Sleep, sleeplessness, sleepiness and vaping

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Daft Funk

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Jul 5, 2015
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There seem to be may questions regarding sleep. I'm not a Polysomnographist (scientist who studies sleep patterns), but I can probably shed a little light on the subject.
We all know that nicotine is a stimulant, and like MANY stimulants, the effects can vary wildly from person to person - not just in varying degrees, they can have the complete opposite effect or even random, unpredictable effects. Think of Adderall; it is amphetamine (same family as {Other Stuff}) - to most of us, it has the effect of blasting rocket fuel up our ..... To people who are naturally in turbo mode (ADD) it usually helps them focus.
Nicotine also has many other effects, such as changing the way some people uptake or process certain nutrients, which effects other, seemingly unrelated issues.
Add to that the enormous array of toxic chemicals in standard cigarettes, which run the gamut from carcinogenic to poisonous. Like most poisons, minuscule quantities may not kill you immediately, but your body may react abstractly to combat them. And once you've become accustomed to these effects, they are "normal" to you, so going back to what should've been normal will effectively be abnormal to you and your body. And withdrawing from these toxins can also have their own array of effects. All which can vary from person to person.
Last, the mental state of sleep is so incredibly different from the mental state of awake that it is like you are transforming into an entirely different type of creature when you go from awake to asleep and vice versa. In many ways, your body chemistry, mental patterns, chemical effects and emotional continuity when awake pretty much goes out the window when comparing it to when you are awake.
The act of inhaling smoke is a unique event in the lives of humans. There really is no comparison to any other similar form of ingestion to compare it to. While we can compare the effects of drinking alcohol or soda to other substances like water or juice, and evaluate the pros and cons, virtually ANY kind of smoke inhaled is pretty much all bad to one degree or another. In the wild, there is no other species that commonly inhales smoke of any kind. The body is not designed to ingest smoke the way it is designed to ingest food, drink, etc. We are not evolved (or created, if you like) to take in sustenance that way.
Inhaling vapors, as apposed to burnt gases, is inherently far less damaging. When you "burn" anything, you oxidize it - an oxygen molecule is bonded to molecules in the substances, which changes it into an different material - often toxic.
Inhaling nicotine in a vapor form is a more pure or unchanged form than in smoke. Just like inhaling the smell of toast is preferable to inhaling the smoke of burnt bread. This is why, when you try to calculate the mg of nicotine taken in by a cigarette and match that with mg in vaping, it does not compare. I was smoking a pack a day, but the mg required for me to satisfy my nic fits is FAR less when vaping. For some, it requires more. With cigarettes, the more I smoked, the more it calmed me. With vaping, the more I vape, the more irritable I become. For some, that has an opposite effect.
There is no way to calculate or predict what will be right for you. Even changing from one oil to another, or from one brand to another. All you can do is experiment. On top of that, what works best now may differ once your body has filtered out all the old toxins and adjusted to the new "norm" of vaping. When in doubt, reduce: try less nicotine, or less vaping, or less often or tapering down in the evening. If reducing something doesn't work, THEN try increasing.
 
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Daft Funk

Full Member
Jul 5, 2015
7
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Birmingham, AL
Every time I google any ONE of the chemicals in cigarettes I see that science has learned more about it's effects. Nicotine itself has a surprisingly more complicated range of effects than thought even just one year ago.
Read this short:
How Nicotine Works - HowStuffWorks
(the article is broken up over several pages; be sure to scroll to the subsequent pages)
Personally, I am more hooked on the ritual or actions of smoking - I love going outside for the break, lifting the object to my mouth, serenely drawing in the smoke, the burn on my throat and letting the dragon cloud pour out of my mouth like some kind of Buddhist demigod. That's why I also smoke pipe tobacco. Sharing new flavors with friends and strangers, talking bout the ongoings of the underside of the business (like sharing new flavors of herb, talking about growing methods with fellow growers) and that's why patches, gum, etc never worked for me.
Vaping is a God-send. Only two days with a vape pipe and I quit a pack-a-day habit of ten years ...cold turkey. And yes, the first four days, I didn't fall asleep for one minute. But it was worth it - no more ash trays, stinky breath, coughing up asphalt, sinus infections ...the best side effect: my non-smoking fiance's sex drive has tripled!
It's good to be here.
 

Robino1

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Daft Funk

Full Member
Jul 5, 2015
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Birmingham, AL
I'm fascinated by the effect that different things have on different people. Over the last 20 years, amazing leaps have been made in the understanding of different chemicals. Not just the conventional "drug" substances, even milk and bread can have a significant effect on someone. ANYTHING ingested can. On others, it can have the opposite effect. For some, no effect and others some random effect (remember that commercial for a prescription that "might cause an increased desire to gamble"? What is that about?).

Of course, the high-profile illicit substances frequently have effects that contradict popular expectations; sometimes because of the differences between people, sometimes because of the thousands of uncharted, highly complicated ingredients in the substances themselves (opiates can make some people hyper; most cannabinoids are suppressants, while the primary one is a stimulant; and as I stated before, adderall can have a focusing or calming effect for people with ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, etc, yet for most it is the mother of all stimulants (amphetamine)).
But more to the point, there are cheeses that reportedly give some people migraines, curing migraines in others and no effect on the average person. Some Blue cheeses have been known to give a select few visual and auditory hallucinations, others have temporarily lost colors in their vision. Though there's still no scientific proof (that I'm aware of), many people are certain that certain foods increase their sexual desire (aphrodesiacs), while for most they aren't.

If you've never tried the old "cup of warm milk before bed", you should. It really does help me calm down. My fiance thinks long-term or childhood conditioning explains it (incidentally, even if a placebo is self induced, if it works, it is legitimate). Second, the first time I tried warm milk was only 5 years ago at age 37. Third, I recently read an article about research that indicates some sleep chemicals produced by glands in the body can be triggered by components in milk; the effect is amplified exponentially when the milk temperature is increased - but this is only true for a portion on the population. Yet, a friend of mine has a son who is always very calm & collected, especially for a 14. Cold milk has no noticeable effect, but if he drinks warm milk, he becomes incredibly hyper. Not just normal hyper, he is clearly as high as a kite - out of control, full-on, thermonuclear turbo-spazaloid (no more Lucky Charms for him).

We all know people who wake up with coffee or tea, others who go to sleep with coffee or tea. Don't even get me started with spore-based items ; deli-mushrooms, fungi, molds, mildews.

I once knew a girl who ate spiders! I am not making this up! When she sees normal household or garden spiders, she grabs them like a grape, tosses them back and down the hatch it goes. If she went a week or so without her disgusting spidey-treats she would start getting more and more irritable, emotional, depressed, zoned-out and, oddly, would crave cigarettes (but was never a smoker). Who knows if it has the same or different effect on anyone else; who would want to know?? {How did she realize that she craved spiders? How did she first take the plunge?}

I dated a girl once who was so arachnophobic, if a spider came into her field of view, she would faint instantly, even if the spider was in her peripheral and she wasn't even consciously aware of its presence! Even the sight of a spider-mite would make her faint! Keep in mind that spider-mites are mite-sized spiders (arachnids; 8-legs), while the sight of a standard 6-legged mite wouldn't bother her), but both are so small that you need a magnifying glass to defferentiate)! But this is the weird part- a small portion of Heinz Ketchup once a day and she was fearless for the rest of the day! Not Hunt's, not Del Monte, only Heinz Ketchup! She could walk right up to them and squish them with her bare hand (even I have to use a napkin or shoe). I never let us run out of ketchup again.

So the question is, how do we vape chocolate?
(yes, I have too much time on my hands, this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon....
 

Firecrow

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I've been under incredible stress lately (professionally/personally/health) and have had trouble sleeping and of course my vaping is heavy. I've found that melatonin helps you get to and stay asleep - the deeper sleep you need.

If you can get it. I'm in Canada and have no trouble finding it in the health food stores. Its been working very well. Do the other things as well, don't eat after 6pm, establish a routine, keep away from caffeine if you're sensitive, etc. Sleep is complex and its rarely one thing that leads to problems with it.
 
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dionysuskiss

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Nov 28, 2014
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I've never had any problem with nicotine in cigs or vaping. Then again, back in the day, when ephedrine was used as a bronchial aid and not a weight loss aid, it never bothered me either. Quite the opposite, actually. All those warnings about nervousness and sleeplessness, and those things practically knocked me out.
 
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