Can't sleep, any thoughts?

[DocRocz]

I'm coming up on 90 days of vaping. No desire to smoke and doing very well on that front.
I have observed a strange phenomena. I used to be able to sleep very well on the average of 9 hours a day and felt great. No suddenly I'm lucky if I can sleep 6 hours. Currently I'm averaging about 4 hours a day and that really doesn't cut it for me. I don't feel bad or even run down, I just know that I'm not as sharp as I was when I was getting more hours of sleep.

Any thoughts on what you might think is going on?
I'm sure it would be helpful to know what I'm vaping so here is what I have been doing.
I'm using American made juice that is PG 75% and VG 25% that has been cut down to about 16ml strength.
I was using 24 ml and that was ok but when I switched to the American made it was just to strong to had to dilute it in about half.

Thanks for your responses.

 

[Kurt]

Disclaimer: we are not medical doctors here in ATV, and can only give our opinions. These are not to be construed as professional medical advice.

A couple things may be contributing to lack of sleep. It could be you are vaping to high a strength nic too close to bed, or too much vaping close to bed. With smoking you are getting almost all nic to the lungs, which goes right to the brain right away. So fast spike up in nic in the brain, and fairly fast lowering of the nic from metabolism. Have a smoke, and within a 1/2 hour your nic levels are much lower.

Vaping is mostly orally absorbed, not lung absorbed, and oral is much slower. So vape a bunch before you go to bed, and that nic is still getting absorbed for a while, so the brain levels remain higher longer. I myself have to be careful to not vape too much before trying to sleep. So I suggest either cutting back on the nic before bed, or greatly cutting back on the vaping, in general. For the same reason, many people do not sleep well with a nic patch on.

I also find that PG itself will keep me from sleeping well. I don't know if that is from the PG itself, or that PG makes nic more available for absorption, since it makes a thinner juice. Or both. Regardless, its one of the reasons I vape VG juices that barely have any PG in them, just from the flavorings. I know this because if I make a juice with 20% flavoring (~16% PG) I will have trouble sleeping, regardless of the nic level. A juice with 10% flavoring (~8% PG), as long as the nic is low, will not do this. Has to do with my throat, phelgm and PG aggravating my sleep apnea. Not saying you have these issues, but I have found a sleep correlation with PG, and I've done the experiment several times.

More than likely your issue is too much nic or too much vaping too near to bed. If changing these do not work, I would look into getting some VG juices and try them out. If all of these suggestions do not work, you might actually have a sleeping disorder unrelated to vaping, or vaping is simply making it worse. The acetylcholine neurotransmitter system in the brain is what is activated by nicotine, and this system is strongly involved with sleep and dreaming, as well as alert thinking during the day (and a bunch of other stuff too).


You might also consider posting this to (Health, Safety and E-Smoking). And of course if it does not improve, or gets worse, see your doctor.

Good luck!

 

[Katya]

What he said!

I also like to vape Nhaler's Sleepy Time Tea (8 mg/ml)--diluted with plain PG or VG. It contains all kinds of soothing herbal extracts and melatonin. No idea it those herbs really work--it might be placebo effect, but it's still a nice pre-bedtime vape.

 

[DonDaBoomVape]

And avoid coffee-flavored e-liquid close to bedtime.

Actually, I'm teasing about that.;-) Virtually* no e-liquid has any caffeine, even the coffee-flavored.

* According to Totally Wicked's website, Decadent Vapour's Dopplo Espresso e-liquid is "Strong, black coffee with a real caffeine kick." Whether or not that is literally the case, I don't know.​

A bit more seriously: I think Kurt nailed it with the nicotine. Heavy vaping late in the evening has interfered with my getting to sleep.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

* According to Totally Wicked's website, Decadent Vapour's Dopplo Espresso e-liquid is "Strong, black coffee with a real caffeine kick." Whether or not that is literally the case, I don't know.​

Don, I can confirm it is literally the case, along with several other of their flavours. Definately something to avoid at bedtime there.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I had trouble sleeping when I first took up vaping over two years ago. Tried a lot of things but the only one that really worked for me was exercise. Go on a walk. Do it late in the day. Make it a long walk. 45 minutes minimum. You'll sleep. Bank on it.

 

[Vapor Pete]

I vape 11mg 555 heavy all day. Then I get into bed and switch to my RN-4075 with Menthol 16mg, while watching TV. Eventually, the TV goes off, I put the e-cig down, pick up my book and Im asleep in about a page and a half. Just my own experience...