I hate insomnia. As a mother of young children I get so little sleep to begin with that wasting my time for no apparent reason is annoying and yet here I sit. The house is dark, cold, still and silent outside of Max’s lullabies softly playing. My friend Kym does the laundry when she can’t sleep or does late night runs to Wal-Mart, but I’m not ambitious enough for that. The aggravating part is what keeps me awake; lists. My mental list of what I need to do in the morning before school, what I need to get done at school, my grocery list, my list of chores, my list of reasons for us to get a dog, my list of reasons for us to move, etc, etc. Each subject neatly compartmentalized in my head and each one spilling into my consciousness. So annoying and so not productive.
What do you do to combat insomnia? To fall back asleep? Sleep, perchance to dream…
Sorry about your loss of sleep. 🙁 TV seems to be the go-to sleeping pill for me. It helps me fall asleep at night, probably because it drowns out my list making brain. And I know I’ve truly hit my “I’m awake at 3am and cannot go back to sleep!” moment when I give up the ghost and turn the TV on to help me go back to sleep. Probably why I have such a fondness for crazy infomercials…
One word…
AMBIEN!
Sorry to hear about the insomnia. To fall back asleep, I pick something to read that is either extremely boring or overly complex (history book etc.)
Also, I’ve heard avoiding TV/movies/computer right before bed can help – for some people, they are too stimulating (something about the light from the screen mimicking sunlight to the brain). And one more thing . . earplugs (you’ll still hear the kids, don’t worry) help my insomniac husband.
Sleeping is over-rated! However, I remember the days of child rearing when a solid eight hours was a God send and oh so necessary at that time.
With that in mind, here’s some old woman advice. Meditation, to learn to shut the mind down, powerwalking or running, Sudoko (definitely a snoozer), reading the Psalms and prayer. Most of the time, just “Dear God, give me rest,” works!
Boy that’s tough. Andrew sleeps like a log and I have troubles. If I can’t sleep because I’m seeing words then I get up and write. If it’s just restlessness I fight it and deal with it. I try not to take naps when I get into a bad sleeping cycle, that seems to make it worse for me.
They say meditation is the best as it helps focus on BREATHING only. I found if it’s lists that are keeping me awake, then I write them down. If it’s worries over the kids, I make a cup of tea and go outside to look at the stars in the sky. Sometimes reading helps, but not as well as the cold air around you. Good luck finding your solution.