Insomnia is the worst kind of hell on earth, and I'm not exaggerating! Last night I went to bed at 10:30, but couldn't fall asleep until after 3, and that only lasted for less than an hour as my "bunkmate" is (was) quitting smoking and kept tossing and turning and getting up. I didn't finally fall asleep for good until 6 in the morning, 20 minutes after I was supposed to get up. Everything seems to wake me up: noises (doesn't help that I live 2 blocks from a hospital and there are ambulances all night), movement, snores, heat, cold, anxiety if I wake up and find that my bunkmate isn't there, the need to go to the bathroom, and most of all - light. If one light in the house is turned on I'm more awake than if you'd just picked me up and made me drink a whole pot of coffee. Then I have about an hour of looking at the ceiling to look forward to.
Not like many of these things matter since I can't fall asleep most nights anyway. I lie in bed tossing and turning until the sheets are so messed up I can't get my whole body covered anymore. Then I take a blanket and move to the couch, where I do the same routine. Soon enough I start worying about all the stuff I have to do tomorrow. I think about how I really needed to fall asleep half an hour, an hour, two hours ago, etc and how I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow. I think about how my body needs this time to recover and it's going to be trashed in my next workout. Then my heart starts beating really fast and I can hear it in my ears and I think that surely this isn't right, I'm under too much stress. Then I start to blame everyone ever who's stressed me out and decide that they're selfish to ever have put me in this position. Sometimes I get pretty angry, and if you're ever unlucky enough to catch me sleepless, watch out.
I watch my insomnia and try to figure out what causes it. Overtraining? Undertraining? Afternoon coffee? Watching TV before bed? Talking before bed? Spending too much "awake time" reading or talking or eating in bed? Nothing seems to cause it. I've tried pills: valerian, tylenol PM, nyquil, xanax (didn't want to make that a habit)... all stopped working after awhile. Basically, sometimes my body can't sleep.
But here's my dilemma: after a sleepless night where tossing and turning has eatten away at 4 hours of your precious sleep time, do you go work out or do you stay in bed and rest? What if it happens for weeks on end?
I watch my insomnia and try to figure out what causes it. Overtraining? Undertraining? Afternoon coffee? Watching TV before bed? Talking before bed? Spending too much "awake time" reading or talking or eating in bed? Nothing seems to cause it. I've tried pills: valerian, tylenol PM, nyquil, xanax (didn't want to make that a habit)... all stopped working after awhile. Basically, sometimes my body can't sleep.
But here's my dilemma: after a sleepless night where tossing and turning has eatten away at 4 hours of your precious sleep time, do you go work out or do you stay in bed and rest? What if it happens for weeks on end?
2 comments:
You may have tried all these before, and if so, don't shoot the messenger (who has done some insomnia before too).
1. Start turning off all bright lights an hour or two before bedtime. Don't reset the body clock with a dose of artificial sunshine. Perhaps dim or turn of the TV.
2. Keep a pad a paper by the bed. Instead of thinking of things, write them down and release them.
3. Put some white noise tracks on your I-Pod. I have ocean waives, rainstorms, and something called the "Ultimate Sleep System." Try foam earplugs and a sleep mask.
4. No afternoon coffee--quit coffee if you can. Hard, but I tried and finally did it.
5. No exercise within 2 hours of bed time.
6. Same bedtime every day. Same wake time every day. (Easier for domesticated 40 year old married man than 20-something Euro party chica).
7. Turn the clock around. Never look at it.
8. Rather than get frustrated, get up and read if you're not falling asleep. (Read in another room.)
I hope something helps. I loves my sleep and hate when it won't happen.
Steve Pavlina has written an interesting article on sleep. You might want to give this one a read: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/
I think he would suggest only going to sleep at the point you are so tired you feel about to drop but get up at the time you planned regardless of how you feel.
He explains better than me though.
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