My mom always said I could fall asleep on a picket fence, and she would be right.
On a plane, give me five minutes after we have ascended, and I'm out. In a car, especially if I'm in the backseat; good night Candy. I've even been know to fall asleep at a late night party on the sofa of someone's home. Pop in a movie after 9pm and you can bet on the fact that by the end of it, I will be out cold. Most nights I'm in bed by 10 and gone until 6 the next morning, but lately I've been waking up at 3 am, unable to fall back asleep. And it's for a while, like a few hours.
Yes, I've got a lot on mind, and the thoughts keep racing throughout the night, but when I wake at 3am and the moonlight hits my pillow just so, I begin to think about getting up and starting the day. This keeps happening and I'm wondering why.
My friends tell me this happens to them too. "It's our age", they say, and about half have started taking sleeping pills. Almost all of the ones who report to be taking sleeping pills tell me that they now need them to fall asleep. No thanks. I've got enough problems and I don't need to add sleeping pills to that list, but when it's 3am and your eyes are almost glued open, a little Tylenol PM doesn't seem to be a bad thing? Is it?
I exercise, I try to eat right, I don't drink too much caffeine because I am not a coffee drinker but I do drink tea, so why the sudden changes in my sleeping habits? When I go to bed at night, I fall asleep, no problem. But now the stress of worrying about waking up at 3am makes me a bit anxious before bed.
So what is the solution? And how long until I decide this is a true problem? As I said, it's only been a few weeks of this and not every night.
I guess the real question is, how well do you sleep, bloggers?
7 comments:
I have to sleep on my back, because my HORRIBLE bouts with "Morning Wood" most certainly would give me lower back problems if I slept face down.
I have always been a poor sleeper. It takes me a long time to relax and get my brain to stop, then when I wake up in the middle of the night, it takes me forever to get back to sleep.
I know all of you, especially you Candy, "well endowed women can't sleep on your backs because them thangs done been creeped up around yo neck in yo sleep and strangled the hell outcha." XO
I'm the opposite. And I've NEVER slept on a plane. Even when I went to China. I was the only person awake.
I am NOT a good sleeper and haven't been since high school.
I like Benadryl.
I was medically retired in '99...from '87 until then I worked 7 days a week and Monday through Friday both of my full time jobs. I slept no more than 4 hours a day for that time. Since then the only thing that has changed is I can get a nap in mid-day if I feel like it.
Some types of tea actually have a higher caffeine level than coffee. so know what you are drinking after 3PM.
The question Candace is when you wake up at 3am and do not go back to sleep how do you feel at 3pm? Fatigued or normal? If normal, don't sweat it, get up and do something quiet like read. If fatigued then try a fifteen minute nap at some point during the day.
Now I know you're just barely past your teen age years but your circadian rhythms are changing, you will adapt and then the new patterns become normal. One thing I know is if you stress over it you will always be up at 3, just go with until it is a problem.
The other thing is has your stress levels being on the rise? that question answers itself.
I find that what keeps me up is the stress. Paying bills, worrying about the kids...stuff like that. I don't think I have had a decent nights sleep in a while...I am most likely sleep deprived.
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