Insomniacs Anonymous
“Sleeplessness is a desert without vegetation or inhabitants”
Jessamyn West.
This is gonna be a long-assed day. Despite desperate efforts to get back to sleep, I’ve been up at 3.30 am for the last five nights in a row. Insomnia has made me her bitch…again.
Being a long term insomniac and uber-early riser, I haven't really found anything that really helps, other than sleeping pills which only knock me out until 5 a.m. and even then they doesn't always work. I don’t have a problem getting to sleep, but if I awake prematurely (each morning I wake with the dawn), I'm screwed and can’t get back to sleep until exhaustion takes over.
Sleep is as essential to humans as food, air and water. When we don’t get enough of it, our bodies malfunction. Insomnia can be caused by many things: stress, a change in diet, alcohol, smoking and various medical problems. It affects young and old people equally, and whereas it isn’t life threatening, insomnia can be upsetting, exhausting, depressing and if you have it for prolonged periods, it can make you feel like you’re going crazy. As Tom Wolfe rather gruesomely put it, “The feeling of no sleep starts turning the body and the skull into a dried-out husk inside with a sour grease smoke like a tenement fire curdling in the brain pan.” Yep, I know that feeling exactly. (BTW, nice image that quote conjures up, don’t you think?)
My own personal insomnia is caused by an over-sensitivity to circadian rhythms. Basically my incredibly efficient internal body clock automatically detects when it’s dawn and my brain switches into “must get up” mode, not unlike birds I suppose. My youngest son has it too, so presumably this early-rising thing is genetic. We’re often both up at the crack of dawn huddled round tea and hot chocolate, and are wasted and irritable by lunchtime. People in many other parts of the world operate these hours as a matter of course and wake with the sunrise and then go to sleep when it gets dark, but no, that doesn’t fit in with Western society’s habits I’m afraid (unless you’re a farmer) and try as I might, I just can’t seem to reprogram my body to more conventional hours. Of course sometimes what keeps me awake is simple frustration from not being able to fall back asleep, sort of a loop effect. Once you know you’ve got long term insomnia, it’s impossible to get back to sleep because you know you’re not going to.
On the bright side, at least it gives me quiet time to catch up with the blogs and read Susan Sontag (very difficult book, needs peace and quiet) and judging by the time I receive some of your comments at various ungodly hours of the morning, US time, many of you are incredibly early risers too.
I wish I had some sort of profound words to offer you, some scientific advice on how to help us all get some shut-eye, but alas I’ve tried it all, and none of it bloody works, trust me on this. Black-out curtains, warm baths, vitamins, melatonin, herbal tea, herbal tablets, soft music, milky drinks and hiding under a pillow don’t help. Meditation, counting sheep, reading, fantasizing about David Hewlett etc are supposed to help, according to sleep experts, but I find this actually just makes me more awake because it triggers the desire to write. For those that wonder how on earth I come up with blog posts, well now you know.
Anyway, in the interests of my long term sanity, if anyone out there has some foolproof solution to what is a very common problem, please do share…’cos I’m totally and utterly knackered, and I need some sort of solution before I go completely barmy and start tearing my hair out in frustration.
Alexis, clearly also an insomniac
TIA Everyone!
(Just so you know, that’s “thanks in advance” rather than other commonly used abbreviations “Terrorism Information Awareness,” “Tactical Interface Adapter,” “Tobacco Institute of Australia” or my personal favourite “Tortilla Industry Association.” Don’t say I never teach you anything.)
Mmm…tortillas…yumm…
Jessamyn West.
This is gonna be a long-assed day. Despite desperate efforts to get back to sleep, I’ve been up at 3.30 am for the last five nights in a row. Insomnia has made me her bitch…again.
Being a long term insomniac and uber-early riser, I haven't really found anything that really helps, other than sleeping pills which only knock me out until 5 a.m. and even then they doesn't always work. I don’t have a problem getting to sleep, but if I awake prematurely (each morning I wake with the dawn), I'm screwed and can’t get back to sleep until exhaustion takes over.
Sleep is as essential to humans as food, air and water. When we don’t get enough of it, our bodies malfunction. Insomnia can be caused by many things: stress, a change in diet, alcohol, smoking and various medical problems. It affects young and old people equally, and whereas it isn’t life threatening, insomnia can be upsetting, exhausting, depressing and if you have it for prolonged periods, it can make you feel like you’re going crazy. As Tom Wolfe rather gruesomely put it, “The feeling of no sleep starts turning the body and the skull into a dried-out husk inside with a sour grease smoke like a tenement fire curdling in the brain pan.” Yep, I know that feeling exactly. (BTW, nice image that quote conjures up, don’t you think?)
My own personal insomnia is caused by an over-sensitivity to circadian rhythms. Basically my incredibly efficient internal body clock automatically detects when it’s dawn and my brain switches into “must get up” mode, not unlike birds I suppose. My youngest son has it too, so presumably this early-rising thing is genetic. We’re often both up at the crack of dawn huddled round tea and hot chocolate, and are wasted and irritable by lunchtime. People in many other parts of the world operate these hours as a matter of course and wake with the sunrise and then go to sleep when it gets dark, but no, that doesn’t fit in with Western society’s habits I’m afraid (unless you’re a farmer) and try as I might, I just can’t seem to reprogram my body to more conventional hours. Of course sometimes what keeps me awake is simple frustration from not being able to fall back asleep, sort of a loop effect. Once you know you’ve got long term insomnia, it’s impossible to get back to sleep because you know you’re not going to.
On the bright side, at least it gives me quiet time to catch up with the blogs and read Susan Sontag (very difficult book, needs peace and quiet) and judging by the time I receive some of your comments at various ungodly hours of the morning, US time, many of you are incredibly early risers too.
I wish I had some sort of profound words to offer you, some scientific advice on how to help us all get some shut-eye, but alas I’ve tried it all, and none of it bloody works, trust me on this. Black-out curtains, warm baths, vitamins, melatonin, herbal tea, herbal tablets, soft music, milky drinks and hiding under a pillow don’t help. Meditation, counting sheep, reading, fantasizing about David Hewlett etc are supposed to help, according to sleep experts, but I find this actually just makes me more awake because it triggers the desire to write. For those that wonder how on earth I come up with blog posts, well now you know.
Anyway, in the interests of my long term sanity, if anyone out there has some foolproof solution to what is a very common problem, please do share…’cos I’m totally and utterly knackered, and I need some sort of solution before I go completely barmy and start tearing my hair out in frustration.
Alexis, clearly also an insomniac
TIA Everyone!
(Just so you know, that’s “thanks in advance” rather than other commonly used abbreviations “Terrorism Information Awareness,” “Tactical Interface Adapter,” “Tobacco Institute of Australia” or my personal favourite “Tortilla Industry Association.” Don’t say I never teach you anything.)
Mmm…tortillas…yumm…
Labels: AlexisSummers, health
posted by Lin at 8:25 AM
5 Comments:
I share your problem, and I can not offer up a reasonable solution.
Large doses of alcohol will knock me out for a few hours, but then I wake up and feel like shit. Not a good recommendation, but sometime needed in my case, both for the sleep and the alcohol intake.
Fortunately, I suppose, I rarely have insomnia. One instance within the past few years came about when my doc switched my statin medicine, and I found the new meds led to inability to fall asleep stretching later and later into the night (eventually into the wee hours of morning). Let me tell you, I got off that med pronto.
Now, me, I'm a night person anyway. I rarely go to bed here until midnight or after, but then rarely arise before 8 a.m. -- one of the benefits of retirement cum no kids cum able to schedule shoots for no earlier than 10 a.m. cum my wife who arises at a similar hour (although she retires up to two hours earlier -- the longer sleep period is caused in part by minor sleep apnea).
So, based on limited experience, I sympathize with your condition, although I must admit some envy of your opportunity to concentrate on Sontag with no distractions.
Some steamy jungle monkey sex might impact your circadian rhythms and chronobiology in your favor. Even if it doesn't, it might be more fun that Sontag.
To fall asleep faster and sleep longer visit http://blackoutez.com. They make a window cover for night shifters that totally darkens the bedroom. They are easy to install, easy to use, and work with your existing window treatments. I use them and they work great! I only wish I found then sooner.
The worst thing is that I write e-mails to people in the middle of the night, when everything looks, well, dark, that I would not write were I sitting in sunlight. It's better to stay away from the computer in the middle of the night. Just a thought.
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