Lately, I've been seeing Facebook posts regarding people dealing with insomnia. As I, too, have issues with insomnia, off and on, I thought I'd share a couple of major things I do or have learned.
Besides the typical advice of: no caffeine before bedtime and have a good mattress.
My dad told me once, many years ago, when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, "If you can't sleep at least lie down, because you'll still be resting." His philosophy became the main way that I deal with my bouts of insomnia.
Sometimes, I wonder if he was seeing into my future.
Anyway, I once read that it's worse if you get up and move around or watch TV. Too mentally stimulating. I discovered that if I continued staying in bed with my eyes closed, even if wide awake, I would, eventually, fall asleep. Curiously, by staying in bed, even if I had restless sleep, I felt rested. I was very rarely tired or irritable, throughout the day, even when I was still working.
Thankfully, being retired has made it easier.
In addition, I, humorously, tell myself that my restlessness is due to my active and interesting mind. It's taking more time to slow it down because of all that wonderful information I've gained over my lifetime. To me, telling myself that was much better programming instead of fretting about it.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Also, I thought I'd take care of my runaway thoughts like adults do with children at bedtime: hearing bedtime stories. I started allowing my mind to think of them as something similar. We know how they help a child fall asleep. Well, why not us?
Turn a negative into a positive.
Needless to say, I didn't want to get into taking prescription medication either. That may be okay for some but it wasn't a path I wanted to take. I kept getting images of people overdosing. Why risk it? I've tried melatonin and benedryl with little to no success. Maybe I didn't take enough or didn't like the side effects. I've been taking a little extra Vitamin D and Magnesium, with slight improvement, but I heard on TV last week that a Potassium depletion may also be a problem with insomnia. My daily multivitamin may not have enough.
You can read more about it here.
http://livescience.com/38401-nutrients-linked-better-sleep.html
So, staying in bed, allowing my thoughts to calm down, and looking into any vitamin depletion, seems to have been the best solution for me. It may not be perfect but it's helped me more often than not. I still have my off nights, which I feel is affected more by collective energy as opposed to my individual energy. There's also a Japanese legend that says we're awake in another's dream (if so, I do wish they'd behave). Whatever the myriad of reasons, whenever these things happen, I, jokingly, tell myself there's a storm brewing or the universe must be in turmoil. It helps me keep my sense of humor.
Lastly, the main thing, whatever you choose to do, is to see what works for you and don't give up.
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