Posted by BeARdEdLaDY on May 18, 2002, at 15:45:03
In reply to Re: Bedtime rituals., posted by mair on May 18, 2002, at 13:52:41
Mair:
General accepted thinking says you're NOT supposed to get up and use the computer when you can't sleep. And there's still debate about whether what you're doing (which is what I do, though after about two hours I eventually pass out from utter boredom) is right or wrong. The docs usually say to get out of bed and do something NON STIMULATING (the computer definitely does not fall in this category--especially PSB!), like read a boring book or do some needlepoint--in a chair in a dimly lit room.
My doc says new thinking is to lie in bed and try to hold perfectly still, which is what I do, and it works for me often, but sometimes it works faster than others.
I do what you do--fret, wonder why I'm up, toss and turn, change bedrooms, worry that it'll soon be too late to take a sleeping pill, etc.
Here's what works for me. I have a plan that I alter when I need to. But if I wake up at 1:00 and have trouble falling back to sleep, I give myself an hour before a sleeping pill (I like to limit it to when I have something important to do the next day, but sometimes it's just 'cause I wanna sleep!). When I wake up at 3:00, I know it's too late to take a pill, and that's often fine; I can fall asleep on my own again within two hours. I give myself 30 minutes of repetitive thoughts if I need it, and I shake and vibrate and move around, but when that 30 minutes is over, I have to hold still. I can usually fall back to sleep quickly.
On the nights that I say, "Oh, well, so what, I've slept five hours," I fall back to sleep instantly. But I can't do that with only four hours of sleep; there's a weird difference.
My pdoc says the day I stop placing so much importance on sleep is the day I'll be cured. He says my body will not fail me. I will sleep, and I will not go crazy. And as soon as I trust my body again, as soon as I say it doesn't matter anymore, I will have won.
I believe him. On the nights that I can say that, I win.
And I win a lot on my meds and with my bedtime rituals and exercise and diet--general good health.
Here is another thing to maybe help you and Dinah--middle off the night, can't get back to sleep, know you're only going to lie there for hours and not sleep? Take a hot bath. Twenty minutes. And read a book in the tub, unless you want to close your eyes.
I have found the few times that I have had the courage to do this (sometimes I'm afraid I'll miss sleep when it comes to get me if I get out of bed!), I have been able to go right to sleep afterward.
It is a sad place to be. Two nights ago (it was on the news yesterday), a woman forty years old and seven months pregnant was beaten and raped. That's what I was thinking about at 2:00, when I awoke from a hard sleep. Fifteen minutes later, I was in the guest bed with a sleeping pill in me. And five minutes after that, it was six a.m.
Take care—all of you.
beardy : )>
poster:BeARdEdLaDY
thread:24040
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020517/msgs/24063.html