Sleep is an odd thing in those of us with ME. So many have insomnia, some can't stop sleeping, some sleep during the day and lie tossing and turning at night. Finding what is right for you and changing as improvement comes and symptoms lessen is the challenge. When I was severely ill in my late teens I would sleep up to 16 hours a day, from 9pm to 9 am and then a long rest in the afternoon, it seemed ridiculous, but was most definitely necessary.
I have generally managed to avoid insomnia throughout these last 20+ years. Using tricks to adjust my routine and keep me from sleeping too much during the day if a couple of nights are restless. Currently I am managing any daytime sleep during the afternoons, three or four days a week.
I have recently read a book on taking naps- Take A Nap, Change Your Life, by Sara C. Mendick, Ph.D. She has studied sleep patterns like no doctor before her. The idea is to plan naps during the day- be they of 20 minutes or up to 3 hours. There are four stages of sleep and by going through no more than two cycles of these stages during a nap, the body won't go into deep sleep- not a pleasant experience if interrupted from that! During the day the body continues going through it's own circadian rhythm of sleep. We constantly have the power to sleep going through our body and the quality of that sleep can be determined by when during that rhythm you decide to sleep.
I have discovered that a morning nap is sometimes needed and now know the reason why that sometimes needs to be longer for me to wake feeling refreshed. At the beginning of the day more REM (Rapid Eye Movement; highly-active dreaming) sleep is experienced, it is why we are more alert and ready for high-powered meetings and cognitive reasoning in the morning.(it's different for teenagers so don't start telling them to wake up at 6.30 you'll still get grumpiness!) We experience more and more REM sleep as the night wears on and if you don't use an alarm you will wake up naturally after a REM sleep stage and therefore awake, alert and ready to go, rather than during a REM stage and therefore dozy and cross!
In the afternoon an interesting thing occurs- personally I relish this and should try and achieve more of it than I do. As the REM sleep stages diminish, the stages flip in size, and the afternoon nap is one of healing, The healing stage- where growth hormones are fed through the body and repair and rest are given in droves. I have taken on this message and now avoid morning naps even more, keeping myself busy in the morning with sitting in the kitchen- like I am now. I want to go back to bed, but the longer I leave it, the more beneficial it will be for my body. This healing sleep is also something which happens more if you go to sleep earlier and for this reason decided this weekend to start a new sleep regime. My husband and I have always turned the light out at the same time. Usually anytime between 10pm and 12 midnight. This is sometimes dictated by me, sometimes by him. The difficulty has been that he does not need as much sleep as I do (funny that, as I have ME!). So last night I decided to choose a new tack. (no we are not using separate bedrooms!) I would sleep when I decided to, I would follow my needs first and foremost; he would read to me first, then choose to do as much TV watching, reading and radio listening as he liked in different room and come to bed when he chose to Full Stop! This worked last night I didn't switch the TV on once yesterday and the light went off at 10.15pm: the bonus was that I was not tired and grumpy when he woke me by getting up at 6.30am this morning; I was calm and peaceful, bright as a lark and ready to start the day with him by 7am; wonderful. We could interact before he went to work, I could help him fill the dishwasher and he said goodbye before he left at 7.45am without disturbing my cross and grumpy REM sleep. Long may it continue(?)
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Monday, 25 June 2012
Thursday, 14 June 2012
My Day Continued
5pm woke five minutes ago from a dozy, sleepy afternoon, drifting in and out of unconsciousness with The Chamber Of Secrets continuing beside me, keeping me sane.
8.30pm woke at 8pm after more drifting in and out of The Chamber Of Secrets. At 5.30pm I began feeling very strange, mixture of dizziness-without the vertigo, nausea and foggy head syndrome(yes, I just made that one up!) still not feeling great, so sitting in bed, continuing to listen to Stephen Fry and obviously typing! I try not to sleep after 6pm unless something is desperately wrong as I will usually wake by 10pm and then loose my sleep routine for the night. So bed it was and shall be for this evening. Unlike usual I am not watching TV while sitting/lying here or trying to do any reading or knitting.
Next Day
So had a good night's sleep, only punctuated by one of my hot water bottles bursting at about 9.30pm. I was saturated, as was the main sheet and mattress cover. Action stations worked quite well and the bed was half-changed, as was I, within about 10 minutes. I then quickly went online and ordered three new ones from Amazon. They are particularly budget friendly! at this time of year and we always need a stash of spare ones for incidents such as these. (failed last night!)
It is interesting to document a day such as this. In the week of an ME patient, even one who is recovering, there are days of calmness and days of confusion. Yesterday was unusual in that I slept in the evening, but not unheard of. I usually have an afternoon sleep 4-5 days a week, of an hour or up to three hours. Otherwise have an inactive resting morning or afternoon; I'm lucky in that sometimes I can choose if a friend or appointment requires the day to be flipped.
Asking why days like yesterday happen is usually not a good idea. Analysing and questioning such things can be overly exhausting. Maybe I ate something that didn't agree, maybe I slept in an odd position in the afternoon, maybe a yoga pose was too much, maybe I lifted something at the weekend that is just starting to show itself as an unwise move. It could even be something completely beyond my control- likely candidate hay fever, as my eyes are sensitive and my sinuses have been aching too- washing my hair might help and changing the bed clothes again. I am unlikely to know. If I keep listening to my body and follow my best options as well as learning a little bit every week if it feels right, then I will be doing my best. "do your best, leave the rest!"
8.30pm woke at 8pm after more drifting in and out of The Chamber Of Secrets. At 5.30pm I began feeling very strange, mixture of dizziness-without the vertigo, nausea and foggy head syndrome(yes, I just made that one up!) still not feeling great, so sitting in bed, continuing to listen to Stephen Fry and obviously typing! I try not to sleep after 6pm unless something is desperately wrong as I will usually wake by 10pm and then loose my sleep routine for the night. So bed it was and shall be for this evening. Unlike usual I am not watching TV while sitting/lying here or trying to do any reading or knitting.
Next Day
So had a good night's sleep, only punctuated by one of my hot water bottles bursting at about 9.30pm. I was saturated, as was the main sheet and mattress cover. Action stations worked quite well and the bed was half-changed, as was I, within about 10 minutes. I then quickly went online and ordered three new ones from Amazon. They are particularly budget friendly! at this time of year and we always need a stash of spare ones for incidents such as these. (failed last night!)
It is interesting to document a day such as this. In the week of an ME patient, even one who is recovering, there are days of calmness and days of confusion. Yesterday was unusual in that I slept in the evening, but not unheard of. I usually have an afternoon sleep 4-5 days a week, of an hour or up to three hours. Otherwise have an inactive resting morning or afternoon; I'm lucky in that sometimes I can choose if a friend or appointment requires the day to be flipped.
Asking why days like yesterday happen is usually not a good idea. Analysing and questioning such things can be overly exhausting. Maybe I ate something that didn't agree, maybe I slept in an odd position in the afternoon, maybe a yoga pose was too much, maybe I lifted something at the weekend that is just starting to show itself as an unwise move. It could even be something completely beyond my control- likely candidate hay fever, as my eyes are sensitive and my sinuses have been aching too- washing my hair might help and changing the bed clothes again. I am unlikely to know. If I keep listening to my body and follow my best options as well as learning a little bit every week if it feels right, then I will be doing my best. "do your best, leave the rest!"
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
What Do I Do With My Day?
8am Woke up
9am On living room floor practising yoga
9.30am Meditation followed by Breakfast. Blueberry/yoghurt/milk smoothie- thank you Kenwood blender. This concept of eating protein to stave off the blood sugar lows is great, such a simple thing for breakfast will keep me going for hours.
10am Checking emails and typing at Kitchen table, whilst listening to Simon Mayo's Confessions podcast.
11am Just finished talking to a friend, who popped in at 10.40 for a quick chat and "how are you". Also managed 5 minutes lying on the floor after a parcel came in the post- a new yoga bolster pillow. Ideal for putting under the knees to ease the back when lying on the floor. Wonderfully relaxing. Going to do that again now, with a Yoga Nidra meditation, am feeling sleepy...
12pm That was quick! 45minutes of meditation and a ten minute yoga stretch for my tight neck and shoulders. I should probably say that yes I rolled my shoulders and bent my spine over and back, but the fact that I was concentrating on my breath and coinciding the movement with the inhaling and exhaling makes it a yoga 'union' practise. Will check email-expecting something from a friend-, read a bit of pdf leaflet I downloaded about ME.
12.30pm Lunch! I deserve an omelette with bread or toast. My omelettes are very unsophisticated, like a lazy scrambled egg. Break the eggs into the pan after frying up whatever I might choose to add as an extra, then swish them around a bit and leave to cook for a couple of minutes! (Eyes starting to droop!)
1pm finished lunch, yum; put half a tin of wild salmon in the pan before the egg, also swirled a bit of spinach round the pan once the omelette was on the plate. Brilliant menu, most of it completed by sitting at the kitchen table waiting for everything to cook! As it is so cold today- 12th June, WHY!!!- I also had toast instead of bread. (eyes definitely drooping, will wait for OH to ring for our daily lunchtime chat at 1.25 then have a rest) going to find my pyjamas and fill hot water bottles.
2pm managed the chat, change into pyjamas and a bit of a rest, then an unexpected visitor-my brother showed up on my doorstep. It is very difficult to say "no" when you see someone so rarely, so we sat at the kitchen table and my eyes drooped more and more. I was able to hold the conversation together though and was pleased to see him.
2.30pm I have fiddled a little with the Hampshire County Library website and downloaded the second Harry Potter book. Stephen Fry's dulcet tones will keep me company for a while now... To be continued...
9am On living room floor practising yoga
9.30am Meditation followed by Breakfast. Blueberry/yoghurt/milk smoothie- thank you Kenwood blender. This concept of eating protein to stave off the blood sugar lows is great, such a simple thing for breakfast will keep me going for hours.
10am Checking emails and typing at Kitchen table, whilst listening to Simon Mayo's Confessions podcast.
11am Just finished talking to a friend, who popped in at 10.40 for a quick chat and "how are you". Also managed 5 minutes lying on the floor after a parcel came in the post- a new yoga bolster pillow. Ideal for putting under the knees to ease the back when lying on the floor. Wonderfully relaxing. Going to do that again now, with a Yoga Nidra meditation, am feeling sleepy...
12pm That was quick! 45minutes of meditation and a ten minute yoga stretch for my tight neck and shoulders. I should probably say that yes I rolled my shoulders and bent my spine over and back, but the fact that I was concentrating on my breath and coinciding the movement with the inhaling and exhaling makes it a yoga 'union' practise. Will check email-expecting something from a friend-, read a bit of pdf leaflet I downloaded about ME.
12.30pm Lunch! I deserve an omelette with bread or toast. My omelettes are very unsophisticated, like a lazy scrambled egg. Break the eggs into the pan after frying up whatever I might choose to add as an extra, then swish them around a bit and leave to cook for a couple of minutes! (Eyes starting to droop!)
1pm finished lunch, yum; put half a tin of wild salmon in the pan before the egg, also swirled a bit of spinach round the pan once the omelette was on the plate. Brilliant menu, most of it completed by sitting at the kitchen table waiting for everything to cook! As it is so cold today- 12th June, WHY!!!- I also had toast instead of bread. (eyes definitely drooping, will wait for OH to ring for our daily lunchtime chat at 1.25 then have a rest) going to find my pyjamas and fill hot water bottles.
2pm managed the chat, change into pyjamas and a bit of a rest, then an unexpected visitor-my brother showed up on my doorstep. It is very difficult to say "no" when you see someone so rarely, so we sat at the kitchen table and my eyes drooped more and more. I was able to hold the conversation together though and was pleased to see him.
2.30pm I have fiddled a little with the Hampshire County Library website and downloaded the second Harry Potter book. Stephen Fry's dulcet tones will keep me company for a while now... To be continued...
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Crash
This is a stage of the illness which can come and go, but is generally the first initial realisation of having something seriously wrong.
The Crash stage is defined as absolute exhaustion, total and utter desperation for relying on others and no real chance of achieving anything through the day.
The main problem for this stage is that action has to be taken to remove yourself from it. All obligations have to be cleared and bed rest is the answer. Crash leaves muscle aches, headaches, joint pain from slightest movements, possibly even constant nausea and very little energy to eat and digest food and drink- for this reason indigestion is another symptom that will rear it's ugly head.
Bed rest can be boring, tedious, never-ending; leaving a feeling of desperation and through this a glimpse of optimism has to be found somewhere. Acceptance of the situation is the first step- which might take a coupe of days as dips and crashes can be confusing, usually for me a sore throat is the first sign that something isn't quite right. After acceptance come action: sleep, rest, sleep rest!
It is at these times when I keep in touch with the world through TV and radio, newspaper reviews and weather forecasts. Looking forward to particular programmes everyday, but avoiding depressing soaps and films. Chat shows and magazine shows are great for the short attention span needed and I would also watch DVDs of TV series - again looking forward to the next episode as it helped the time pass. I also joined Facebook so that I could become part of daily life and find out what friends were up to just half a mile away. Emails everyday, or when I was able, became a good source of encouragement too.
It may seem like a giving-up option, but when bed rest is needed, for the body to heal this is a good option. By scheduling a sleep every afternoon I had a good indicator of when more activity can be added. As the weeks went by I noticed that less and less sleep was necessary, so I added little activities instead. I bought a few magazines to read, managed a bit of knitting, started searching and reading more about the illness online everyday and this was combined with a little yoga on a daily basis, with meditations and audio books.
If recovery is not monitored with careful pacing or little obstacles appear that are unavoidable like a virus or family situation, crash will happen during recovery. It will be less of a disastrous crash; more of a hiccup, but similar responses are required. Complete bed rest being one and just slipping back to a quieter routine, being another. I know one of the best things for me in these times is to avoid leaving the house, cut myself off from visitors and give myself some space. A couple of phone calls every week and an afternoon sleep every day, keeping my diet healthy and accessible, with a favourite DVD set or book to read is what usually helps me. After a couple of weeks of floating through I feel better able to pick myself up and keep going. Crash (or even just a little dip) requires acceptance and action.
The Crash stage is defined as absolute exhaustion, total and utter desperation for relying on others and no real chance of achieving anything through the day.
The main problem for this stage is that action has to be taken to remove yourself from it. All obligations have to be cleared and bed rest is the answer. Crash leaves muscle aches, headaches, joint pain from slightest movements, possibly even constant nausea and very little energy to eat and digest food and drink- for this reason indigestion is another symptom that will rear it's ugly head.
Bed rest can be boring, tedious, never-ending; leaving a feeling of desperation and through this a glimpse of optimism has to be found somewhere. Acceptance of the situation is the first step- which might take a coupe of days as dips and crashes can be confusing, usually for me a sore throat is the first sign that something isn't quite right. After acceptance come action: sleep, rest, sleep rest!
It is at these times when I keep in touch with the world through TV and radio, newspaper reviews and weather forecasts. Looking forward to particular programmes everyday, but avoiding depressing soaps and films. Chat shows and magazine shows are great for the short attention span needed and I would also watch DVDs of TV series - again looking forward to the next episode as it helped the time pass. I also joined Facebook so that I could become part of daily life and find out what friends were up to just half a mile away. Emails everyday, or when I was able, became a good source of encouragement too.
It may seem like a giving-up option, but when bed rest is needed, for the body to heal this is a good option. By scheduling a sleep every afternoon I had a good indicator of when more activity can be added. As the weeks went by I noticed that less and less sleep was necessary, so I added little activities instead. I bought a few magazines to read, managed a bit of knitting, started searching and reading more about the illness online everyday and this was combined with a little yoga on a daily basis, with meditations and audio books.
If recovery is not monitored with careful pacing or little obstacles appear that are unavoidable like a virus or family situation, crash will happen during recovery. It will be less of a disastrous crash; more of a hiccup, but similar responses are required. Complete bed rest being one and just slipping back to a quieter routine, being another. I know one of the best things for me in these times is to avoid leaving the house, cut myself off from visitors and give myself some space. A couple of phone calls every week and an afternoon sleep every day, keeping my diet healthy and accessible, with a favourite DVD set or book to read is what usually helps me. After a couple of weeks of floating through I feel better able to pick myself up and keep going. Crash (or even just a little dip) requires acceptance and action.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)