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posted by [personal profile] emperor at 05:51am on 27/06/2008 under
I really think I should start keeping a note of my sleeping patterns, but that's by the by. Today I woke up around 04:30, having gone to bed (in a turn the lights off, stop talking to [livejournal.com profile] atreic sort of way) at around 23:00-23:30. I've been awake ever since, so sorry if this resulted in some slightly odd comments on your LJ!

Sometimes I wake up early, pee, and then go back to bed, and drift off fairly swiftly again, waking at a more sensible hour. On a minority of cases, like today, I really am properly awake, and then can't get back to sleep again (at which point, it feels like my usual sort of insomnia - brain won't shut down worrying/thinking about things enough). On days like today, if I do manage to sleep, then when I wake again in a couple of hours, I feel dreadful, and 3/4 asleep.

It's not that light in our room, and indeed unlike some mornings when I wake to sunlight shining quite strongly through the curtains, I suspect that if I catch an hour or two's more sleep, when I do wake again, it'll be dark enough to make me sleepy.

I wish I understood what caused this (or, indeed, how to avoid it). It's most annoying; actually, though, my sleeping patterns have been a bit whacky for a while now - most days when [livejournal.com profile] atreic is here, I go to bed with her around 22:30, sleep through to around 08:30, and still wake up feeling groggy and tired and "argh, I want to sleep some more" - it's certainly possible to doze for another couple of hours if I let myself!
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posted by [identity profile] the-elyan.livejournal.com at 06:24am on 27/06/2008
Some of that sounds very familiar to my own patterns of insomnia, especially the part about having the hold the conscious mind's head under for a very long time until it stops thrashing about...

I'm generally waking up somewhere around 4:30-5, getting back to sleep, and waking up for good between 6:30 and 7, which is earlier than I want or need.

Hope you survive the day OK...
 
posted by [identity profile] aiwendel.livejournal.com at 07:39am on 27/06/2008
If you stay up when you naturally wake up (ie 4.30 or whenever) how do you feel for the rest of the day?
Listened to an interesting program about sleep the other day, and the bloke was saying a lot of people beat themselves up for not being able to 'get enough sleep' but some people just don't need it and do more harm than good worrying about it.

22.30-8.30 is 10hrs!!! which is much more sleep than average... 23.30-4.30 is 5 hrs, which isn't completely off the scale of normal (particularly if you're getting the odd night of 10hrs in between). I know many people who only need 6 hrs routinely. I need 6-8 hrs generally.

the 4.30 is presumably waking up with the day light at this time of year. (re reads - ah yes) Have you got good curtains? If not getting some might help.

... re going back to sleep and waking up again - I'm sure I've heard something about interupted sleep cycles making you feel awful, but then I'm not sure how you judge how long you cycle is. Apparently they're normally about 3 hrs..
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posted by [personal profile] emperor at 08:36am on 27/06/2008
I expect I'll feel more tired than usual, especially just after lunch; OTOH I quite often feel tired.

I'd suspect interrupted sleep cycles a bit more if I was awoken by an alarm or similar, I think. It'd be odd for me to wake up "naturally" in the middle of a sleep cycle, wouldn't it?
 
posted by [identity profile] aiwendel.livejournal.com at 05:06pm on 27/06/2008
re interrupted sleep cycle - yes I'm sure you're at the end of one when you wake naturally! I meant when you get yourself to go back to sleep then have to get up a few hours later...

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posted by [identity profile] sigisgrim.livejournal.com at 08:56am on 27/06/2008
Line your curtains with good heavy duty blackout lining. You can get it inexpensively from Birmingham Rag Market. We've done that and it makes an enormous difference. We've also got a Venetian blind behind the curtains and angle it against the sun (outer side down, inner side up) to further reduce the amount of sunlight getting in. It is also worth tucking the bottom of the curtains behind the radiator (if you have one below the window).
 
posted by [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com at 11:16am on 27/06/2008
What he said. A really dark room can be a lot better than one that's just "not that light".
 
posted by [identity profile] crazyscot.livejournal.com at 08:56am on 27/06/2008
Whatever it was, it was in the air here too. I woke around 0430 ragingly hot; went and curled up on the sofa for what turned out to be an hour until I felt chilly & returned to bed.
 
posted by [identity profile] arnhem.livejournal.com at 09:39am on 27/06/2008
What is your pattern of caffeine intake during the day?
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posted by [personal profile] emperor at 09:40am on 27/06/2008
Variable. Some days I have none, other days one or two mugs during the working day; almost never any in the evenings.

ETA: Mugs of fairly strong filter or cafetiere coffee, that is.
Edited Date: 2008-06-27 09:41 am (UTC)
 
posted by [identity profile] yrieithydd.livejournal.com at 10:19am on 27/06/2008
Is there any correlation between days when you have coffee and days when you have insomnia? I know I have to be very careful and coffee after lunchtime will result in poor sleep.

I think I heard the same programme as [livejournal.com profile] aiwendel, which talked too about a split sleeping pattern whereby people would sleep from about 10pm until the early hours and then wake do stuff and then sleep again.
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posted by [personal profile] emperor at 11:18am on 27/06/2008
Not as far as I can tell...
 
posted by [identity profile] sphyg.livejournal.com at 09:45am on 27/06/2008
That happened to me on Sunday night. These days my (thankfully) sporadic insomnia is usually a sign I need to look after my body better.
 
posted by [identity profile] the-alchemist.livejournal.com at 11:41am on 27/06/2008
I agree about curtains.

I have that kind of insomnia at the moment. I've never had it in my life before, and all that's changed is that I have much thinner, more translucent curtains. Now I wake up when the sun comes up.

 
posted by [identity profile] romancinger.livejournal.com at 06:50pm on 27/06/2008
Re when you're sleeping with atreic - I'd guess that because you feel relaxed and happy when she's there, you don't find it hard to go to sleep. OTOH, because you're still a new married couple, actually spending the night in a bed with another person means you don't sleep as well, even though you get the hours.

I read recently that sleeping with a spouse makes husbands sleep better, and wives worse! But you aren't used to it yet, and not doing same every night will not help you get accustomed. I think at elast aprt of your problem at present is that you haven't got the same routine every night.
 
posted by [identity profile] dave holland at 09:43pm on 29/06/2008
Seconded ("n'thed"?) on the curtains.

Also, is your day time bright enough? My office can be gloomy if my colleagues lower the blinds and don't turn the lights on. Maybe a stroll outside every hour or so might help if it's sunny; or in extremis a SAD lamp?
 
posted by [identity profile] lavendersparkle.livejournal.com at 07:21pm on 01/07/2008
My advice is that whe you get insomnia you should just get up and get on with something. It means that you've got a few extra hours of stuff done so you can sleep longer next time you feel like it. It also helps to stop the awful cycle of anxiety as yo've got something else to concentrate on. This appraoch works particularly well with morning insomnia.

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