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AID MY INSOMNIA |
| My insomnia started when I
dislocated my knee playing football and I had to wear a leg brace for
eight weeks. I couldn't get comfortable in bed and had done nothing
but lie on my back all day. Then when the brace was removed I had to wear a knee cushion in case I accidentally knocked it during sleep.
Things improved for a short while after I returned to work but then
my wife was pregnant with twins and I become anxious. After the
babies were born fatherhood seemed to license wakefulness, being
woken repeatedly was torture and the exhaustion was like an out of
body experience yet I had company and being with them felt precious,
I would watch them sleep in the dark anticipating their next cry. I went for a beer after work one evening to 'wet the babies heads' and ended up falling a sleep standing up with beer in hand at 7pm! It was not the broken nights I dreaded but the days, I panicked about sleep deprivation, about not being able to cope wondering where I was going to get the strength to get through the day. The two lessons I've learned are it is possible to survive on little sleep and that sleep is a blessing. Now the kids are sleeping through the night I still can't get to sleep most nights, unless I self-medicate with too much red wine. My loss of sleep varies from night to night. I go to bed knackered but it can take 2, 4 or even 6 hours to get to sleep. The most surprising thing is that time passes so quickly, I'm not a patient person and in the daytime I couldn't sit about for hours doing nothing. What is the cause of my insomnia and why can't I relax and accept sleeplessness? Is it because I'm a web developer and spend far too much time using the computer? As I'm getting older is giving into sleep away of acknowledging my own extinction. Could it be insomnia is a protest against mortality. What are the solutions? Should I stay up longer at night before going to bed? Use wind-down routines: read a book, listen to music, drink hot milk, count sheep? Please share your experiences and pass on any helpful advice and tips in the forum: http://insomnia.activeboard.com/ or email me.
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