You are getting sleepy…..

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/03/2016 (3461 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Readers: I received a electronic pillow case full of letters, from sympathetic Winnipeggers in response to the letters from Sleepless in St James and Sad Young Husband. They were about the issue of waking up in the middle of the night and being unable to get back to sleep for several, long bothersome hours. They come at the problem from many different directions that have worked for them. Here are their clever solutions:

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: You need to learn to turn the active mind off. The simplest way, without drugs, is to learn to count backwards, not forwards. Pundits have suggested you count back by threes. This may be good for starting, but for the true, fully active mind, you need to count back by sevens.

Pilots use this system of counting back by sevens from 100 to see if they can arrive at two to determine whether they need to get down lower to avoid anoxia (absence of oxygen), you can start at any number. You definitely don’t need to arrive at a fixed number for this to work (you may have dropped off by then).

Another totally different method is to use a mantra, where you keep repeating a certain word or short phrase with concentration. It also works in slowing the active mind.

— Anti-Insomniac

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’m pushing 70 and I get what I call the “heebie-jeebies” around 2 a.m. and absolutely have to get out of bed. It’s like everything is jangley, and once I’m up for about an hour, I can go back to bed and sleep. I think a lot of women are affected this way, especially after menopause. It does get better with time and doesn’t happen so often now.

— Heebie-Jeebies Begone

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Within the last year I have been able to make great headway in achieving better sleep. Years of shift work and then some bouts with depression took their toll on my overall sleep health. It got to the point where the insomnia was causing depression, not the other way around.

The most successful way to treat any kind of insomnia is with cognitive behaviour therapy. The best recommendation is to find a therapist trained in cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia. But finding a therapist isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I found a book that guided me through all the steps, first to diagnose what type of insomnia I had, and then to re-train my own sleep habits. Within a month, I was already noticing significant improvements. The book is called Sink Into Sleep: A step-by-step workbook for Reversing Insomnia, by Judith R. Davidson. Her website is sinkintosleep.com.

One of the rules in this book is if you are not able to sleep, get out of bed. That way you don’t associate your bed with restlessness and insomnia. So, Young Husband in Selkirk’s wife is doing the right thing, but maybe they need to have better communication about it, so he’s not so freaked out by it.

— Sleeping Much Better Now

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Waking in the night is a sign of something imbalanced in the body. By and large, people don’t just wake up in the middle of the night for no reason. It could be tired adrenals leading to a cortisol deficiency, which causes the body to ramp up its adrenaline production in the middle of the night; or it could be a vitamin B deficiency, which also can deregulate the sleep cycle. Or it could be something else entirely, but still related to some sort of imbalance in the body.

However, Western medicine doesn’t deal well in these areas. I would suggest those readers see a naturopathic doctor (there are many excellent ones in the city) who can prescribe some simple supplements that could easily correct the issue. There’s no reason anyone needs to have this uncomfortable problem continue, and scientific studies show poor sleep is highly detrimental to our overall health. This isn’t something that should be brushed off as “just a habit.”

— Been There, Done That, Fixed the Problem

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Many people don’t know they are deficient in magnesium. I didn’t and suffered from sore tendons in my legs. A friend had restless leg syndrome. People like us are relieved when we up our magnesium uptake and these conditions lessen. They can ask their doctor, but MDs tend not to offer advice such as this. People also tend to rationalize and create their own explanation or habit, believing it’s normal or just them. They don’t consider poor diets or stress as reasons why they feel or sleep poorly.

— Check Magnesium

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I have found sometimes simply moving to the couch (perhaps because I can’t toss and turn there) allows me to fall back asleep for an hour or so and then I can return to bed. My insomnia was particularly bad during a recent pregnancy, and just like Sleepless, I would be up in the night. My mom bought me one of those adult colouring books to try, and I found that to be a soothing activity to pass the time without stimulating my mind too much.

— Fellow Night Owl

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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