Strategies for deep sleep when you have insomnia

Sleep pattern changes due to age and medications

I usually sleep around six hours. This is more sleep than I got when I was a young woman. In those days I only slept about four hours a night. I think it was because I was always so wired on coffee and cigarettes and now that I am an old woman and don’t smoke and only drink coffee in the morning so I am more relaxed when it comes time to sleep.

I have a medication that I take once a week and I find that the day after I take it, I want to sleep longer and I will sometimes add a full extra hour to my sleep pattern. I have always said that the reason I do not sleep a lot is because I am so afraid I am going to miss out on things!

I am a night owl and stay up until two or three in the morning and get up later in the day. This works because for many years I worked from my home and could set my own hours. I don’t usually have any trouble falling asleep but if I do I will sometimes take one or two Tylenol and that will put me to sleep in about a half an hour.

I will also “entertain” myself by thinking of songs that have certain words in them. I’ll pick a word (like shoe) and then try to think of lyrics containing the word. This passes the time and while I am still thinking away, I have a fallen asleep.

I am a very light sleeper and I do like it quiet before I fall asleep. I don’t like the radio on or the television and if my husband is snoring in my ear, I nudge him until he turns over! Once asleep, repeated noises will wake me up and I am always the one to hear the telephone.

I think the amount of sleep I get is probably just enough. Sometimes I might wish it was more but then I decide that six hours is a respectable night’s rest and maybe when I am a little older I will be able to sleep longer.

Sometimes I think that we overload our brains with too many things going on at once and that is why some of us have a hard time falling asleep. We were not made to have so many electronic gadgets on at all times making sleep a try luxury instead of the healing process it is.

We all need a little time away from all the noise and confusion of today’s world and we should make our sleeping time the part of our lives where we ‘regroup’ and energize our minds and bodies through relaxation.

I actually love sleeping and have very vivid dreams, which I seem to remember in great detail. I have read that sleeping and dreaming is the mind’s way to help solve the problems in your daily life but if this is really true, I must have some very strange problems!

Insomnia after head injury

I began having trouble falling asleep after an accident that caused head injuries. It was a serious accident which involved a lot of pain. Therefore, for the first few years the sleep pattern was not noticed because of pain medications.

However, after the pain medication was removed then the sleeping patterns changed and sleep deprivation set in. In the beginning, maybe because I was in my twenties missing sleep was not a problem. I utilized the time by studying my college work or writing.

However, once work began and I got older the sleeping patterns started affecting my work and my family life. I was prescribed medications such as to treat bi polar disorders. Trazadone and depakote and zoloft. These medications which are non narcotic made my sleeping patterns more normal and regular.