Night Owls (for those awake late and can't sleep)

[Croix]

Dear All
The purpose of this thread is as a meeting point for those that can’t sleep and it is late (I.E. AFTER midnight.)

It can be a useful space for users to share their issues with insomnia as well as coping strategies. It can also be a general space for users to converse and support one another throughout a difficult night.

Please note – for those that are just bored or lonely we already have a place - the BB Café, which I recommend instead of here

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/bb-social-zone/the-bb-cafe

Croix

[Moonstruck]

My first post here...it's 3.20 so thought I'd check in...x

[Lillylane]

Hey Mark

Sorry to hear you’re experiencing this anxiety before your surgery. Waiting for something major like this can be really difficult.

Do you go to the hospital first thing in the morning or have to wait until the afternoon?

I find the waiting time and the build up of nerves the worst part.

So I hope you don’t have to wait around long.

I had to have surgery early last year and I understand how you’re feeling.

We’ll be thinking of you.

Lillylane

[Lillylane]

Hi Moonstruck,

Welcome, good to see you here 🙂

But sorry if you’re having trouble sleeping!

Lillylane

[Matchy69]

Hi Lillylane yes I am going to be picked up in about 30 minutes to go to the hospital. It' morning surgery.My anxiety is through the roof.I watched a movie before and now just had a shower and am ready.

[Moonstruck]

Hi Lillylane....I don't usually have that much trouble sleeping as I take medication for it when I need to...otherwise I would be awake all night. Last night I got up to go to the bathroom, half asleep and realised I couldn't see my cat in his usual place at night-time.

Did a brief search and then I was wide awake, on high alert as I couldn't see him anywhere at all!! checked doors, windows, screens, cupboards...nuh nowhere...panic setting in...last place I thought to check, there he was, sleeping peacefully in my own bedroom, just behind the curtains near the full length window....never goes there...(or perhaps he does, how would I know when I'm asleep?)

anyway, long story to explain my wide awakeness at that hour...so read a book for a while, thankful he was safe. I much prefer night to day anyway..so I thought i'd see who else was on here..

i

[Unbeliever]

I've never slept much. Been that way since before I was a teenager. Thankfully I don't seem to need to much sleep (or I have just adjusted to it perhaps).

I worked out that I am consciously awake about 28 hours more a week than "average" sleepers over the last 34 years or so and it certainly contributes to time feeling like it moves very slowly. It probably is the reason why I feel a lot older than my age as well... I've been awake a lot longer than most people who have lived over the same period of time.

I know that nightmares and anxiety certainly contribute to insomnia for many people. But this has never been my problem personally. I don't suffer from anxiety really at all and my "nightmares" are more happy dreams anyway (unfortunately I am always aware when I am in a dream and because dreaming of "happy things" are not really related to my real life and I am therefore fully aware that I will have to wake up to a place where those "happy things" do not exist ie. "The real world"). So ironically happy dreams are my version of having a "nightmare". While bad dreams are not really a problem at all when I have them... because they are more comfortable for me as they are usually more what I am used to in my day to day life when I am awake anyway. More familiar.

Weird but true...

Anyway, I came up with a theory a long time ago for why insomnia is so common for those who are really sad in their lives.

If you are really unhappy in your life, "tomorrow" becomes difficult if not impossible to look forward to and when you fall asleep, consciously it is like fast forwarding to the next day. In other words, tomorrow feels like it comes much sooner due to sleeping.

But if you are dreading "tomorrow" on a subconscious level you are in no hurry to get to it... in fact you would prefer to delay getting to it for as long as is possible. Staying awake does this... it makes "tomorrow" take longer to get to. Or at least it feels this way.

The closer it gets to the sun rising, then sleeping becomes the next best way "to delay tomorrow". Which is why the little sleep that insomniacs get often starts around 4am to 7am. As sleep is now the most effective way to delay "tomorrow starting" a bit longer. While staying awake longer at this point will only make the day start sooner.

If this subconscious cycle happens over a long period of time... you are officially an insomniac.

It's just a theory. But it seems to hold true for me.

*(It is currently 4:31am as I write this...)

[Moonstruck]

Unbeliever....I've never heard it explained so well...hit nail right on the head. You put into words the explanation that never even occurred to me...i.e. why some people (myself and Jack2021 also I believe) love the dark nights and stay awake as long as I can...I feel safer, protected, untouchable...it's wonderful compared to the dawning of a new day (which seems to invigorate and delight others).too much light, too much sunshine, too much yellow, too many people, too much movement, too much "Hellos, Good Mornings"...it's terrifying..

You explained the possible reasons behind my experience of night and morning so succinctly I won't repeat your thoughts here, but for anyone who wonders how a person like myself hate mornings but simply don't want to miss a single minute of the night.....Unbeliever has put it beautifully...thank you for making it so clear.

[Matchy69]

I have been awake since midnight the time my mother went into labour with me and dad called an ambulance for her and 6 hours later I was here.

[quirkywords]

Happy birthday matchy

[Matchy69]

Thanks quirky.A lazy day had a bit of a nap.