Like many people, I have some trouble sleeping. Years ago a doctor told me that if I can't sleep in the middle of the night, I should get up and read a really boring book.
Most of the time I can fall asleep. My main problem is waking up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep. I don't know why this happens. When I was still teaching, I would wake up and start to worry about school. I would make lesson plans in my head, which I would of course forget by morning.
Now I'm retired and usually don't have much to worry about. I don't know why I'm awake. So I do get up, go downstairs (so as not to wake my husband), and read a novel. The book can't be too exciting and usually I have read it before. Reading takes my mind off not being able to sleep, so then I can go back to sleep.
I do see a sleep doctor, a neurologist who specializes in sleep. I take time-release melatonin and L-theanine. The time release is supposed to help me stay asleep.
In the past, before electricity, people generally went to bed when it got dark. In the winter when the nights were long, people often woke up in the middle of their long sleep and used that time to have a snack, interact with their bed partner, and finally go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Thinking about that, I wonder how much of our modern problem with sleep is caused by artificial light. There's no going back from that.
Anyway, my solution is to read downstairs, in the middle of the night, nothing too exciting. It works for me.
When I wake up and can't fall back to sleep I toss and turn. Sometimes I write some ideas down. I haven't tried reading because I am afraid that if I turn lights on I would be awake for the rest of the night.
ReplyDeleteThere is that danger of getting sucked into a good book.
DeleteKathy has the same problem. She sometimes reads or does puzzles. (Don't know how effective doing puzzles is.) I am lucky that I don't have this problem. If I get up during the night I can usually get right back to sleep. arjeha
ReplyDeleteTo each his or her own! My sister-in-law plays video games when she can't sleep. Personally, I can't think of anything less likely to help you sleep.
DeleteI once in a while have this problem as well. Often, lately, I'm just too tired to get out of bed, and so I can ruminate and turn and toss for two hours. Your plan sounds better.
ReplyDeleteIt's rare for me to sleep through the night without being awake for part of it. My latest trick is not to look at the time. If I do, then I start calculating how long I've been awake. If I don't check the time, I seem to get back to sleep more quickly.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to struggles with staying asleep! Somewhere I learned the "alphabet trick". Pick any letter & concentrate on visualizing as many nouns as you can that start with that letter. If you run out of nouns or get bored, move on to another letter. Usually by the third letter you fall asleep. What this really does is signal to my brain that it's time to go to sleep (or back to sleep). On occasion, if I'm really worrying about something (usually a someone), I can't keep my focus. But, this really helps me most days.
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting to think about not being able to sleep through the night as a modern problem--that long ago, people would just embrace their time awake in the middle of the night. I really enjoyed your ending! It sounds like a great solution.
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