I swear I’ve got a sleeping disorder. Over the last several months it’s very common for me to only sleep for an hour of so and then get up again. When that happens I end up not returning to bed for hours and then I only sleep for an hour or two at that time.
In other words I’ve been living on only one to four hours sleep most days for maybe the last two years.
I’ve always been a late night person. Not falling to sleep until about 2 a.m. has been my common habit for most of my life. No matter if I had to get up at 5 a.m. for a nursing shift or if I could sleep in. I’ve also never been a morning person. I’m groggy if I get up before 9 a.m., or well … that’s the way it used to be when I’d at least sleep for several hours at a time.
I think my sleeping problems started when I began working in the ER at the hospital in 2002. I’ve been a nurse since 1992, but in those first 10 years on the job I’d never had to do a night shift. Suddenly I was expected to do at least two night shifts per week … and not just an 8 hour night shift. No … a 12 hour night shift.
My night shifts were always at the end of my run of shifts and it would take ALL of my days off for me to get back to a normal sleep at night schedule. Just in time for those early morning shifts at the beginning of my run of shifts.
Then of course in mid-2005 my Crohn’s really started acting up and by the end of the year I was off work on medical leave (and still am since my Crohn’s hasn’t settled down at all).
While I’ve been off work I’ve kept myself busy on the computer. Writing blogs and starting more blogs and websites. Hey it’s been not only a way to pass the time but a way to earn the income I’m not making by working full time as a nurse.
I’d stay up later and later because my pain is always worse from evening onward into the night. So pain is a factor in my not sleeping well and or putting me off a normal sleep schedule. However filling my time by being on the computer working on my sites just keeps my mind active and as a result I don’t settle down to sleep at a decent time – or at all most of the time these last few weeks.
Of course now it seems to be getting worse.
I did go to a sleep clinic a couple of years ago. I knew I had a sleep problem. They put my light sleep down to my pain. Of course my time in the sleep clinic was a horrible mess as they tried to make me go to bed early and since I was in pain and couldn’t even take my mind off of it by reading for a while I simply didn’t sleep for hours. I finally slept at the clinic for about half an hour!
I think it’s time I talk with my doctor about my sleep problems again and maybe (shudder) go back to the sleep clinic again.
In the meantime I think I’ll try to turn the computer off my midnight at the latest and see if that helps my mind slow down and helps me get to sleep.
At this point I feel so sleep deprived that I’m sometimes not sure that I’m making sense. Sad eh?
Do you have trouble sleeping? Or have you had trouble sleeping in the past? What helps you get to sleep?
Everybody needs a good sleep.
I have trouble sleeping sometimes too. I had a sleep test done in one of those “sleep hostpitals”. They hooked me up to a machine and I had all these wires all over me and on one of my fingers.
There are normally two things that happen to me. The first one is not being able to get to sleep during the night (even when I’m exhausted). I’m not sure if you’d call that insomnia or not – but my mind just constantly wonders. If I do manage to fall asleep in this kind of state Its like I’m asleep and awake at the same time – its really weird.
Its happen tonight – so I’m not going to sleep. It seems to happen once every two weeks – so I just end up staying up all night. It will catch up with me tomorrow around noon – lol. I’ll get really tired, but I guess thats what coffee is for.
The second thing is – sometimes no matter how long I sleep Im always tired. I could sleep for 12 hours sometimes and still feel tired. Doesn’t happen always.
I think it might have something to do with my diet. When I start eating healthier carbs (as opposed to non healthy carbs) I tend to sleep a lot better.
I feel you for the sleep deprivation… I went to bed at 5am and woke up at 8am. Desperately in need of coffee now
My wife had those tests done, too. Turns out it had to do with her breathing, that she would have thousands of micro-moments when she would stop breathing, which would interrupt the deep sleep, so no matter how many hours of sleep she would get, she never really got rested.
In this case, a very expensive pump forces air through a mask on her face to keep the breathing happening. Not very pretty, nor comfortable, I am afraid.
But consider the alternative.
Hi! Just back from an 8 hour shift that seemed to last only 5 minutes, so to speak. I get home with the work buzz still going and feel that going to sleep straight away is a waste of time. So what do I do? I say hello to friends and chat away blogging until I find my eye lids drooping. All the best!
Funny I should come across this article because right now I’m sitting up in bed at 2 in the morning on the laptop wide awake yet still tired (does that make sense?)
i know I need to sort out my sleeping patterns but I just don’t have the dedication to! Luckily I’m not back at university yet
Try not to eat late. Avoid coffee as well. If it doesn’t work, try natural sleeping pills. Avoid prescription sleeping pills.
Couldn’t agree more with being sleep deprived. I know I just need to get in the habit of a regular sleep pattern but it’s much easier said than done.