Insomnia and Me

Hello!

So! A brief update on things! Firstly, and most recently I started a new training project. But about that in the next post! This time I want to focus on the onset of insomnia I had about two weeks ago and how it went for me. Also a bit what I read about sleep hygiene.

About two weeks ago my sleep started getting more fractured and restless. At first, 4-5 hours a night wasn’t such a big issue. Trying to adjust to a new job can do that, and especially to an extrovert who still had weeks to live alone before the return of a wonderful fiancé.

So last week it all came to a head. 2 hours. No hours. By that point I had read up about sleep hygene and CBT-i (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia).

Dimmin the lights an hour before bed.

Not using the bed for any other activity than sleep.

No electronics.

Reading.

If you can’t sleep, getting up when you perceived about 20 minutes passing and not looking at the clock.

I did all that by the book for half a week until my sleep dissolved into no sleep at all. Work was well managed thanks to caffeinated sports’ drinks (since I still don’t have a taste for coffee), my mood was still happy during the day and I had gotten through Silence of the Lambs book. There were definitely positives!

Even after being awake for 40 hours my body fought falling asleep for 3 hours until I put on a letsplay video of Red Dead Redemption. I was out like a light in 15 minutes finally, feeling the familiar lull in my mind happen. I slept for 3 hours and I managed to catch the fourth one at 5AM. I considered it a victory! The habit of a letsplay playing was stronger than these new formed habits. But I was really desperate at that point. Every time my head hit the pillow, after 3-4 minutes the fog would disappear and I could spend hours just thinking, with closed eyes, deep slow breaths and unmoving. No matter how exhausted I was, stress was stronger. Pootsman was not amused.

The next day I did the same, letsplay on, still woke up at 3AM for some reason but fell to sleep again without having to get up. I got 5-6 hours. Already better! Already a reason to celebrate the next day. Bye caffeinated sports’ drink! Hello tea!

Last two nights have been really victorious! I didn’t put a letsplay on and slept through the night with my cat cuddling up to me. I still wind down an hour or two prior. Dim the lights. Read a bit. But with the difference that I also read something on my phone before closing my eyes. And for two nights I’ve fallen asleep finally peacefully again. I found the setting to turn down the backlight of my TV as well, way easier on the eyes. With strong hope, a bigger victory is coming for the proper sleep hygene over time! But these few steps about electronics will take a little bit of time. I may have rushed too into it so it stressed me out even more that I wasn’t reacting right. That I was supposed to get sleepier not more alert. Those frustrations usually hit at 3AM.

Last week was really something else (with my first longer shifts on top of insomnia) but without this, I wouldn’t’ve learned about proper sleep hygiene and restored the book reading habit I had for 15 years since being a child.

This was something I really wanted to get out, given in retrospect I find it an interesting experience. And as I said before, this time I am coping more than alright!

On a general update, my nutrition is good! Food prep for 4 days was a freeing thing and I shall do it again before workdays. Cleaning habits are okay! Back to training! And back to drawing! But I’ll postpone talking about the last two for now! Here’s a few pictures of all that tupperware I wasn’t sure I was gonna use up or not when I ordered them haha.

With that I’ll be signing off, thank you for reading and Until next Time!

-Ann