Sleep is the issue right now. Getting to sleep, primarily. I've had two doctors' appointments on the topic this week. Yesterday's was with a neurologist, who cheerfully and attentively listened to my lament and then dictated a strict protocol :
1. Go to bed at the same time every night
2. No TV or computer screen-watching within an hour-and-a-half of going to bed.
3. Dim the lights during that time
4. No heavy physical or mental exertion during that time. Books on tape acceptable.
5. No reading in bed
6. Listen to a hypnotherapy relaxation tape 5-6 minutes in another room before going to bed.
7. No lying in bed trying to get to sleep for more than 15-20 minutes; get up and repeat step 6.
8. Do not use a clock to time the 15-20 minutes.
9. Write down all worries and spend 30-45 minutes a day immersed in them in the early afternoon.
10. No naps except between 2-4 pm and for only 30 minutes
11. Do not even THINK of using the bed for other than for sleep, sex, and sickness
12. Consider going to a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist who specializes in insomnia
Reader, I was so desperate I did #1-8 last night. By God, it worked! I had to get up after 20 minutes in bed, subjectively judged, and listen to 5-6 more minutes of the tape, and then I went back to bed and slept. It was a miracle!
Here's what Shakespeare really said. Sadly, I learned these lines from watching "Rumpole of the Bailey," not from two Shakespeare classes in college. I guess I wasn't old enough then to appreciate their wisdom-- I was always fighting sleep so I could get papers written.
"Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth (1605), Act II, scene 2, line 36.
No comments:
Post a Comment