Awake Again

Oh my friend insomnia, you have come back to visit.

There are several hundred people who claim to suffer from insomnia.  Although suffer may be too strong of a word, I am regularly up in the middle of the night.  My bouts of sleepless nights range from the 1 am wake up only to fall asleep at 4 am, to the up all night and miserable the next day experience.

By the way do you know there is a test for insomnia?  Uh  I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot sleep.  Test passed.

Usually I am ok with this pattern.  Sometimes I even look forward to it.  In the middle of the night, my house is silent.  I can write, read, catch up on bill paying, fold laundry, bury refrigerator left overs, sort through old clothes.  The tasks are limitless.  I also think I come up with some of my best ideas at this time (the invisible gerbil comes to mind but I will save that for another blog).  The best part is that I have friends with the same ailment. Emails from my sister and rants from my girlfriends are so much more entertaining when written at 2 in the morning.

It's not all good.  I am mean and miserable around 3 the next day. Believe it or not, I complain to anyone who will listen.  Some even think my early day ideas are not so great.  These ideas tend to involve financial investments and husband participation, so guess who wants me to cure the insomnia?

I don't think I had sleep issues when I was younger.  Could stay out until 2 and still be fresh and energized at 6. Of course my focus was strictly on kicking ass in my career during the day and looking amazing in the club at night.  Tough life, huh?

My husband claims it stems from guilt.  "What are you feeling guilty about?" he asks.  Well I have cheated on my diet since Jan. 4th, I haven't seen the gym all week, my consulting project is due and not done yet, I yelled at my son, haven't cleaned out the downstairs closet, don't bring in a steady income, spend too much money...yada yada yada.  What aren't I guilty about?  But please that is everyday life.

Some say its too much caffeine.  I drink coffee from morning till night and have since I was in college.  Not buying it.  Experts say it is emotional, physical or lifestyle factors that affect circadian rhythms (add learn new words to the benefit list).  One of these lifestyle factors was listed as aging.  Great.  At this rate, I will have eliminated the need for sleep by the time I am 55.  Time to get a job working the midnight shift.

I have tried a few recommendations.  I refuse to take sleeping pills, mainly because I just know I would be one of those people who eats in the middle of the night and then goes for a walk.  No one in my  neighborhood needs to see me in my jammies, munching on oreos while window shopping Elmwood.  Instead I have tried relaxation techniques and mental unwinding.  The best recommendation I found said "Stop worrying".  Perfect, let me do that now.  And in the future I can just stop sneezing on command as well.

Haven't found a cure so here I am enjoying the silence.  Note if you see me tomorrow around 3 pm you may want to stay away - it won't be pretty.