Ask the Box

26 jun 06

"What should you do if you can't sleep and you're watching the hours pass, knowing that you have to get up sooner and sooner to face some trying task?"

you should read "ask the box", and submit questions to it.

try taking a shower. after a shower, bed-clothes feel much nicer, and that might help relax you and eventually put your brain into a sleep-rhythm. over the counter sleep aids sometimes work (i think), depending on who you are (they don't tend to work on me). "they" also talk about keeping a regular sleep schedule (no naps), exercising (yeah, right), and not eating too close to bedtime. i've web-read up on all of this, having had this problem for a while myself.

i'm think i'll produce shorter answers, because i'm starting to get...well, not burned out, exactly, but perhaps sick of putting so much effort into careful writing. i'll just shoot off some bullshit, and see what people say about it. i don't really care, i guess.

the answer: try the shower, tylenol p.m., and not-snacking. then, just lie there in bed with your eyes closed, not trying to go to sleep, but more just lying quietly and listening to your brain hum and sputter; treat it more like meditation than sleep discipline. sometimes, you'll end up going to sleep, and sometimes not. keeping this up all night would be ideal (if you don't go to sleep), but sometimes it's just too hard not to become frustrated at the waking brain, jump out of bed, and pop on the internet, watch infomercials, read cartoon books, etc.

crucial (for me, at least) is to try not to nap the next day, at all. then, one will be nice and tired by next bedtime. i do this thing where i don't sleep one night, then get really tired the next day and take a late-day nap. then, i don't get to sleep till 5 or 6am the following night. then, i sleep till 11am or so, and feel groggy. but i'm usually pretty tired by the time the next normal bedtime comes around. but there's some mood instability as a result of this.

it's inevitable that the same problems will come up again, eventually. i tend to sleep a lot better when i have something like work or school keeping me scheduled. if left to my own devices, i tend to sleep at odd hours, and not get as good a night's sleep as i would on a regimented lifestyle.

you're sort of asking the wrong person, here. i developed sleep problems right after my head injury in 1997, which is apparently a fairly common problem. anyway, it hasn't been the same since, but i can control it to a degree with some discipline, even though i usually don't bother to delay gratification, and instead sit here typing answer-blogs at 2:24am.

i got hit with a few questions in a few hours, and they're getting sort of hard, so i think i might have to tone down the formality a bit, and stop sweating about sounding good/normal/like some kind of writer. i've been through this before, in my blog. what happens next is i find that being relaxed and not caring what i sound like actually produces better writing. but i don't want to get ahead of myself here.

hope you can get to sleep tonight.