SLEEP

[Doolhof]

Hi All,

In the past there may have been threads on sleep and how to improve our quality of sleep.

I am starting this thread up and hope to include past thread titles.

For some of us sleep is a real issue, the more we can learn about it the better informed we will be.

Funny stories on weird places you have fallen asleep are welcome as well.

For me, I had just moved house and was very busy getting everything organised. Friends invited me to the drag races. I was so tired and exhausted that I sat down, leant against the fence right near the starting line and fell asleep for most of the evening.

Hope to read some of your stories and tips.

Cheerio for now, from Mrs. Dools

[Missy72]

This is me. I sleep restrict. I was doing so well..for months, I thought I was back on the right path..and then boom...3hrs a night again..

[Sean_S]

Hey fred4761,

I think it's a really positive step to participate in that study. I hope your sleep doctor can shed some light on what is going on when you're sleeping, and that you can get the best help available.

What you're describing is very familiar. Stuck in a sort in-between zone of light sleep, that isn't very refreshing. If I don't snap myself out of that space I can be stuck there all night, half awake, half asleep. I like to reset, get a drink, then practice some mindfulness of body, or noise. Hopefully, then, I gradually relax and fall into a deeper sleep.

Good luck at your appointment. Feel free to share the outcome, I'd be interested to know how you go.

Sean

[P12]

Hi all,

I have not read all of the previous comments in this thread, but rather than creating a new thread it seems the best place to share my experience and ask questions.

I seem to need much more sleep than an average adult. I feel I need 9 1/2 - 10 hrs sleep per night on average. Sometimes I time my sleep over a week. I apparently use a lot more psychological and physical effort every day than an average adult.

One psychologist believes I sleep too much and would be better forcing myself to sleep less. When I've tried this I feel worse, and I feel it isn't sustainable. I think his suggestion is more about normalising my behaviour rather than satisfying my sleep needs. If society in general doesn't get enough sleep, I would fit in better if I also didn't get enough sleep?

Another psychologist believes I should sleep a little longer to overcome troubles described below. When I have extended my sleep by only 15 mins each day for a week I definitely feel better.

Often I wake in the middle of the night then have trouble returning to sleep. My mind seems to subconsciously wake because it is in fear or shock. I get up and walk around to help return to sleep. When I do I have lost sleep and feel exhausted and drowsy the next day. Although I try to recover lost time later days, my routine is disturbed and I feel out of place.

I follow the best recommendations I know: block out light and noise as much as possible, optimise temperature, limit food, drink, and screen use before sleep, perform light exercise in the evening, maintain routine sleep times. But really I think my mind is so stressed that it cannot rest and wakes me during the night.

Often I wake with a sore head: a burning sensation and slight nausea. Is this normal? It usually disappears by mid morning.

If sleep is a natural phenomenon, how can it be disturbed by events and trauma that my mind experiences?Are mind and body separate or unified? How can I preserve my mind against harm and restore my mind and body?

[ecomama]

Hey P12, those are great questions and the answers are within YOU. 

You know how much sleep you need, so that's how much sleep you need. 

I was more perturbed by the manner in which you are awakened each night and morning. 
From my experiences these look alot like my symptoms of PTSD. 

Indeed the mind and body are connected! How could they not be lol. 
They are so deeply intertwined within each organism in every animal, perhaps we have both the benefits AND disadvantages of having a frontal lobe lol. 
We CAN work through this, but we have it going on right there too. 

It's only my opinion, so totally up to you, I think the sleep issues (sudden awakenings and feeling groggy in the mornings) are more rooted in trauma responses and the "sleep issues" are masking these. 

I had therapy from a Trauma Psychologist who dug deep way back... and we found the root cause (persons no longer in my life Thank God lol). 
Then did Exposure Therapy with the multitudes of triggers associated. 

YouTube has been my friend. Gabor Mate's clips have been healing for me too. 
Dr Joe Dispenza shows us ways to heal these mouse wheel thought processes, snapping them off, replacing them, then they're synaptically pruned away. 

Problematic sleep could be the symptom. 
Trauma could be the cause. 

Love EM

[Guest_1584]

i Dools and all.

Normally a good sleeper when l do but when l'm not l use to just not sleep, didn't really care, loved the night. Even at 15 it was normal to go 6wks up all night no sleep , but then l'd crash and might sleep 10 12 hrs every night for the next 6wks, and then l'd be awake again for another 6.  Never bothered me back then knew l'd sleep again after 6wks.

later on married got use to sleeping before midnight most nights but l'd still have to crash in the lounge once or twice a wk just to have a few of my all nighters or l wouldn't sleep at all.

20yrs later we split so l went back to my all nighters every night , l'd fall asleep 6-7am for a few hrs then go to work. l was actually fitter and had far more energy than l do these days getting good sleep at normal hrs. l've been working on it last few yrs everyone kept telling me l should sleep, so l've been in training 3yrs now and l finally sleep through most nights instead of up doing whatever and l only have a few all nighters a wk now once my partner goes to sleep if she's here but l have to go out to the lounge again, then she's good- as long as no loud music.l sleep good with loud music but unfortunately a pin drop wakes her up.

But l've started kinda liking this sleep thing mostly so l bought a new mattress doona's and pillows to celebrate and nowwwww, l'm not sleeping again.

lt's stupid really but my electric blanket just doesn't sort of gel with my new dream mattress, l feel the wires, can't work it out why l feel wires all of a sudden but it keeps me awake all night.

rx

[P12]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, ecomama.

I have little doubt that traumatic experiences have contributed to some of my sleep difficulties. The trouble I have encountered is overcoming my interpretation of these experiences. For example, most trauma therapies seem to assume that traumatic events are specific events in one's life. While I have certainly experienced some such events, I believe I have also experienced a more complex form of trauma. Rather than specific events, I recall that I have experienced repeated instances of micro trauma which accumulate to my current situation. The different treatment techniques I have tried over the past several years have not yet changed my interpretation of my life.

Would you be willing to explain further your statements about the answers being within me and that mind and body are connected?