The wee small hours of the morning...

[elspeth]

OK, so it's not really early now (6.30am). But, I've been awake since 3.30 and up since 4... and my best friend gets married today and I've only had four hours' sleep. Bad combination.

Anyway... just curious, what do you do when you can't sleep? I usually get a lot of piano practise done, but at the moment two of my friends are asleep on the floor of the room with my piano in, so that didn't happen! So I retreated to my next fallback, childrens' books. I've never believed in age limits on good books, but I tend to go for easier material when I'm struggling to sleep so I don't have to focus so hard to follow it.

I'm so glad I got out of making a speech at the reception this evening. Really don't think I'm going to be coherent by then!

[m1469]

hmmm... well, it depends on what phase of my life I am in.  If I am in a really athletic phase, as I was a couple of months ago, I would get up and get myself ready for the gym or a jog by 5 am.  But, I was waking up anywhere from 1-4 consistently at that point, and I would do various things.  I would come here, I would read, I would listen to music ... sometimes I would just lay in bed and think. 

Sometimes I just lay in bed and I decide to focus on every individual I know, one by one, and just take some moments to see their face in my mind, think of what I love about them, and then I just love each of them individually until I feel a sense of peace about their life.  I love doing that . 

Sometimes I do a little organizing -- either of my physical space, or of my schedule for the following day or week.  Occasionally I email people.  Sometimes I write in my journal.

I WISH I could just do some practicing ... I suppose I could do some mental practice, but I have a hard time getting motivated for that kind of work at those hours.

I like what you mentioned about having childrens books -- I think I would like to get some of what I used to have growing up.  Lately I have been thinking about transforming one of our rooms into a bit of a play room  .  I want to set up my artwork and beading in there, have a radio in there, and I want to have playdough and clay in there, too ... hee hee.  I also want a table with a puzzle on it, that I never have to put away if I don't want to.  I will probably think of other projects that I would like to have in there.  If I make the room as cozy as I want it to be, I could see myself going in there when I can't sleep and just doing something fun .

[jlh]

Watch TV or a DVD, take a PM (sleep aid), or just stay up and then you'll for sure be tired enough tomorrow night for a good night's sleep!

[elspeth]

Sometimes I just lay in bed and I decide to focus on every individual I know, one by one, and just take some moments to see their face in my mind, think of what I love about them, and then I just love each of them individually until I feel a sense of peace about their life.  I love doing that . 

What a lovely idea... do you tell them about it at any point? Or what you love about them, if not quite that you lay awake thinking about them at stupid o'clock in the morning!

I like what you mentioned about having childrens books -- I think I would like to get some of what I used to have growing up.  Lately I have been thinking about transforming one of our rooms into a bit of a play room  .  I want to set up my artwork and beading in there, have a radio in there, and I want to have playdough and clay in there, too ... hee hee.  I also want a table with a puzzle on it, that I never have to put away if I don't want to.  I will probably think of other projects that I would like to have in there.  If I make the room as cozy as I want it to be, I could see myself going in there when I can't sleep and just doing something fun .

My parents run an oline second-hand children's bookshop, and one of the many things I love about their house is that it's racked, floor to ceiling, everywhere, in books. I sepent a deliriously happy summer while I was a student cataloguing their stock for them, and revisiting a lot of the books I loved when I was growing up... and discovering a lot more I never discovered. So many wonderful books are written 'for children', but I read them avidly anyway.

And I'm with you on the playroom idea, I think people devote far too much time to being grown up!

[zheer]

    Sleep deprivation was used in the past to tourcher slaves, even today people at work are being deprived of sleep due to work load. I know people that complain that they can only sleep 1 hour a day, but thats usually due to old age, the older you get the less sleep you need. Am 100 % sure that stress worry or health problem or small children are the main reason for sleep deprivation.
   I know it is very possible to stay awake and function pefectly well for 6 -7 days.
However i strongly believe that one should sleep at night and be awake during the day. AS a temporary aid, sleeping tablets, physical activity during the day or even alcahol can help one to rest. Luckly am able to stay awake during the day and sleep during the night, though if i wonted to reverse that process i could .

[rc]

A few times I've done the opposite and picked up a dry, difficult book.  With something dull and tricky to read, I'm out like a light!

[pianowolfi]

Sometimes I just lay in bed and I decide to focus on every individual I know, one by one, and just take some moments to see their face in my mind, think of what I love about them, and then I just love each of them individually until I feel a sense of peace about their life.  I love doing that . 

This is very moving and I think if more people would do things like that, the world would come closer to world peace actually. You set a good example to me. Thoughts are a part of reality.

[thalbergmad]

Some idiot in the papers today, stayed awake for something like 11 days to claim a world record.

He then found out that the Guiness Book of Records no longer accepts entries for sleep deprivation as it is considered dangerous.

However, they did publish an entry for someone who swallowed a sword and dangled a weight from it.

Some strange people around.

Thal

[pianowolfi]

Some idiot in the papers today, stayed awake for something like 11 days to claim a world record.


Thal

Did he survive? 

[thalbergmad]

Indeed, and he claims to have experienced some "heightened" feelings.

When i was younger, i wanted to get into the Guiness Book of records for the largest ball of elastic bands. I stopped after someone did one 13ft tall.

Thal

[jlh]

GAH!  the day after this post and I couldn't sleep until like 6AM this morning!!!  lol

[opus10no2]

Masturbate/watch Movies/TV shows/play digital piano w/headphones/surf teh net

My 4 primary activities anyway

[Bob]

I've had trouble sleeping.  Sometimes it can't be solved.

Relax the mind and body.

Focus the mind on one thing.  Like slowly counting numbers.  I've tried counting to 100, echoing the numbers.   1 1 1 1......   2 22 2 2 2 2.....    and so on.

Relax the body.  Think through the whole body, tensing and relaxing each part, feeling a nice warmth if you can. 

I saw a site about sleeping wellness.  It had tips like not eating or exercising before bed, having a completely dark room, following a routine before bed so you have a habit of sleep, etc.  Common sense stuff but I still don't follow it all.

It doesn't always work though which stinks.  If you can't sleep and you put effort into relaxing and calming the mind down, sometimes that makes me just "ready" -- relaxed and alert.

I don't get up or do anything though.  Just lay there and zone out and s-l-o-w the thoughts down.  Usually my mind is racing about some problem if I can't sleep.  If I stand up, the next day I can tell.  Soreness.  I figure just laying down is at least getting some type of rest.

[jlh]

Some idiot in the papers today, stayed awake for something like 11 days to claim a world record.

What, was he on COKE?

[thalbergmad]

Yes, Diet Coke.

Thal

[elspeth]

Well, the wedding was great, and boy did I sleep last night! Nine blissful hours... pity it doesn't happen more often! Turned out the bride had also only had three hours' sleep, but she had an excuse...

I think part of my pronlems sleeping are work related - as I'm in theatres, my working day often starts around lunchtime and finishes between ten thirty and midnight, so when I try to do 'normal' hours, I really struggle to. I've spend nine years teaching my body that normal sleeping time is about 1am till 9am, and it doesn't understand about 10pm-6am any more!

[ted]

I agree with zheer. In general, people are not getting anywhere near enough rest and sleep. Individual needs for sleep may differ but for any given person a sleep debt cannot be cancelled. Sooner or later it will impinge on health and happiness.

I seldom have any difficulty sleeping but on the very rare occasion I do, the main trick is to stop thinking. One of the deep breathing forms of meditation usually accomplishes this quite rapidly. This assumes you are not in pain of course. Pain is a different kettle of fish.

[lagin]

I've had wierd sleeping hours, but not by choice!  Our dog, who is very old, had eye surgery and we're hoping that she makes it through.  It's been a few days since her surgery, but she still crys constantly except when she exhausts herself.  Then she sleeps, but continually wakes up and cries to make sure you are there.  She's so drugged up she can barely adjust herself, so she cries when she's uncomfortable, which is like always, too.  Anyways, my mom and I (it's her dog) have been doing shifts.  I take the night shift.  Yesterday I was up at 7:30 am, practiced a bit, took dog back and forth to the vet, practiced a few more hours until 10 pm, which was my shift (my dad had her from 7 until 10).  Watched a DVD, mental practiced for about an hour plus a bit (THAT was challenging at that hour, but productive none-the-less), until about 1:30am when my mom (who had now had about 6 hours sleep, took her).  I ate some pizza and went to bed by 2 am.  Today I got up at 11 am, and I am practicing between 12 and 7 as much as possible.  I'm taking my dad's shift (he has to work tomorrow) and my shift from 7pm - 2am ish.  I plan to watch DVDs and mental practice.  Then I hope to be up by 9 tomorrow so I can practice more before my lesson. 

MY dog is so confused cause she's so used to bed by 8pm, watch tv until 10, up anywhere between 6 and 8 the next day.  Practice until dinner with lots of breaks of course.  Repeat.  Now I'm coming and going at all hours of the day and night.  My body is confused, too!

[pianistimo]

hope your dog recovers quickly, lagin.  sounds like a newborn baby.  did they give you any eye drops to keep putting in her eyes?  maybe the whole operation scared her.  hope that she can see better in a few days.

[jlh]

Yes, Diet Coke.

Thal

Ya, best to stay away from the Diet Coke, especially while consuming Mentos... 

[lagin]

Actually, they took her eye out completely.  It was blind and infected.  The problem is, if she makes it through this, her other eye is infected now.  We might have to put her down if she doesn't pull through because unless she gets back to full strength, there's no way she could handle another operation to remove the other eye.  We're putting drops in that one and hoping that we caught the infection early enough to fight it before it blinds her entirely or worse.  Yes, it is like a newborn except you can't put her in a crib and walk away.  And she wakes up every 15 - 20 minutes to cry, and unless you pat her on the head immediately it will turn into all out wailing.  She cried so much she messed up her sodium or whatever levels in her blood and had to be put on IV.  She cried for 11 1/2 hours straight without sleeping a couple days after her operation.  We think they gave her way too much narcotics.  They've cut it in half now.  She's on a patch. 

[m1469]

What a lovely idea... do you tell them about it at any point? Or what you love about them, if not quite that you lay awake thinking about them at stupid o'clock in the morning!

I don't know that I have ever told anybody this.  I may have told a couple of people (like my husband), but, sometimes I have gone through really, really long lists.  I mean, I am even talking about people that I knew in kindergarten in a different state that I moved away from before I was out of elementary school ... hee hee.  Or sometimes people that I have never actually met, but they just made some impression on me (like a blind man that I have seen for years now, confidently walking the streets on his own) ... or people whose names I don't even know -- and of course my close friends and my family, too. 

It's kind of crazy all of the people we come across in our lives, isn't it ?  Some of these people wouldn't have the faintest idea that I think about them this way (not necessarily every time I have done it, but they have crossed my mind anyway) -- some of these people wouldn't have the faintest idea that I even know them, and probably haven't thought twice about me ever  -- Or perhaps they have not even thought once about me ... LOL.

My parents run an oline second-hand children's bookshop, and one of the many things I love about their house is that it's racked, floor to ceiling, everywhere, in books. I sepent a deliriously happy summer while I was a student cataloguing their stock for them, and revisiting a lot of the books I loved when I was growing up... and discovering a lot more I never discovered. So many wonderful books are written 'for children', but I read them avidly anyway.

And I'm with you on the playroom idea, I think people devote far too much time to being grown up!

That does sound like a fun summer .  Yeah, I used to nanny and work with kids in various settings, and one of my favorite things to do was read them stories.  I enjoyed it for several reasons, but one of the reasons was just that I liked the stories... hee hee.  So, I guess there is nothing stopping me from setting my playroom up with a number of different children's books... hmmmm.... maybe I should paint a mural, too, like my mom did on our wall when we were little .

[jas]

Indeed, and he claims to have experienced some "heightened" feelings.

When i was younger, i wanted to get into the Guiness Book of records for the largest ball of elastic bands. I stopped after someone did one 13ft tall.

Thal

I stayed up for 56 hours once when I was at uni and it's not something I'll be doing again soon! I started to hallucinate. Not badly, but I started seeing the pictures on the wall as though they were in 3D every time I saw them out of the corner of my eye. And I felt sick and pretty dizzy. It was horrible! Got an A for that bloody essay, though!

I'd pick up a book you can get really absorbed in, that way you can stop concentrating on "trying" to sleep. You'll just drift off without realising. Like you, I tend to go for something "easy" and familiar - my usual book of choice at that time of night is one of the Harry Potters.

[opus10no2]

I don't know that I have ever told anybody this.  I may have told a couple of people (like my husband), but, sometimes I have gone through really, really long lists.  I mean, I am even talking about people that I knew in kindergarten in a different state that I moved away from before I was out of elementary school ... hee hee.  Or sometimes people that I have never actually met, but they just made some impression on me (like a blind man that I have seen for years now, confidently walking the streets on his own) ... or people whose names I don't even know -- and of course my close friends and my family, too. 

It's kind of crazy all of the people we come across in our lives, isn't it ?  Some of these people wouldn't have the faintest idea that I think about them this way (not necessarily every time I have done it, but they have crossed my mind anyway) -- some of these people wouldn't have the faintest idea that I even know them, and probably haven't thought twice about me ever  -- Or perhaps they have not even thought once about me ... LOL.

I've done things like this before but it invariably makes me sad for some reason. 

[m1469]

I've done things like this before but it invariably makes me sad for some reason. 

Then you were doing it wrongly 

[opus10no2]

I'm doing something wrongly.

[m1469]

I'm doing something wrongly.

If you are wanting to be happy, then, yeah, I suppose you are  .  Anyway, I just don't experience sadness when I am truly loving somebody with my whole self -- when love is completely filling me, and I am working to gain a sense of peace about that individual's life (because sometimes love = worry for me, which I don't think is productive and which is not my personal definition of true love), then there is no room for sadness.  I just feel happy to have had their example in my life and I just LOVE them.  It's neat .

[opus10no2]

Yes. Do you think it's more important to communicate that love than to just feel it and think about it?

*edit*
So communication is very difficult, for me, but while feeling something is enough for me, other people can't tell, and they should know, shouldn't they?
*edit*

[jlh]

I stayed up for 56 hours once when I was at uni and it's not something I'll be doing again soon! I started to hallucinate. Not badly, but I started seeing the pictures on the wall as though they were in 3D every time I saw them out of the corner of my eye. And I felt sick and pretty dizzy. It was horrible! Got an A for that bloody essay, though!

I once stayed up 4 days in a row during a busy time of the semester as an undergrad.  I was working nights at FedEx as a package handler at that time and that was NOT fun!  I was falling asleep WHILE WALKING at work.  On the way home from work that morning I was pulled over by police 2 times because they thought I was drunk driving.  HA!

I refuse to stay up that long ever again!

[m1469]

Yes. Do you think it's more important to communicate that love than to just feel it and think about it?

More important ?  Well, I guess they each have their own importance.  If I had to choose between actually feeling love for somebody vs just telling them, then I would for sure choose feeling it, since feeling it causes any action or word that communicates the feeling.  Just because I don't tell somebody in words doesn't mean that they don't feel it and it has gone uncommunicated. 

Anyway, I do tell people.  Just because I don't tell them that I lay awake at night loving them, doesn't mean I don't tell that I love them.  And, I don't really see the purpose in hunting down people I knew in kindergarten to tell them that I still think about them on occasion and put them on this list when I can't sleep at night  .

*edit*
So communication is very difficult, for me, but while feeling something is enough for me, other people can't tell, and they should know, shouldn't they?
*edit*

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  It really depends. 

[opus10no2]

More important ?  Well, I guess they each have their own importance.  If I had to choose between actually feeling love for somebody vs just telling them, then I would for sure choose feeling it, since feeling it causes any action or word that communicates the feeling.  Just because I don't tell somebody in words doesn't mean that they don't feel it and it has gone uncommunicated. 

Sorry, I meant to say , is it more important to feel and think...than to feel and tell.
I think too much goes unsaid, and much that actually is said is of little consequence.
Speaking personally, I sometimes need things literally spelt out for me.