Sleep-deprived.
Over the past four years or so, I have developed what has become a chronic sleep problem. It comes on for weeks at a time. When I'm experiencing the problem, I wake up at 3, or 2, or 1:30 a.m., and can't sleep for either the entire rest of the night (!) or can't sleep until around dawn. Then, I'm so exhausted I have a very hard time getting up. Sometimes, it gets so bad that I can never fall asleep - I literally lay (lie?) there awake, all night long. This even happens when I take sleeping pills.
The problem is usually a racing mind. When I wake up in the middle of the night like I'm talking about here, it will be with my mind racing, full of all the things I need to do, thinking and re-thinking sometimes the same things. And worrying about, will it all get done, HOW will it all get done, what will be the results and effects if it does (or does not) all get done, etc.
I've been having this problem for the past week. Started last Monday, I think, when I was awake from 3 til 6 a.m. Tuesday night I woke up at 2 a.m. And so it continued for the entire rest of the week, even when I took sleep aids to curb the problem. By Friday evening, I was completely disoriented and barely functional. Despite this tiredness, and even with a full dose of sleep aid, Friday night was the same (for sleep) as the prior 4 nights. So Saturday night I said, no sleep aid, it ain't workin', and, as I got ready to go to sleep, I tried to talk myself into believing I would have a full, restful night's sleep, would sleep the whole night through, and would turn my mind off any racing thoughts.
I don't know if it was this talk with myself or the sheer exhaustion, but Saturday night I actually did get a full 8 or 9 hours, hoo-rah! I felt so-o-o much better Sunday, having had some real rest! So I tried this little talk with myself again last night, but this time, unfortunately, no dice. I woke up at 1:45 a.m. Argh! After lying awake for a long time, I did finally start fading in and out of fitful dozing. So now, I have a pretty good (week long) sleep deficit going, I am tired again today, the circles under my eyes are ghoulish, and I just really want to know, what can I do to stop this problem?! Any help out there from anyone who's suffered sleep problems?
posted by Wendy @ 10:14 AM
14 Comments:
OK you are sooo reminding me of me for two reasons, jiggy....
One is that I have this site bookmarked and have to use it every time I write: http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/lie.html
Secondly, I have always had sleep problems too, that go in droves where I am fine for a month or two then have a month of craptastic sleep. I find that the more I exercise the better it gets but still, I totally identify!
I too have sleep problems (yours sound worse though! ouch!) and here's what's working for me lately:
Lay flat on your back, wiggle your toes back and forth (seriously!) and breathe deeply, slowly, concentrating on your inhale/exhale. Really focus on the breathing. It has helped me and hopefully will give you some relief too.
Try counting sheep in your head, backwards from 100. You have to really concentrate and SEE each sheep as it appears then disappears from your mind. I've never, never, ever made it past 70, no matter how stressed I am.
I'm going t try the tips that others have give you because I have the SAME problem.
Lately though I have a new fun problem of not feeling like I've slept at all, even though I know I have.
Every so often this happens to me (though you have it much worse than I ever had), and it truly is a misery. When it does, I allow myself to toss and turn for only so long before I give up and just get up out of bed -- to read, get online, or *something*. It serves as a distraction for my unquiet mind for one thing -- plus, I'll often find myself getting drowsy again after an hour or so (especially if I choose some particularly dull reading material). Here's hoping you get caught up -- sleep deprivation can lead to all sorts of ills....
I do the same as Lue - get up after trying to go back to sleep if it's been more than 30 minutes. If my mind's been racing, which is usually the culprit, I make a list of EVERYTHING that is going through my head, even if it makes no sense or seems insignificant, and this often calms me down - it's on paper now, so I won't "forget" it, which is part of the mind-racing game for me. And then I'll do something on the "list" - preferably something easy so that I can check it off. I'll continue on until I feel tired enough to try sleeping again, or sometimes I just stay up for the rest of the time.
Good luck with this - being sleep-deprived really sucks.
I have had this as well. I find that it usually happens when I feel like I have to many things on my plate... or that things aren't where I want them to be (this can be financially, weight wise, relationship, school, work, housework... etc). Anyway, what I find works the best is to get up and do something productive that makes me feel as if I have accomplished something to make at least one of those things I am worrying about more under control. I usually find that at most it takes only a couple hours of working on something to give me some mental peace, and then I head back to bed.
For me personally, to protect against this happening, it helps to be more proactive about staying on top of the things that I worry about.
The bugger of the thing is.... the longer you go without good sleep, the harder it is to stay on top of things.
I suffer the same thing - waking at 1:30 or 2, lying there awake for forever, finally falling back asleep an hour before I have to get up, spend the next day feeling like ass.
Here's some things that have helped me.
Not eating much of anything a couple of hours before bed. Digestion can interrupt sleep.
Not drinking too much before bed - sometimes it was my bladder waking me up, but then my brain would hit overdrive and it would all be over. Avoiding the middle of the night bathroom break ups my chances of sleeping through.
Listening to a meditation CD as I fall asleep. I don't "do" the whole thing - I drift off at some point, but it certainly gets me in a very relaxed state and calms my mind. Brainsync.com has some great guided meditation CDs.
Good luck!
Actually neca - I used to have this sounds of the ocean cd that supposedly had subliminal relaxation messages in it, and it really worked!
I forgot all about that.
Jigga - have you tried herbals too?
hey, everyone, thanks a lot for the suggestions! I tried Julie's last night and the wiggling the toes thing actually seemed to kind of work! But I am making notes of ALL these suggestions because when my mind is racing so much it keeps me awake, it is VERY resistant to my machinations! So I need lots of tools at my disposal!
Speaking of which - snackie - I haven't tried herbals. Which would I try, do you know?
I appreciate the suggestions to get up and do, but the things my mind is racing on are not, unfortunately, things that are susceptible to me doing them in the middle of some (or even several) nights. I think the ideas of writing these things down - and getting them OUT - may be very helpful, though. I am definitely going to try this (also part of Zara's suggestion in her comment on my accidental double-post, which I am only not deleting because I don't want to delete her comment, I loves me some Zara!).
Oh my, this is so familiar. And let me just chime in a big YES to whoever said you should consider writing this stuff down at night. I had terrible mind-racing episodes for a few years, and a therapist made me start keeping a notebook beside my bed. It helped more than I can say! I jotted down everything and anything that occupied my thoughts, and I looked it over first thing next morning to honor my worries, and that helped me immensely. I also found I couldn't sleep with a very untidy room, so before bed I'd putter around clearing up all the clutter and getting things ready for the next morning, and despite sounding obvious it really did help.
Good luck to you!
Jigga -
Email me at snackiepoo@gmail.com and I can give you a link to order stuff that I use but since it is a MLM type deal, I can give you my log in code and password but basically it is a mixture of valerian root and chamomile, which you could buy on its own and take both at night. I take my "sleep rite" herbs every night!
Hi, Wendy -- came here from LBfromBufaD's blog.
Have you tried sleep hypnosis CDs? Possibly worth checking out (could maybe help get the urban-business-law-esque buzz noise sufficiently out of the head).
Also, what snackiepoo said about working out.
Also, what Denise said.
Have a lot of friends going through this lately.
When it's the mind racing problem, the best thing I can do is distract myself. I listen to our local NPR affiliate, which is all-talk. If I'm still awake after an hour of that, then I'll read, and/or get up and relocate to another sleep location: another bedroom, or the couch, usually with the NPR affiliate on.
This sleeplessness after a short sleep is common in perimenopausal and menopausal women, by the way, and if you find that you're also a bit too warm when you wake up, it could be a symptom of that. So you might consider looking into some of the herbal remedies for menopause.
Keep us posted!
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