Daily prompt: Sleepy time

Tags

insomnia, postaday2014, procrastination, sleep

More and more of us go to bed too late because of sleep procrastination. What are the nighttime rituals that keep you up before finally dozing off?

I recognize that I am incredibly lucky in the sleep department; if I want to go to sleep, all I need to do is get comfortable, close my eyes and off to sleep I go. I know that my ability to go to sleep is a luxury that apparently, if I listen to the almost constant barrage of commercials dedicated to sleep remedies, few ever know.

Having qualified my relationship with sleep; I confess that I am guilty of sleep procrastination at times. I love my t.v and there are times when my husband and I have a lot of catching up to do with our favorite programs so instead of rolling over to sleep, I make the conscience decision to stay awake to catch up with my stories. I have noticed that playing my favorite card games on my iPad is the easiest way that I can stay awake to finish watching my shows. I know this because the minute that I put away my iPad away to charge overnight. I inevitably fall asleep even as I fight against it.

All of the other things that may impede other people from sleeping such as light, noise, movement don’t bother me at all. The only physical thing that can get in the way of falling asleep is if I am too hot, like sweating hot or shivering cold, other then that sleep is never far away.

I have been woken up by my stomach being empty on occasion and all that it takes is a quick bite and I can fall back to sleep very easily. Which brings me to the sad thought that there are so many who sleep poorly each and every night because they are poverty stricken and either suffer from being too hot, too cold and/or going to bed hungry.

In a more just world, I am sure that we would come together as a society to work on eradicating those horrendous living conditions so that everyone can at least fall asleep in a comfortable environment with their hunger assuaged. That is my wish for the world.

Daily prompt: Mister Sandman

Tags

insomnia, postday2014, sleep

What kind of sleeper are you? Do you drop off like a stone and awaken refreshed, or do you need pitch black and silence to drift off to dream?

My husband has described me as a narcoleptic, I can drop off to sleep anytime, anywhere and sleep through anything. I have slept through an earthquake in Blandford, MA and I have fallen asleep in dance clubs. However when my children were babies, I could hear them turn over in their crib during the night, the only times that my sleep was so easily disturbed or interrupted.

I appreciate it so very much and I do not take my sleeping capabilities for granted. The only complaint that I have is that I have not wakened feeling refreshed in a very long time. It doesn’t matter how many hours I sleep, I wake up tired, finally after participating in a sleep study, my doctor has determined that I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Speaking of the sleep study, I was taken aback at how uncomfortable the get up was that they adhered to your body in order to take part in the monitoring, I didn’t have any issue falling asleep, but how do others sleep when sleep for them is an issue? I suppose that the goal is to track what happens during sleep, but when you have electrodes all over your body and your head attached to a large box next to you in bed, how do ordinary people fall asleep? I can sleep without mattresses, pillows and the dark; electrodes and wires for me was a no brainer. My experience gave me added compassion for those who suffer from sleep issues. I am very lucky indeed.

The sleep study gave no clues as to why I can’t find a way to feeling refreshed, hence the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome diagnosis. So the best thing to do and the easiest way to live with the diagnosis is to embrace sleep, to embrace rest beyond sleep and to listen to the advice given to me by my dear friend Tilly, moderation is key to everything.

I have been reading about menopause and I fear that sleep disturbance is one of the things that come with menopause. I am very nervous about this, I love my ease of sleep and I really don’t want to see it go away. But don’t you worry, for now I won’t let it keep me up at night. 😉