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Saturday 8 December 2012

0 to 40 Winks in...ooh 9 hours?

'A well spent day brings happy sleep - Leonardo Da Vinci
 
 

Now although I wouldn't say that I don't spend my days well, I certainly do not get happy sleep.
Ever since I was a child I've had problems sleeping, I had to be put to bed by mum and no-one else, if she wasn't there I could kiss goodbye to sleep straightaway. I went through a stage in my teenage years of staying up late and sleeping all day and now I've hit 20 I can't remember the last time I slept through a whole night.

I would say that I average 3 hours sleep a night, if I'm lucky that will be a continious 3 hours, if I'm having a bad night it will be 20 minute bursts of sleep throughout the night. Most people don't understand the affect that a lack of sleep can have on a person, especially when it's all the time not just a one off (this is probably why my best friend is the mother of a toddler - she gets it!) it affects my life in every possible aspect.
 
I've been to my local GP many times about my sleep and the response is always the same: Get some exercise before bed, have a bath, read a book etc etc. Basically the things a child could think of! I do all of this already, including total darkness, herbal remedies, total silence, very good quality bedding and mattress. I've even tried sleeping on the sofa, an armchair, the floor and with my cats in my quest for a full night. Sleeping tablets aren't an option; as they are rarely prescriped to anyone my age due to their addictiveness and it is not considered to be healthy sleep. Whilst I agree with that totally, one good nights sleep a week would do me the world of good!
 
How do you sleep? Have you tried anything recently that you thought was great/rubbish? Any tips gratefully received!

2 comments:

  1. I've never been a good sleeper either, but I've learned some tricks over the years. I need to really tire myself out during the day, so I go to the gym most mornings. Working out before bed makes me too pumped. Also, I worked really hard on having a good relationship with my bed. That sounds silly, but I used to live in just my bedroom and it was small, so I would eat, read, watch tv and basically live in my bed. Eventually I learned to not ever watch tv in bed and only crawl in there when I was exhusted. I think I trained myself that the bed equals sleep and sofa equals tv time!

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  2. I've only just seen this sorry!
    Very good point about the bed relationship! Think I need to be a bit stricter on that!
    Hope your sleep has improved, I recently stayed in a hotel that gave you a 'This Works..' sleep kit, which was pillow spray and a roller ball liquid pen stick that you put onto your pressure points, it was brilliant and really helped! xx

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