I had ovarian cancer, which meant an operation and 6 months chemo, so the chemo meant that your reactions changed with the weeks, and it was very hard to get sorted. Then I had bladder cancer, so another problem, but actually my worst thing is my back pain. I do take pain killers to try and get off to sleep, but then wake up from pain about 2 or 3 in the morning etc. So here is a lists of possibilities that I have tried, and found helpful at various times.
1. Especially at the moment, I look and listen to no news after 6pm. When the news is to say the least gloomy, distressing and worrying, it makes things so much worse if you wake up at 2 am and all the worries crowd in on you
2. Get your bedroom set up to help you. By that I mean, accepting that you may wake up is not defeatist. More sensible. So have a reading light at the most comfortable angle and in the right place, so that you can read easily , without frowning or sitting awkwardly. Have a little bottle of lavendar or rose essential oil.A lovely thing to put on a little, shut your eyes and enjoy the perfume.
3. By the bed on a table you can easily reach, have a book you are reading , complete with bookmark. Nothing too exciting, but maybe something with some humour in, or I always have a poetry book there too. Have a small notebook with at least two working pens too. So if you wake and find yourself thinking of something worrying or annoying, or something you had forgotten to do yesterday, write it down. So that you gradually learn the way to take those thoughts from your mind, and then in the following day you can look again at the problem, where you either know what to do to sort it, or realize that you were worrying unnecessarily.
4. I keep a bottle of sparkling water on the table too, so that if I wake up coughing or thirsty I can take a sip , without getting out of bed or really waking up. Then you might be lucky and fall asleep again.
5. Do you remember that song "dem bones dem bones..... the thigh bones connected to the hip bone " etc. Well you can try and do a sort of yoga exercise. If you find a comfortable position, you dont need the light on, and then concentrate starting from your toes - feet = legs etc. Dont try and order your breathing, but become aware of your breath and then link it to your body. So on each breath you try and relax your body . So breath in , think of feet relaxing , breath out and breath stress away. Next breath in, think of ankle, breath out . You then try to carry on doing this all the way up your body. Having to think about the next bit stops you worrying about the fact that you are awake.
6. Silently , or quietly, count backwards in 3's from 1000. You have to concentrate to count in 3's being an odd number and it changes as you go. So you really need to concentrate, and my rule is , that if your mind drifts off to what the doctor said, or what the gas bill is going to be this winter, then you have to go back to 1000 and start again. You cant cheat yourself!
7, If despite your trying some or all of these ideas you are really wide awake get up. Dont stay in bed getting anxious or uptight about the fact that you are not sleeping. So once I get up , my choice is to either sit up and read for an hour, or until I feel sleepy and can go back to bed, The other day I woke up 4am, and it was soon obvious that there was no way I would get back to sleep. I live in a flat , so cant make a lot of noise. I put the ironing board up, sorted the ironing out from hot to cool, and sat in my dressing gown doing that. cooler to do the job, and at least if I wasnt getting any more sleep, I end up with more choice of clean and ironed clothes, and can go on to something nicer later on
8. If you swim, or walk , or garden when you are able to, to even just walk helps to take away that stress. We all add to the stress by worrying about the fact we are not sleeping , and every time we look at the clock it gets worse. So if you dont need to have an alarm call for a specific thing, turn the clock round the other way,and dont look at your watch, as it only winds you up worrying!!
No doubt I will remember other bits in time, but of course what we have now - that wasnt available 20 years ago . we have gransnet!! So dont worry, there will be someone else up and around at whatever time you look. Have a problem? Someone on here with have been in that position, or have good ideas to help. You can look at other posts and be able to offer your experience to help others. There are many many different items you can follow up.
Lastly on a bad night I swear ! No , it is ok, not what you think! I mutter "Trump, Trump Farage, Farage etc. and hope that THEY are being kept (bigly!) awake by remembering the many lies and stupid things they have said and done Mmm no doubt the talented members of GN could make us a Trump or Farage doll and I could add sticking pins into them too.
Lastly remember that things can improve, and wont necessarily get worse, so keep breathing and annoy politicians of all colours by as dear Dolly Parton would say "staying alive" "staying alive " Take care and let me know if anything helps or if you have any other ideas of your own.
