What’s the dose, and I think you’d mention you take extended release, right?
Yay! Yes, it’s crazy how powerful what we tell ourselves about sleep (and everything else in life) can be!
I found that Set It & Forget It gave me more freedom to live without my self imposed sleep constraints and conditions. Given the positive outcome for my sleep, I hope that the principles may even generalize to other areas of my life. 
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I take 10 mg extended release and 60 mg of immediate release. I view melatonin as more of a general health supplement than a sleep supplement although I’m sure it helps some with sleep. Melatonin alone was never enough for me personally.
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I also wake up after a 3-4 hours of sleep. I am lucky since taurin calms my nervous system. 1,5 - 3 grams puts me back to sleep, after 20 - 30 min or so.
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Dr. Greger has an interesting video on sleep, longevity, melatonin and more.
Podcast: How Much Sleep Is Enough? (Dr. Greger)
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It looks like I’m all in with the Set it and Forget it method. I figured I’ve done everything else so I might as well give it a go. I was concerned about driving in the middle of the night if I get called out with Doxepin on board and my husband said he would drive me but I really don’t want him to have to do that!
Last night I didn’t wear my Fitbit or take Doxepin and so far I haven’t died from not taking it or having a sleep score! 
I actually feel like I’m not as tired during the day without the drug but I’ve only missed 2 doses.
The worst case scenario if this doesn’t work after all is that I return to what I’ve been doing. I’m committed to giving this at least 3 months though.
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Not related but kinda sorta
As you’ve surely heard (because I announce it from the rooftops, daily) this year I became a sleeper after being a lifelong insomniac… well, until a few months ago, even if I didn’t take it, I HAD to have ambien in my nightstand. I’d have anxiety that would keep me awake if I didn’t have a 911 at my fingertips… a security blanket.
Fast forward… I no longer have it near me, and I have zero anxiety about it.
I’ll be in a hotel for a couple of nights this month and I’m thinking of even traveling without it just to see if I can mentally handle it. To me, this is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute…
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Go Beth! Congratulations!!! I’m rooting for you and please share how it goes!
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I found this short discussion on sleep helpful. I’ve noticed without sleep meds my pattern is similar to the Japanese which makes sense with my bmi and low inflammation.
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The paper Siim Land cites is linked below.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1087079217300278?via%3Dihub
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Awesome! Thank you so much.
“Your Screens Are Keeping You Awake”
I believe this is largely a myth. I have been using computers and smartphones right up until bedtime from the time they became widely available. The amount of blue light intensity compared with the sky is miniscule. I do use warm light LEDs in my bedroom and dim them substantially starting two hours before bedtime, but I have not noticed using my computer or phone until about 1/2 hr before bedtime having any noticeable effect on sleep latency.
I’m interested to know if other members experience sleep problems before bedtime from using their computers or phones.
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I have not. I used to believe they did but it turned out for me personally that stressing over screens and blue light was actually a big part of my sleep problems. Sadly a few years ago I almost stopped sleeping in the bedroom with my husband over the tv. Thanks to someone here, I read a book called Set It and Forget It, that helped me overcome numerous sleep rituals that were actually fear based and interfering with my ability to relax enough to sleep. It was a viscous cycle. As a recovered insomniac I skip over anything on the topic of sleep nowadays and just trust that my body will sleep when ready regardless of the light in my environment. As a wise person here says frequently YMMV.
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IMO: The main thing that affects many people is that their minds are racing and too active at about the time they are going to bed.
It’s not the computer or smartphone it’s about the content and what you are doing.
If you are doing something boring on your computer, like doing your income taxes that’s one thing, but if you’re playing games on your computer that’s another thing. The same with your phone, it’s what you’re doing, are you getting yourself all worked up over social media or news stories?
This also applies to other media such books.
Are you reading a page turning thriller right before you go to bed or are you reading some boring nonfiction economics book?
I think the amount of blue light that you receive from your electronic devices is trivial in its effects on sleep by comparison to the other factors.
Three OTC supplements that will help slow your mind from racing are GABA, l-theanine, and l-tryptophan, taken an hour before bedtime.
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I do take melatonin (time released), magnesium glycinate, magnesium threonate,TMG, apagenin, tadalafil, and the conform to habits about not eating after around 6, no alcohol,etc. But the one thing that seems to work best (I notice the difference if I do not take) are the THC gummies. The dose is easy to control and after a while you know just how much to take. Not thrilled about it, but it works well with no hangovers. I have tried Trazadone and a couple of other things but now feel I do not want to take any meds that work on the brain, specifcally the serotonin levels, if I can avoid. My sleep has been in the nineties and high eighties (optimum or close) for months now, and usually reach the target for REM but a little below for SWS.
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I’ve shared this previously but my eye doc did told me I never have to limit screen use because he saw that my eyes naturally filter blue light well enough from my diet… still fascinated by that.
I always did and continue to use screens in bed. I do control the other light around me and I don’t watch shows with upsetting themes before bed.
Before I fixed my insomnia from being a member here, I eventually learned to sleep while listening to podcasts (I actually learned this accidentally after falling alseep on the Clubhouse app… remember CH!!!).
It would have to be a boring topic (meaning not the news!) and a monotone speaker, like Huberman Labs. It would sort of lull me to sleep. It took the anxiety of not being able to sleep away because while I was up I was focused on trying to learn something. No racing thoughts about not being able to sleep, and if I woke up in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t be upset and would just start listening again. To me, just sitting there trying to sleep is mental torture and creates stress. Embracing entertainment melted it away… like you @blsm I could just say, I’ll fall back to sleep or not, and if not, I’m learning and fine with it.
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Beautiful @Beth. That’s exactly my experience. Once I stopped seeing being awake at night as a threat and started doing things like reading, listening or watching something enjoyable (usually on a screen) if I found myself awake at night my nervous system calmed down and my sleep improved. I’m still shocked/surprised by it a times after a decade of struggling.
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