I decided to try and maintain my sleep schedule by doing light therapy in the morning. A sleep doctor I saw gave me a handout which, among other things, prescribed 30 minutes of sunlight upon arising as an effective way to get my sleep in sync.It helps the body generate melatonin, a natural hormone that regulates sleep. Some people also take melatonin supplements. Those you take at night before going to sleep. I'm thinking about doing that too. One thing at a time.
In any case, it was a pleasant morning, early enough that it wasn't yet too hot and humid. It helps that we get the tradewinds here, so it was breezy, the wind rustling through the palm fronds and making the wind chimes softly ring. I ate breakfast, read a little bit, and wrote in my journal. So even if it doesn't help with sleep regulation, a nice way to pass the time as opposed to lurking inside the house all day.
I seem to need a lot of sleep. I've been diagnosed with sleep apnea in the past, and been on a CPAP. Here's something about CPAPs: they are a lot more trouble than the doctors think they are. At least that's been my experience. It's difficult to adjust to the mask, the whole "air blowing down your throat thing" which of course causes dry mouth, among other things. When I complained to my doctors, their response was "put up or shut up." Fortunately I found a local support group, and discovered that I was not alone in having problems adapting to the equipment. In other words, some doctors are a**holes.
I recently had another sleep study, which is when you go in overnight to a sleep clinic and they hook you up to numerous electrodes, point a camera at you, and expect you to get a normal night's sleep. Analysis of the results showed that I don't currently have sleep apnea, but I do have "poor sleep hygiene." Not that they told me what to do about that, but fortunately I have reams of information about sleep hygiene from the previous sleep doctors.
I also found a great website on sleep disorders, with forums and everything. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it now. But there is a lot of information on sleep disorders at Medline Plus.
American Academy of Sleep disorders provides this fact sheet on different types of Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders (pdf), along with general treatment guidelines.
New website from the National Sleep Foundation Non-24-Hour Sleep-Wake Disorder
Website sponsored by Vanda, a Non-24 Sleep-Wake disorder drug. You may have seen their TV ads. Apparently this is a chronic problem for the blind.
Way back when, I just always thought that if one could properly discipline themselves to rise at the same time, and retire at the same time, that sleep would come and eventually, everything would work out. From living with my husband's sleep problems, hearing about yours, and thinking of some of the problems that I have had, I realize how foolish that was. Yes, it may work for some people; but for others, the inability to get proper sleep is a much more difficult problem. Regardless, I am going to try the discipline method first for myself. I will rise at a certain time, and retire no later than another time and just see what happens. I will also factor in other things such as what I ate in the evening, whether or not I have something to get up for in the morning, and whether or not my cat snored. Lol
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I am keeping a daily sleep log for just that reason. It's pretty simple to complete. It doesn't have much space for comments, though: https://www2.aap.org/sections/dbpeds/pdf/sleeplog.pdf
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