I Can’t Sleep
Last night I woke up at 2:37 and was wide-slap-awake. I walked (in the dark) to the bathroom, praying the whole time my kids didn’t leave any Lego booby-traps on the floor! It’s not that I needed to go to the bathroom but rather it’s a habit. If I awake from sleep, I go to the bathroom. Back in the day, when I was training in urology, we were taught three golden rules: eat when you can, sleep when you can, and pee when you can! I guess that has always stuck with me.
Usually, I can get back to sleep in no time – to the extent that I wonder if I was ever awake! But last night I couldn’t get back to sleep. My mind was spinning off in different thought-directions: things I need to do, current stressors in my life, etc. I was officially having trouble sleeping. Have you ever been there? Most of us have. Deeper in to this article, I’m going to break it down into two different areas of difficulty sleeping and we’ll discuss helpful tips to get you back to cutting Z’s in no time!
So, what’s insomnia? Do you have it? Insomnia isn’t a lack of sleep but rather being annoyed by a poor quality of sleep. Twenty percent of the US population is affected by insomnia under this definition. I’d also say it comes in waves. Sometimes we’re fine, sometimes we’re not. Insomnia, though, is not a lack of sleep – if you didn’t sleep, you’d die. Plain and simple. You do sleep. You just may perceive that you aren’t sleeping. The two areas that annoy us are our inability to either get to sleep initially or back to sleep during the night in a timely manner. And there is no set time standard – it’s defined by the individual. Some folks are upset if they aren’t asleep or back to sleep in 5 minutes. Others are blissfully fine if it takes them thirty minutes! Insomnia is defined by perception.
So, when we aren’t sleeping to our personal standard, what are the usual causes? The three most obvious culprits are anxiety, stress, and certain medical conditions. If you really want to solve your sleeping troubles, the best and most complete approach is to address the root problem. What would that look like? Some examples may include changing up your lifestyle to lower overall stress or anxiety levels, changing up food intake and exercise regimens to take yourself from prediabetic to healthy, or maybe even talking to your healthcare provider about an alternative to a medication you’re on that is causing side effects that are keeping you up at night. In all the articles I write, there’s one big recurring theme I want you to ask yourself in all that you do: am I fixing the problem? In this example today, lack of sleep may not be the real root problem but rather that you’re anxious about that presentation you’ve got coming up or you have to be fourteen places at one time tomorrow or you have to pee six times from 8 pm to 8 am. Figure out the root problem and address it head on!
Alright, one last thing: let’s say, for reasons out of your control, you can’t fix the root problem and you still need to get to sleep. Here are some tips to help…
1. Count your breaths. Breathe in and count one in your head. Breathe out and count two. Continue this until you get to ten then start back over. If your mind begins to wander, dismiss that wandering thought and start over at one. I used this last night. It works for me. I almost never run through two counts of ten before I’m back in the land of dreams.
2. Perform a body scan. Start at either your head or your toes and slowly work your way to the other end. You’re trying to assess how your body feels. How do the balls of your feet feel resting against the bed? Does your knee feel uncomfortable? You can only think of one thing at a time and we almost never focus in on our body. This awareness will likely relax you and get you back to cutting Z’s in no time.
3. Finally (and this is hard to do), don’t look at what time it is! I made this mistake last night. It’ll get your mind going – especially if it’s close to the time when your alarm is set. We’ve all been there: it’s 4:47 and you’re up…but you also know your alarm is going to go off at 5:00. Doesn’t that knowledge affect your sleep (or lack thereof) for the next thirteen minutes?! Don’t look! Just go back to sleep!
Still having trouble sleeping? Go see a healthcare provider who can help. Don’t go down the sleeping pills route – there are better ways to solve the problem. If you are going to take something, though, I’d recommend melatonin. Sleep is a crucial facet to our overall health. Now go out there and get some good sleep!!