What's on my mind this morning is sleep! I have always been an early-to-bed, early-to rise person with a period of light sleep in between. I don't ever remember not hearing things as I sleep and there's absolutely never been a time when I've slept past 7:30 a.m. When I was a child, I'd be raring to go before my feet hit the floor. I had to wait for literally hours until my friends opened their eyes to begin their days. How in the world could anyone sleep until 10 a.m.?
The day was half over!
It's not that I'm vexed with stress or pain that keep me awake. I don't have any earth-shattering or even niggling problems to work through. I just don't sleep well.
When I had my first baby, things got worse in the area of sleep. Of course we had the usual middle-of the night feedings, and that's expected. What I didn't expect was a button that went off in me to make my ears much more atuned to any tiny sound. Not only did I listen for my baby's every whimper, but I could tell from many feet away if her soft breathing changed it's rhythm. From that day forward, I haven't found the shut off switch to the listening in the night.
I hear everything from the occasional vehicle on the street above us to the sound of the neighbor's dog paws in our yard. I'm not kidding.
My attitude has changed. I used to say that sleeping was a waste of good time. I was young and energetic in those days, and apparently I got enough rest between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to keep my mind sharp and my machine running. However, somewhere between then and now, I started going to bed earlier, 9 o'clock, waking around 4 a.m. with restlessness in between. These days, I am not full of energy, have a few aches and pains, and do not rest. I don't know if the reduced energy level results in the lack of rest or the other way around. All I know is that something's got to give.
I'm not pleased to take pills for any reason, so I fight the idea of a sleep aid. I did try Tylenol PM one time and felt as if I had a 'hang over' the next morning. The drowsiness after waking with the sleep aid was worse than the waking from a fitful night's sleep. I don't know what the answer is, but I need to get a proper night of rest. Yaaaaaaaawn.
Has anyone got a suggestion?
From 9 PM to 4AM is 7 hours...that should be enough sleep, so I'm guessing that's why you wake up? I suggest you become a night owl. If I stay up past midnight, I can sleep right through to 6:30. If we go to bed at 11, I'm awake and 1:30 and have to fight to go back to sleep. It's no fun, but you know they say the older you get, the less sleep you need....you might try staying up later.
ReplyDeleteI cannot stay awake later! And...I don't sleep well when I'm sleeping, so I always wake up tired. It's not a straight stretch of 7 hours of rest...it's tossing and turning all through the night. So...no night owl life for me, and apparently, no rest for the weary. :-)
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