28 June 2005
So...
Insomnia.
Sucks.
Anyone got a spare cure hanging around?
Me too. I've tried watching tellie, but there's usually nothing worth watching. Reading blogs, but that just stirs the brain. Listening to iPod with "sleep" set to xxx minutes, but doesn't always work - and if it does work, then I soon wake up because of earache due to headphones pressed into lugholes.
Latest experiment is bedtime snack of cheese and crackers plus cuppa tea, then retire and wait for zzzzzzzzzzzzzz's to arrive in waves.
Or not, hence this post.
Why the headphones, cus Ms Luke is already asleep within minutes, or so it seems.
And that cryptic reference is the source of the best natural cure for insomnia. Except, not for me - cus it wakes me up.
Cheese before bed? Keeps me dreaming weird dreams so I avoid that.
If I can't sleep I just get up and do something, work, clean, tidy whatever. No cure that I know of...
Sensible people would suggest lavender pillows, gentle routines and soft music. But I usually get up and read in the other room (change is as good as rest and all that) for a few hours. Then when my eyes are like piss holes in the snow and my head is pounding from exhaustion, I go back to bed. Then I have a couple of very unproductive days in which I look like a frog. Or you could try ginger and lemon tea and fresh air before bed.
Stuff that allegedly works well:
Get absolutely pissed
Watch dumb programs on the telly
Start writing a story without a plot
Of course, I just ignore it and go on with whatever it is I'm doing. It's painful when you find out that one thing you're doing is drinking coffee.
Sleeping pills!
I have periodically had a quite severe problem with insomnia for a few years. It still comes back ocasionally, usually if I binge out on sugary food for a few days.
Alot of it had to do with anxiety due to my mental case former flat mate, who had an endless stream of crackhead boyfriends, (this is a novel length story in itself). We finally managed to get her out about 2.5 months ago. My sleep has improved dramatically.
The single other thing which really helped was I went on a low sugar, low yeast diet. After a few weeks it really made a difference. I kept it up for nearly 3 months. I lost about a stone as well which was also ok with me.
Also i started doing tae bo which a kind of excercise based on thai boxing. i think it helped to work out some of the rage at aforementioned burglar loving crackhead obsessed flatmate as well as the obvious excercise related benefits.
Another theory I read about is to make sure you get very bright light on your face in the morning, even if you have to go stand uder a lamp for 10 mins as soon as you get up, its supposed to "re set your body clock".
In other news.. I think i saw you in the street the other day! but i wasnt sure so i didnt wave - if it was you, you were on the other side of the street in what appeared to be a fire alarm drill
outside your office?
I hope this helps, insomnia really wears you down after a while.
S
Also, as an emergency measure, if you know anyone coming back from abroad, get them to pick up some melatonin pills. They work.
Yeah, that was me. Getting sunburned during two fire drills, which then resulted in us being sent home for health and safety reasons because of a faulty fire alarm system.
... and thanks everyone for the suggestions - I'm just getting a bit punchy because I haven't slept more than 6 hours a night, and frequently only 3-4 max for the last month or so.
So excuse any wackiness that might ensue in the coming days, assuming that the sleep thing doesn't get sorted.
Staying awake for long periods of time often makes you tired, and this sleepy ... :-)
enjoy it... more hours i the day.. I love it! I usually read the books I keep meaning to read. :)
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