UKH

I don't think I have problems sleeping in general. On a normal work day I'll fall asleep sometime between 10 and 11 and wake up feeling fresh. I don't set an alarm.

But it's becoming a clear pattern that the night before big climbs, especially when I have to wake up early the next day, I barely sleep at all. Either I will struggle to fall asleep or I'll fall asleep early but then wake up around midnight and not sleep any more. I won't feel sleepy at all, and I'll just keep rolling over. Reading sometimes helps, as does listening to dry podcasts, but I've definitely had nights where I've listened to three Guardian longreads and an Enormocast and could describe them all in detail. Huts exacerbate the problem but it happens even if I'm home in my own bed.

The flip side is that I've learnt I can function perfectly well with almost no sleep. I don't generally drink caffeine at all, but after a strong coffee after a sleepless night I feel fine. I climbed Mont Blanc yesterday on three hours' sleep. But this seems unhealthy in the long run.

Anyone else have similar issues? And any suggestions about what can help?

I have a similar problem if I’ve anything important in or immediately before a run of early shifts at work, which necessitates a really early alarm.  Of course I get anxious about being able to sleep which makes it harder, then I wake up repeatedly.

Nytol herbal tablets help a lot.  Don’t know if it’s the placebo effect or if they do space me out so I sleep but I don’t care.  If I take them I sleep.  They don’t appear to make me any more dozy in the morning than usual, so no apparently side-effects.

I think its quite common. If I know I've got to be up early for something unusual, IE other than work I always struggle to sleep. I think it's a combination of nerves, excitement and my brain just not switching off. As for solutions I can't really help but if it's only before a big days climbing I wouldn't have thought it too detrimental for your long term health. 

Anyone who has stayed in a Chamonix area refuge before an ascent would consider 3 hours sleep as luxury. 

don't just lie there suffering.  Read something absorbing.

If we had a big caving trip on Sunday we'd drink ourselves into oblivion on Saturday night.

It’s the days and week up to your big day that count, more than the night before. I rarely set an alarm but had to be up early for a big race Sat, cue restless night 😁

steveriley may be onto something, I'm something of a night owl, and can find myself wondering why I'm tired on a night out sometimes, and then think back to my scattered sleep, but if well slept I can stay up with the best of them. Fortunately uni as a mature student is making me sleep more healthily.

I've found tha Pukka herbal drinks, and Sainsbury's own brand alternative both in the same mug can help, sometimes I've have two. If I've been mainlining the diet coke and alternating between tea and coffee while trying to focus like I was yesterday, I'll have some red wine too.

The routine of having the herbal drinks may be as much a part of why it helps, but if brewed strong enough to obscure the inside of a mug it seems to do the trick for me.

I managed my best onsight (an admittedly low bar) after around 48 hours with no sleep.  In my case this wasn't the prospect of climbing so much as the 11:00 to 03:00 disco in the basement underneath my hotel room.

Why the past tense Lankyman? The New Inn Clapham serves Timothy Taylors...

Those days are (sadly) well behind me. New Inn, Marton Arms, Craven Heifer and Hill Inn have all claimed too many brain cells.

This is normal for me unfortunately. Not just big days, but any time I have to get up early for a trad trip I find I can't sleep the night before. It means that pretty much all the trad climbing I've done has been in a sleep deprived state, it is a complete pain.

I think the best thing would be to try and distract myself so that I forget that I'm climbing tomorrow, but I've never actually achieved this. I usually neck a couple of co-codamol and a large whisky and this sometimes knocks me out for a bit. But it's not exactly a great solution.

Could you try something active which doesn't tax you too much for climbing, like a cycle for a few hours somewhere green?

I always seem to sleep better after a cycle out to the Peak.

I've suffered with insomnia of varying seriousness for most of my adult life. But I also had a very similar specific insomnia connected with long car journeys the following day that I needed to be fresh for. This culminated in an Alps road trip where I didn't get a single minute of sleep the night before and my mate had to drive the entire distance to Cham.

The insomnia become almost intolerable his year during a particularly stressful period. I went to my doctor and was prescribed sleeping pills. They did absolutely nothing.

Then I tried an OTC pill called Sominex. It worked like a dream. A single pill will put me out for a decent night's sleep without any side effects if I urgently need a good night's sleep (I slept like a baby the night before my PhD viva). Even better, the psychological effect of just having the tablets in my bedside drawer has cleared up the worst of my general insomnia. If you haven't tried, I would strongly recommend them!

Zopiclone? Crap, leaves a vile taste in the mouth too. Zolpidem (Ambien) on the other hand, is awesome, and the research agrees. However, NICE reckon there's no difference (cheery picking? they never tried them?) so tell GPs to go with the cheap stuff. 

I'll Google it, interesting. OCT sedative sounds suspicious but if it works, brilliant. 

Edit: it's the same Nytol antihistamine. Never tried it - I don't really suffer insomnia in any clinical way (if I can't sleep one night for whatever reason, I just need to do some exercise to sleep the night after). But I do enjoy a pleasant relaxing sedative when the occasion demands.