Insomnia jan 2009
Don't know if it's the jet lag or the car crash or both, but something keeps me awake. It's 3.30 and even though I stayed awake till 2.30 to be sure I'd fall asleep, I've still had no sleep. The usual trick doesn't work either.
In about 30 hours I have to be awake, well rested, focused and ready to give a lecture. I need some sleeping advice, dudes.
I do the ironing when I can't sleep...
ReplyDeleteI've slowly built a routine so that playing re-runs via DVD makes me very sleepy. But I'm also not opposed to taking a pill to help me rest - I've read that's not healthy for long (something about sleep quality, I think) but they do work in a pinch. I do hope you found a way to rest - sweet dreams!
ReplyDeletesee this is tricky. I usually do a gruesome work out and then end with a glass of wine. Makes me heavy in the head and tired in the body. Mixed with favorite tv series on dvd (so I've seen it before) makes me sleepy...
ReplyDeleteiwsh you luck!
stepwise; unfortunately ironing is not a good solution because 1) I don't own anything that really needs ironing and 2) my flat mate's bed is in the living room, so I can't just pop in there at 4 am in the morning....
ReplyDeletebut thanks for the tip!
post-doc; I'll try to avoid pills as long as possible, but I was informed that nowadays the oldfashioned antihistamines that make people drowsy are actually now used as a light medication for insomnia troubles. Might try that out.
chall; I will try the following trick today. I fell asleep some time between 430 and 5 am this morning and got up at 8 am. Should be able to drift away for a few hours? Because I'm too fucking tired for a work-out and too much preparations left to do.
If racing thoughts are keeping me awake, I try to focus my thoughts on something else, like imagining my blood flowing through my veins throughout my body. Or imagining sheep jumping in a way that coincides with my breathing. I don't suffer from insomnia often, so these things might not be all that helpful.
ReplyDeleteEGF; trying to focus on something else than thoughts is what I usually try to do, but I find it incredibly hard to keep my brain from bouncing back and forth between my inner skull walls
ReplyDeleteMeditate? I had insomnia a lot in high school and read all these meditation and yoga books. The trick that worked for me was to very slowly, tense up all my muscles one body part at a time then relax them. Go from the toes up and focus only on the weight on the muscles after tensing them. By the time I get to my jaw, my thoughts are usually calm and I can focus on breathing till falling asleep.
ReplyDeleteI think the running followed by wine sounds pretty effective too!
albatross; yes, I should probably try that. Too much to think of....
ReplyDeleteIt also helps not crashing cars I think.
it's a bit too late for advice so i'd rather just say i hoped some of it worked!
ReplyDelete