Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I like to read about sleep which is almost as good. Not really. But I go online anyway in the hopes of finding a cure for my annoying tendency to wake up around 3:30 a.m. ready to take on the world. I do love mornings. I’d just like them to start a little later.
I’ve learned a lot about how to fall asleep during these early morning research sessions—but nothing about how to stay that way. Obviously I’ve missed something. So here I am again at my computer reading about how a lack of shuteye can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer and motor vehicle accidents. Wow! If I wasn’t awake before I would be now.
I know them by heart but I do an internet search on tips for good sleep again anyway, just in case I’ve missed something. I haven’t. No caffeine after noon. Check. No heavy meals before bed. Check. Relaxing wind-down routine. Check. I’ve been up since 3:30. By evening, winding down is about all I can manage.
Sleep in a cool, dark room. I do that. My husband even installed blackout curtains hoping that more sleep would make me easier to live with. I’m beginning to think we’ll never know.
Limit Naps. Yup. Except when we’re traveling. For some reason, I sleep better in a moving car than I do in a bed. In fact when I’m awake this early I’m tempted to wake my husband and hand him the car keys.
Turn off all screens 30-60 minutes before bed. Yup. I even put my computer in the nightlight mode when I wake up early on the off chance that I’ll start feeling sleepy again. But if past experience is any indication, I’ll be alert and energized until about 9 a.m. Then I’ll collapse into a heap and become incapacitated for the rest of the day.
I click on a link to an article about World Sleep Day coming up March 13, sponsored by the World Sleep Society. There’s also Sleep Awareness Week March 8-14, sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation. And there’s National Public Sleeping Day held annually on February 28 to encourage public napping. But no one admits to sponsoring that one.
Incidentally, it’s no accident that Sleep Awareness Week kicks off the same day daylight saving time begins. I follow a link to an article about how the time change is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke as well as depression, anxiety and heated arguments about whether it’s daylight saving time or daylight savings time. According to this article it’s saving. No s. Whatever you call it; it’s time to spring ahead which makes it sound like a lot more fun than it is.
A public nap in February and an awareness week in March hardly seem like enough time to focus on sleep, especially when you consider that coffee gets an entire month. So do those other sleep robbers: colic and teen driving. I’m not making that up. January is Teen Driving Awareness Month, March is Colic Awareness Month and August is National Coffee Month. And it’s not decaf either.
Here’s something I didn’t know. Every other year the World Sleep Society sponsors a World Sleep Congress where some 3,000 sleep experts get together to hear about the latest research on sleep. Unlike attendees at most conferences, I bet those attending the World Sleep Congress drink only decaffeinated beverages after lunch and are sound asleep by 10 p.m.
Anyway, it’s now 4:30 a.m. and as usual, my research has been fascinating but not helpful. Reading about sleep, even with my computer in nightlight mode, hasn’t made me even a little bit sleepy. I hope it didn’t have that effect on you either.
Dorothy Rosby is the author of ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate; Holidays, Special Occasions and Other Times Our Celebrations Get Out of Hand and other books. Contact her at www.dorothyrosby.com/contact.