Sunday, September 18, 2016
Insomniac
Today, an interesting article in the NYTimes.
For a long time, I drank to go to sleep.
Not a good idea. I ended up in deep deep trouble. With the help of doctors and the best recovery program known to man, I was able to climb out of the pit I had dug with that one.
But lack of sleep or the idea of it haunted me for awhile.
No more.
I can go to bed and am gone in minutes.
I had techniques that I used and, still, occasionally use to get on the sleep train. The most dependable method is to focus on my body, one part at a time. Starting from the toes is good. I do not think I have ever gotten to my head. Also a random accounting of all my pieces works too.
One rule. I never get up except for a few minutes to pee but nothing else. This is against the law with sleep specialists.
Naps, too, are prohibited by the specialists. Verboten. I am a rebel here too. I nap every day. I get up early in the morning, wide awake, at 4 AM. Sleeping in does not work for me. But later in the morning, I go back and nap. Not a "power nap" although I perfected that when I did management training. For lunchtime, I would go back to my room and lie down. Zzzzzzz. I could get up on time, sharp, refreshed and go to work. Same now with the longer naps. About an hour and fifteen minutes.
I rarely have any trouble going down for a nap. If I do, I get up and take the message from the universe that a nap is not on my list of activities for the day. This happens rarely.
This could be genetic. I learned it from my Dad. Emulation. Nature and nurture. He could drop down like a rock. And stay there. We worked together for a couple of years. I watched him go to the car and drop off for awhile, snap up in time and be refreshed. I did the same.
Good stuff Dad.
So, I suppose I am not an insomniac at all. In fact, I am convinced that if I thought I had trouble going to sleep I would. Have trouble. This was Dad's trick. He just assumed he would drop off and wake up in time. No worries. Me too.
When I have had some bad "can't sleep" spots here and there I have tried counting but not in a sequence. Usually starting at 300 and counting backward.
Another counting trick that works is to count in threes. Not every other number but every third. I think what happens is the mind rebels against such nonsensical exercise and just shuts down into alpha and beta waves.
I would never eat anything to go to sleep. Warm milk. Yuk.
I have no personal hints.
Perversely, when awake there are some annoying things that can happen that make me sleepy. When I least want to shut my eyes.
One is meditation. Somnolence is considered one of the mind's tricks to keep us from finding whatever it is we are looking for in sitting. Gentle treatment brings us back to the mind through breath.
Meditation is another subject however. The problem there is more the idea that we should be mindless. Not so. Mind-ful-ness means being able to see the mind at work and letting us know about it. Just information going through. Bubbles.
But meditation is a kind of work and my experience that trying to meditate lying down is not a good idea. Not for the soul and not for sleep. In fact, if I meditate in bed I am stoking insomnia by mind focus which is the last thing I need for a good night's rest.
Sometimes when I am at the computer, I get sleepy. Work aversion? I don't know.
Same with reading. Even a good action packed novel which is mostly what I read now. Non-fiction, a guaranteed snooze. But give me a good M/M romance with plenty of sex and I am your master reader. Dozing the farthest thing from my mind.
There are a lot of paradoxes here. A maze. I sympathize with the real insomniac. Thank god I am, ultimately, too much of a sleep hound to miss another opportunity to take a nap.
Finally, let me give you one hint which is of absolutely no practical use. If you have trouble getting to sleep or having naps, get old. The old timer in the rocking chair is no myth, Sleep is the natural haven for the codger. A pick me up for creaky bones and a mental balm for erasing self pity. So, try it. Get old like me and your sleep will come along with you.
It took me almost 80 years though. You may not want to wait that long.
