Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

For the last week my sleep pattern has changed drastically - I'm not sleeping. I have no idea why this has happened but I don't like it. I have lain awake most nights, listening to the gentle breathing/snoring beside me wanting to join him in the land of nod but no idea how! There are no obvious reasons for this change in me, anyone got any sensible ideas?

Thanks

Sorry to hear that, Katharine. I don't think my own remedy would necessarily work for you, because it hinges on separate bedrooms! This means that if I am awake in the middle of the night I can make a hot drink, put on a gentle CD ( something like the sound of ocean surf), and read myself to sleep, which I could not do if it risked disturbing a sleeping husband. My own sleep patterns have been increasingly erratic recently - perhaps it is the onset of old age - but have always been wildly different from my husbands'. He stays up late watching television, but has to be up early to leave for work by 5.45. I choose to go to bed much earlier and read until I drop off, but I find now that I sleep no more than 4 - 5 hours at a stretch, which is not enough (the aging bladder is also a factor!), so I may have a two hour wakeful period from say 2 - 3 in the morning, and then go back to sleep from about 5, knowing that it doesn't matter too much what time I finally get up because I am not having to tend to a family or get myself off to work. The pattern also varies seasonally. I am very aware that my body operates on daylight, so I instinctively sleep less in summer and am more active then ('more' being definitely a relative term - I am not active at the best of times!). Perhaps your own body is reacting to summertime - if that is what we are experiencing now? Knowing that you have lived in various parts of the world I would have expected your body to be fairly adaptable, but perhaps we become more rigid with the passing of time. Do you have difficulty switching your mind off? I certainly do. If there is the remotest thing to worry about I will gnaw away at it during the night, or replay a recent argument (usually with the vicar!), which is why I think reading helps because it diverts my thoughts elsewhere - I have long since lost the ability to multitask mentally.

I doubt if this was any help to you whatsoever, but it was therapeutic for me to write it all down. Perhaps I shall go back to bed now!! Ah another thought - do not on any account allow yourself to nap during the day - force yourself to keep going until you drop. I don't think this would apply to you either though, because you are working during the day, I believe.

Katharine, a cup of camomile tea about an hour before you go to bed might help. It's an acquired taste but not awful. Also, I've found that tensing/relaxing all the muscles, from the feet up or head down, whichever you prefer, sometimes does the trick - and doesn't disturb the sleeping partner! I was amazed how tense my neck and shoulders were when I first started this exercise.

A fascinating subject !
I regret that I can give no personal remedy --- being an infuriating person who can put a blanket on the floor -- and drop off at will --- HOWEVER --
We have those in the Family who suffer from insomnia, and some of the best "Treatments" have already been mentioned, certainly avoind post Prandial naps, try a nightcap of Horlicks -- it does seem to work--although any drink may cause the small hours "Skip to the Loo- my darling", as I know to my cost !
Avoid any exercise immediately before bedtime -- better in the Morning.
As to the chewing over of the day's Problems --- sometimes a good idea is to write them all down, on a piece of paper --- with possible solutions, this gives some "Closure" --- and if you fall asleep while writing ---- WHOOPEE !

I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble sleeping. I know that what works for one person won't necessarily work for another, but I have found, in the past, that napping in the day can help me sleep better at night. I think it's because a nap makes me more relaxed, and I'm not so worried about being too tired the next day, because at least I've had some sleep.

Give yourself permission to make yourself comfortable - our CH training encouraged us to try to overcome any problems with sheer willpower, so it can seem overly indulgent to go out and buy more comfortable nightwear, or new pillows, or spend some time watching television or reading before bed.

Have you tried earplugs? We recently spent a week staying in a room overlooking a noisy pub that didn't close till 2am. After the first night I bought some earplugs, and slept very well.

I also have a mask, the sort dished out on aeroplanes.

or you could try this, silk is supposed to reduce wrinles and my daughter swears by her lavender pillow (2 in 1 here)

http://www.aromahome.com/gb/eye_masks.asp

or how about a hop pillow?

http://www.daisygifts.co.uk/html/dried_hops.html make some for Christmas gifts too.

I definitely find that the aroma of lavender helps, whether as oil on the pillow or wrists or in spray form - I am still using a Sleeptherapy spray which I got from the Avon catalogue years ago; I don't know if they still make it. We have also had those pillow things impregnated with lavender, good for assorted aches and pains, if we can remember where they are when required. However, a slight cautionary tale - my daughter Kirri had a lavender 'flavoured' Teddy bear - the kind that you warm in the microwave. At first it was fine, but after a while it just got relegated to a hanging basket in the spare room, to be stored with a load of other cuddly toys. On one occasion when I went to stay we found lots of tiny bugs crawling across the bed, which examination proved to be coming from the lavender teddy; the bugs were hoovered up (they seemed to be only on the surface) and teddy was put through the indignity of first the washing machine and then the tumble drier and seemed to be bug-free, but somehow we didn't like to trust him after that and he was consigned to the dustbin - in this ecofriendly age perhaps we should have composted him!

anniexf wrote:Katharine, ................................... Also, I've found that tensing/relaxing all the muscles, from the feet up or head down, whichever you prefer, sometimes does the trick - and doesn't disturb the sleeping partner! I was amazed how tense my neck and shoulders were when I first started this exercise.

I have also used this on occasion - it relaxes the body completely ( a variation is to imagine soft hands pushing all the feeling and tenseness upwards one leg at a time, then one arm at a time and finally (you're asleep by then) from your abdomen into the thorax and then the head. Total relaxation is as good as sleep.

On other occasions I used to concentrate on mentally writing PC programs (SuperCalc macros) which I would enter the next day - my body was so relaxed I went for months on an hour or so sleep per night.

Now I go to bed early, read a book but I am asleep before I have finished one page - bit hard when one is trying to decipher complex scientific uni stuff!

There's a wealth of good advice here, Katharine. Good luck.
I find Kalms very helpful (all natural stuff) and I do have the Avon sleeptherapy spray (yes they still make it - and a range of other lavender scented things to help one relax/sleep - but a can does not last for ever...). I usually go off to sleep almost as soon as the light is out.
After a nighttime visit to the bathroom, I get myself back into a comfortable position and then start breathing very deeply and deliberately - usually works a treat.
My equivalent of 'counting sheep' is to mentally and slowly run through other beds in which I have ever slept, imagining the way I would be facing and what furniture is around me. So - I'm in Little Dorm in 2's, facing the window, with the dressing table behind me; I'm in Lower Dorm in 2's, facing the door, with my locker behind me; I'm staying in Clare's house, in the spare room, facing the door with the window behind me; I'm in the hotel in Brecon, facing the centre of the room, with a window behind me; and so on.....I don't think I have ever got beyind nine or ten!

I have just ordered a memory foam mattress topper - I wonder if that will help?

You might find it a bit hot to start with, Frances. I got one in January and the first night I sank into it very comfortably. But when I woke up later, I found that I was 'stuck' in position for a while (had to fight to get out of the indentation made by my not-so-small body!) and found that I was sweating profusely. It took some getting used to, but I am now glad that I got it. I am now used to having to manoeuvre my way around on the mattress when I want to change position and my body temperature seems to have adjusted.
Hope you will enjoy it!

Fjgrogan wrote:I definitely find that the aroma of lavender helps, whether as oil on the pillow or wrists or in spray form - I am still using a Sleeptherapy spray which I got from the Avon catalogue years ago; I don't know if they still make it. We have also had those pillow things impregnated with lavender, good for assorted aches and pains, if we can remember where they are when required. However, a slight cautionary tale - my daughter Kirri had a lavender 'flavoured' Teddy bear - the kind that you warm in the microwave. At first it was fine, but after a while it just got relegated to a hanging basket in the spare room, to be stored with a load of other cuddly toys. On one occasion when I went to stay we found lots of tiny bugs crawling across the bed, which examination proved to be coming from the lavender teddy; the bugs were hoovered up (they seemed to be only on the surface) and teddy was put through the indignity of first the washing machine and then the tumble drier and seemed to be bug-free, but somehow we didn't like to trust him after that and he was consigned to the dustbin - in this ecofriendly age perhaps we should have composted him!

and it's on special offer at the moment

http://avonshop.co.uk/shop/product.asp? ... &pagenum=1

kerrensimmonds wrote:There's a wealth of good advice here, Katharine. Good luck.
I find Kalms very helpful (all natural stuff) and I do have the Avon sleeptherapy spray (yes they still make it - and a range of other lavender scented things to help one relax/sleep - but a can does not last for ever...). I usually go off to sleep almost as soon as the light is out.
After a nighttime visit to the bathroom, I get myself back into a comfortable position and then start breathing very deeply and deliberately - usually works a treat.
My equivalent of 'counting sheep' is to mentally and slowly run through other beds in which I have ever slept, imagining the way I would be facing and what furniture is around me. So - I'm in Little Dorm in 2's, facing the window, with the dressing table behind me; I'm in Lower Dorm in 2's, facing the door, with my locker behind me; I'm staying in Clare's house, in the spare room, facing the door with the window behind me; I'm in the hotel in Brecon, facing the centre of the room, with a window behind me; and so on.....I don't think I have ever got beyind nine or ten!

Similar to this, I find it vital to 'switch off,' and this sounds silly-I often focus on CH Hertford! Not bad aspects of it, but mentally I count for example all the Susans and Sarahs in our year that I can remember, and the next night it could be all the Claires in the house etc. This works for me 99% of the time, like Kerren I never get beyond about 10!

Thanks for all the advice here. I'll try some and report back. The option of moving to another room is not on, in this house. I don't have any real worries at the moment or rather I don't have any new ones that surfaced a week ago when all this started.

Yes, I sometimes go back to Hertford and go through the house list, while I know Frances was 6 24 can I name who replaced her? I can name everyone from my first year but ... later years more difficult.

I hope that this will stop as quickly as it started. We are just going into High Season on the Railway and I will have to work silly hours, so I need to rest.

Is there too muchlight in your bedroom? We got blackout linings for the curtains, and found that it improved things a bit.