4 ms·
As a periodic insomniac, my insomnia is often triggered by stress, but then fed by the fear of not sleeping. I'll got to bed with my brain caught in some sort
by dbingham 9y ago
As a periodic insomniac, my insomnia is often triggered by stress, but then fed by the fear of not sleeping.
I'll got to bed with my brain caught in some sort of stress loop that I can't break. Then I have the thought "Oh shit, tonight's gonna be an insomnia night, isn't it?" Just having that thought introduces a fuck ton of cortisol into my system, creating a self fulfilling prophecy.
...all of these stories about the dangers of those missed nights of sleep really don't help matters.
- thinkingemote 9y agoI find writing down with pencil in a notepad these running thoughts help. Then if you get more, add them. I keep a notepad by my bedside table.
- dbingham 9y agoYeah, I've been using a combination of melatonin at bedtime and meditation. Plus really good sleep hygiene: red light after 8pm, no screens after 9pm, bed by 9:30 or 10pm every night (with few exceptions) get up with out an alarm every morning (pretty consistently before 8 am) and take a vigorous 1 or 2 mile walk with the dog, no more than 1 cup or tea or coffee in the morning. That all helps control it most of the time. But it doesn't help on those really stressed out nights when I can't seem to break the thought loop long enough to get into a meditative state. I've tried the writing trick, but for me, my thoughts run way faster than my pen can. I often find myself coming to after half an hour of staring at a single paragraph and realizing that I've just been looping the whole time with out writing anything. I'm hoping I'll eventually get good enough at meditating that I'll be able to break those loops, but in the mean time I tend to just try to keep stress low enough that I don't get caught in them in the first place. Life just doesn't always play along.
- brador 9y agoFree yourself from indentured servitude, wake when you want, work late into the night. That is your optimal lifestyle, make it a goal.