I have been having trouble falling asleep for quiet some time, now. So going back through my post I found this one from a couple years ago. Anyone else have this problem?
You Are (not) Getting Sleepy…
Do you suffer from the modern-day dilemma called insomnia?
It’s just after midnight, and I’m still wide awake. Through time I have done all the things I’m supposed to do to fall asleep. I’ve taken a warm bath, sipped chamomile tea, listened to soft music. I’ve listened to no music at all. I have cut out caffeine during the day and take my meds in the morning instead of night. Except for right now, I am off the computer by 8; I’ve read books, tried meditation, melatonin, boring movies, and total silence. I have picked up the pace of walking, both at work and after work. Tried carbs, no carbs; sugar, no sugar. Bedtime snacks. No snacks.
And yet here I am.
I’ve heard various statistics about those who suffer from insomnia. Without doing extensive research at 12:06 a.m., I believe about 60% of older people suffer from some sort of sleep interruption. Not too long ago I read an article that said that as you get older, your body rhythms change, throwing off your sleep patterns.
Surprise.
I have tried prescriptions, and even though I get a hard night’s sleep, I’m the Walking Dead the next day. So those are out. OTCs are more trips into Zombieland. There are dozens of articles on the Internet telling me why I can’t sleep, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t sleep.
Sooo…I prefer to think of this stage of my life as preparing for retirement.
I believe that somewhere in the cosmic timeline is a bend in the road, a crack in the sidewalk that says enough is enough. This fifth dimension astro influence is saying: “You’ve worked your a$$ off all your life, first getting up at all hours with your babies, then staying up all hours waiting for your teenagers to get home, husbands on second shifts getting home at 5 a.m., getting up for work at 6 a.m. for the past 45+ years — enough is enough. Us higher forms of consciousness are preparing you for the day you don’t have to get up to an alarm, don’t have to punch a time clock, don’t have to put data in a computer, or drive to and from work in blizzards and thunderstorms and fog.”
Of course, the cosmos’ clock and my biological clock are two different things. The cosmos doesn’t get that I still have a few years left before I can sleep in and/or stay up all night. That I have bills to pay and obligations to meet before I can sleep till 10, have a cup of coffee on the deck, go for walks, play in the garden, and take naps whenever I want.
Did our parents have this problem? Our grandparents? Is it because we don’t work the fields for 10 hours a day that our bodies don’t work to their peak performance? Stress is always a factor. But our parents had stress, too. As did our grandparents. And so on.
It is true we are living in a whirlwind society. That technology moves faster than the speed of light, and if we don’t at least make an attempt to keep up with it, we become as rigid as the statues in our gardens. With TV and movies and music blaring in our faces and politics boiling our blood and self-centered people taking over our every day world, it’s hard to slow down enough to sleep, no less breathe.
I know my retirement won’t be much of a slowdown. But I will let my biological clock take over, and go wherever the wind blows.
Until then, I’ve found some really cool gemstones on the Gemtopia Shopping Network…
Humoring the Goddess 
It was…but I wasn’t used to all that running…better get my carcass in shape…
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Running around the campground sounds like a lot of fun, haha, no gain without pain 😉
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I still have lots of things I want to do, should do, but you have hit the nail on the head. I am just tired. I ran around the campground with my grandkids last Saturday and I’m still paying for it. But I guess I wouldn’t have it any other way, no matter how old I get.
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I have been where you are too…I think I couldn’t sleep back then, either! But it doesn’t matter..I snap out of it sooner than later. I don’t want to sleep my life away either — too much to do, too much to write! Enjoy that coffee on the deck any time!
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As I sit here at breaktime at work it’s a miracle my eyes are still open. And last night was early! 10:30! Ah well, when I retire I can return to my childhood — stay up all night long, sleep all morning..
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Amen sister! I hope to be busy in a totally different way!
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Believe me, when you are retired you do not understand how you ever had the time to have a full time job !!!! 😀
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Yes yes! I’m looking forward to the time I can stay up as long as I want and sleep as long as I want! Until then I’ll still be up till 1 and get up at 6…
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I love that you have a shop! It is exciting…and exhausting. I’m a night owl too..once I retire in a year I’ll finally be able to be in sync with my body!
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hhmmm… definitely not because of the lack of 10 hrs of toil! But modern society sure does deliver a whole different set of complications, that both exhaust and stimulate us at the same time!! Personally I have always been a night owl, which is now taking its toll as i have moved into opening a shop – it is a whole lifestyle change, including the adaptation of my body clock!!
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Alas alas I know all about insomnia !! Have been suffering from it for I don’t know how long ! For a while I have been taking half a pill to fall asleep, it is not a sleepingpill it just helps you to start sleeping and for me it works but I know I can’t go on with these pills forever but going to bed and knowing you’ll fall asleep is just heaven !!
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I haven’t found any real cool gemstones, but I did find a fellow insomniac. Thanks for the company!
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Yep, It’s our old bodies telling us we’re not superboy/girl anymore, “please stop punishing me”, I’m full of Kryptonite already, “I believe that somewhere in the cosmic timeline is a bend in the road, a crack in the sidewalk that says enough is enough.” Basically I think we’re over tired.
I’m just starting to wind down a bit these days, and very gradually I’m starting to get a bit more sleep, and actually starting to sleep in… xx
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I’m so lucky that I don’t have insomnia, at least not more than a few times per year. I’m also not in a position to retire. I suspect I will be working for many years yet, but coffee on the deck sounds nice. Something to look forward to.
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