Ok, not completely sleepless, yet. It's only 11 PM, but I went to bed around 9:30. I turned out the lights a while later and immediately got the sensation that I was forgetting something. But I can't find anything. And then I noticed that Yahoo had tips for insomniacs and had to read them, lol.
Now I am wide awake again. Crap. I thought it was interesting that one of the tips I read was not to think of anything that required brain power. One of my favorite ways to fall asleep is to count backwards (Don't laugh, but 99 bottles of beer on the wall works really well, lol). Or I imagine myself walking down a steep flight of stairs, and count down from 100 that way.
Counting up in Spanish works well for me too. For me it's not as much about taxing my brain as it is about refocusing my brain. There are so many nights that I just can't turn my thoughts off. Thoughts of work wander through, along with so many other things. Things I did that day, could have done, wish I had done. Concentrating on the numbers gives me a focus and wears my little brain out enough that I can finally fall asleep, lol.
And of course, sometimes blogging about things that are bugging me helps ;)
Insomnia has been an issue off and on since my daughter was born. After a while I found myself sliding into depression. The lack of sleep made me grumpy and short with my child, which made me feel like a bad mom, which made my thoughts go 'round and 'round at bedtime. It was a vicious cycle.
I finally mentioned it to my doctor. He diagnosed depression and put me on a very low dose of anti-depressant. A bonus was that the anti-depressant he put me on had a sleep aid as well.
When I lost my long-time job due to location closure, with the company who shall not be named but is going down the toilet now, I also lost my insurance. And that meant good-bye to the "happy" pills. By that point I was down to one a few nights a week instead of every night, so it wasn't a total hardship. I do sleep much better now, once I fall asleep I pretty much am dead. It's the getting there that can be hard.
I do all the wrong things. I watch TV in bed, I knit in bed, I surf the web in bed. All the things that sleep specialists tell you not to do if you have trouble falling asleep. The bed is supposed to be about sleep. But our house is little. There's no where else to stretch out and relax, if the kiddo or the hubby is watching TV in the living room. So the bedroom is it. And I pay the price for it at bedtime. But there's just no alternative.
Anyhoo. I guess I am off to count steps ;) Good night!
