How do you sleep after a rehearsal or show?

Chollyred

Chollyred

Senior Member
We practice Wednesday nights around 7-730 and get out of there around 830-845. I'm usually in bed by 930 (get up at 5). Sometime during the night after practice, I'll wake up and cannot go back to sleep. Like last night, we worked on 9 Christmas songs. Around 130, BAM! I was awake with the music running through my head. I finally fell back asleep close to 4 and the alarm went off at 5.

Does anyone else have this issue? Other nights I don't have this problem. How do you turn it off?
 
I deffo wake up during the night after a rehearsal or gig with songs running through my head!!! I dream drum along until I'm back into deep sleep again!!!
 
Between a 9-5 job Mon-Fri, hitting the gym several nights a week, and gigging Fri & Sat (often getting home anywhere between 1:30 to 2:30 in the morning) I have ZERO problem falling and staying asleep. For almost 2 decades so far with this kind of schedule, I have become somewhat of a night owl so getting enough quality sleep in general has been the norm for me.
 
It takes me a while (maybe an hour?) to wind down after a gig or rehearsal. Gotta calm a racing mind.
 
Here is what I have done to help solve sleeping issues.
#1 Don't be in a hurry to go to bed. I have found that when I try to get into bed as soon as possible after a gig or rehearsal I usually can't get to sleep and/or stay asleep. I'll get home at midnight and I have to get up at 4 am. Don't hurry and get to bed. Take your time. I play a little solitaire on my cell phone to relax. Or I spend a few minutes on the internet, drummer world forum.

#2 If I can't sleep, after about one hour, I will get up and do something else. Usually reading puts me to sleep.

#3 A little bit of warm milk and cookies helps me fall asleep.

#4 Turn on the TV. Watch the shopping network.

.
 
I only get 4 hours of sleep on any given night, so late night gigs are not really an issue for me. All of my bands practice in the late morning or afternoon, so that also does not effect me.

My nightly sleep habit: fall asleep around 2:30am, get up at 6am to be at school by 7:30. If I get more than 5 hours of sleep, I am a zombie all day. It has been this way for me as far back s I can remember
 
When I was gigging until recently I was typically commuting to London and back, after playing a gig/rehearsal/recording, then jumping on the tube and then a final train home carrying all my gear, by the time I got home I was shattered.

The only thing I used to bother me was ringing ears when trying to sleep, then a few years ago I started using hearing protection and that issue was solved.

On the train home I'd typically read a book also. Always find that a book helps to slow down your mind and prepare you for sleep.
 
Ha! My cat gets me up all night. She wants in, she wants out. I learned to sleep when I can.
 
Next month will mark four years since I've had any coffee, not so much as a sip. That really helped me a lot with my sleep. I had trouble sleeping my entire adult life, interestingly, since I started drinking coffee. Who knew?
 
No issues winding down after a rehearsal. It's always uneventful. After a gig, I do need at least an hour after getting home to wind down.
 
If I'm really lucky? In my own bed!
 
No Way Jose said:
Ha! My cat gets me up all night. She wants in, she wants out. I learned to sleep when I can.
Click to expand...
I know the feeling, we used to have five cats, now down to two, when the first cat wake me to get out, I know it's about 20 minutes until the next wants to follow...
 
My 23 year old daughter keeps telling my wife and me that we should meditate.
 
Chollyred said:
We practice Wednesday nights around 7-730 and get out of there around 830-845. I'm usually in bed by 930 (get up at 5). Sometime during the night after practice, I'll wake up and cannot go back to sleep. Like last night, we worked on 9 Christmas songs. Around 130, BAM! I was awake with the music running through my head. I finally fell back asleep close to 4 and the alarm went off at 5.

Does anyone else have this issue? Other nights I don't have this problem. How do you turn it off?
Click to expand...

This is something I'm experiencing too and always have done as a creative person. Just so you know, creative people such as Musicians, Artists and Writers are often known to have overactive minds and tend to struggle with sleeping because their imaginative thoughts are still generating ideas, visuals, sounds, stories ...etc that never shut down. so your probably just that way inclined? Take it as a good thing.

After a band practice I sometimes sleep well as it's physically tiring like a good work out and loading gear takes it out of me, but most of the time the music and drum beats are still going round in my head! After a gig - although I find myself relieved from all of the nerves and anxiousness I feel before hand, I'll still be buzzing from it!

I can never completely turn off but I avoid caffeine, instead drink chamomile, and always have a relaxing bath when I get in to wind down, rather than going straight to bed, it really helps.
 
I like to sleep the same way as any other night.
Typically I start out as a back sleeper, then after 10-15 minutes I roll over to my left side. Not my right side though because I sometimes snore and then I'll be blasting my snoring speaker directly at my wife.
Then at around 4 am one of our dogs routinely jumps on the bed and squeezes between my wife and I for mandatory pets. She's cute. So she gets them. Because I'm in my 40's, 4 am is also a good time to go pee so it all works out great.
Hope this helps!
 
Typically I sleep horribly after rehearsal or a gig. HOWEVER, if I used earplugs during the gig, it helps a ton. That's me, at least. We're all different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top