Dear Arianna,
Reading your Sleep Challenge blog has inspired me. I decided to try it along with you and Cindi. I've always wanted to sleep with you both and figured this is my chance.
So, I started yesterday. I avoided coffee from noon on, put my daughter to bed at 7 p.m., and did some work in my office until 9 p.m. (I pretend I'm working on a screenplay, but I'll admit I only emailed holiday photos.)
At 9:30 p.m. I felt drowsy, so I quickly washed my face, slathered on the usual seven layers of cream, and snuggled into bed by 10 p.m. I was so proud, and dare I say ... a little smug. I thought about all the things I would accomplish today because I would be fresh and sparkly. I would exercise, play with my daughter, write dazzling dialogue, flirt with strangers. All because I would be rested.
But then I did something very wrong. I checked Twitter. And laughed. And started tweeting back. Soon, it was after midnight and I was wide awake. I realized what I'd done and quickly turned off my iPhone, computer, and brain. But I stared at the ceiling until 2 a.m. ... thinking of putting a mural up there. Maybe clouds? Too "dentist's office?" How about thunderclouds?
Anyway ...
At 6:30 am, my daughter jumped on my neck. I bolted awake, because I knew it was a monster trying to eat me. Sure, then she sweetly snuggled, but my heart was pounding in probable cardiac arrest. As my daughter snoozed gently on my numb arm, I knew there was no way I could go back to sleep. I counted ... four-and-a-half hours. I had gotten four-and a-half hours of sleep and have a very full day today.
At 7 a.m., I rolled (literally) out of bed onto the floor, crawled to my daughter's room, got her dressed for school and faced this day.
I feel fuzzy. The mirror shows me my face, like a piece of origami, has not unfolded yet. And by now, I should be on the treadmill, then writing. But it is taking me two cups of coffee to wake up, so I sit at my computer and read the Huffington Post, trying to remember what I was going to do last night. Oh yeah ... sleep more.
I will try again tonight.
Love, Nia
The best help with getting to sleep is, if you have a TV in your bedroom, remove it. Replace with books. Also, sex helps. Every night would be great but national average is twice a week -- so give it a shot. It's amazing how it can put you to sleep. Free, fun and hey, he's right there next to you anyway...
Good luck. And no twittering!!!!
That is all.
You know of that which you speak. Kids of any age are the greatest deterrent to sleep. Even if they are full of rainbows and baby kisses, they worry us... all .... the.... time.... especially as we ..... try to .... drift off to ....... sleep. I love mine but I wish I'd known about the sleeplessness lasting forever. Some evil grandparents told me it would be temporary. They're now on my "hit list."
;-)
Sleep advice for someone who has kids... I don't know what to suggest. Sell them? I left mine in a shopping mall in Iowa seven years ago. Never looked back. Gosh I miss them and all, and I sure hope they're doing okay and eating their veggies... but not as much as I missed having a good night's rest. ;)
I don't worry about the ways I can no longer make them happy, but with so much of who "I" am wrapped up in their lives over the past few decades, who "I" am without them brings up a big question that has been put on the back burner. I'm trying to ease into answering that one gracefully.
I teach a practice that may be of some help ..
If you have a chance we speak of it in our Tuesday blog Jan 12th
BE THE CHANGE - MEDITATE
Ed
1. Ripple effect. This simple alteration (aiming for an 11 pm bedtime) means I have to get off the computer by 10:30 (ABSOLUTE RULE!), get my kids to bed earlier so I can have my personal time, and get Hubbo to aim for bedtime, too. These are all good things!
2. Puritanical lifestyle. Getting sleep means ditching all the fun stuff: drinking, staying up late, coffee whenver I want it. I'm feeling really great with all this sleep, so I'm trying to tell myself that this newfound Puritanical lifestyle is worth it. I really believe it is. But damn, no coffee after noon?
3. Weirdly hard. My readers are sharing their efforts at the Sleep Challenge, and it's a chorus of trouble: babies waililng, husbands snoring, TV, Twitter, too much work to do, hiccups, mid-sleep wakeups . . . It's so hard for everybody to shut out the families and distractions that are keeping them up.
4. Focus required. We spend so much time thinking about food. Sleep is just as important. I try to focus on this, because the results are going to be worth it. I'm already feeling a difference--no midafternoon sag, a clearheadedness.
Good luck, Nia! Can't wait to read that screenplay!
A list should periodically be put out which shows which areas of health do NOT get taught in medical schools. Along with sleep needs and problems -- and its relation to some medications a patient may be taking ( which should be the first question a doctor asks or looks up), i would suggest:
food and nutrition;
nature deprivation;
need for body movement (exercise);
need to pause and reflect, meditate, create, stare into space -- all these things could be 'prescribed'.
May all things go well for you!
In joy,
Ed
Therefore, keeping away from the brightness of the computer or
IPhone is deeply helpful when planning on a
good night's sleep. If one wakes up and needs to write, instead put on a red bulb and write notes
[Spaces due to IPhone -- unable to edit.]
as long as you like on a pad of paper (remember those?). Put a
red bulb as a night-time light in your bathroom so you don't jar your
brain from its sleep waves when you get up to pee.
Hope this helps.
love the lighting tips.
It's 8 hours sleep. You don't have to do it between 10 pm and 6 am.
There are those that seem to function better, and feel better, by rising later, and going to bed later. Of course, the corporate life doesn't care, and society runs on an early schedule, which is unhealthy for some people. So they suffer, but try to recover on weekends.
But, I should say, regardless what time you want to be going to bed, a little discipline with the computer, tv, and other electronics. And if you have no discipline, shut your electronics down. If you can't use good judgment, enforce it, as a parent would with a child!
I can work well into the night, and very productively and with little fatigue, provided I can sleep with my body's natural cycles.