Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Who needs sleep?

Once again, I'm having trouble sleeping. I'm really not a fan of not sleeping when I'm anxious and stressed. That's when I need sleep the most! Yet, sleep is quite elusive during these times, and I can only think of one night in the last ten days or so that I've had a good night's sleep. I feel so helpless, lying awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Or at the left side of the room. Or the right side of the room. Reading or watching a movie doesn't help, because I won't fall asleep doing that unless I'm completely exhausted. I've always been leery of sleeping pills. So I lay there. Frustrated. Sometimes it takes an hour to fall asleep, sometimes longer.

Not sleeping Friday night was likely my fault. I went out to hear one of my friends' bands play in a sports bar and our very attentive waiter kept refilling our Cokes the minute the glass was only half-full. Since I kept absent-mindedly sipping my drink during the show, I probably had the equivalent to five or six glasses of Coca-Cola.

Oops. I'd been nursing a Coke from about 8:30 (at dinner at a different place) to 1 AM. I'd asked for Diet, but it hadn't happened. I rarely drink that much caffeine, or soda in general, so between that and all the sugar in my drinks, it's no surprise I didn't fall asleep until after 4:30 AM. After lying awake in bed for a couple hours, I eventually fell asleep after finishing a movie on my couch downstairs. I felt groggy most of Saturday. Hooray for Mormon "hangovers"!

Last night, however, was not my fault. But at 2 AM, I was sitting on the floor, mere inches from my TV and the History Channel (no contacts/glasses), eating ice cream straight out of the carton.

Not good. The weird thing is that I'm not very tired today. Hopefully I'll be tired when it's time to sleep tonight.

5 comments:

David said...

When I try to sleep, I recite the articles of faith
.....reeeaaalllyyyy
.....sssslllooooowwly.....
I don't think I've ever made it past the thirteenth.
And yeah for Mormon hangovers!

Jeanette Lewis said...

So the big question...whatever was on the history channel that merited inches from the screen at 2 a.m.?

AmandaStretch said...

I had to be that close to the television, because I can't see without my glasses or contacts. In fact, that's one reason we realized I might need them. I would lay on the floor, knees bent, toes under the TV cart, to watch TV. I stopped doing that immediately after getting glasses.

The program I was watching was called "Life After People". The part I saw was pretty neat.

Giggles said...

I completely understand your problem. If I could just relax I'd get some good sleep. If I could just get some good sleep I'd relax. It's a tough spot to find yourself in.

I have plans for a bubble bath though. Maybe that will help.

AmandaStretch said...

I had a nice bubble bath last night. Between that, and that the anxiety from the last week was gone, I slept great! Hooray!