absolutely are for short term use. I haven't needed the meds again since, but I have a prescription filled in case I experience insomnia again. If I do, I'll likely do a sleep study as well to rule out any other issues.

[tinyhouse]

Thank you for sharing! I don't understand the short term use though. I know multiple people taking sleeping meds for 20-30 years and they are doing fine. They are all old but still. One of them is 91 and he has been taking the meds since his 60s.