Lack Of Sleep Really Triggers Me I'm Discovering

[squireparty]

Something I am figuring out is that lack of sleep really triggers me. Even if I can avoid being triggered, I feel horrible and not up to dealing with people once a certain lack of sleep line has been crossed. Duh. This may seem obvious to others but it has taken me time to figure this one out.

My usual MO is to push myself to keep going which just wears me down even more. Lately I have stopped doing that and when I can't sleep I try being kinder to myself and I spend time with my cat and with my yard.

I am coming off a week where I mostly slept (kind of funky to use this word lol) normally and last night I don't know why but no sleep. It is amazing to me how off my perceptions are and how many unpleasant and stressful thoughts scatter through my mind when I am tired. I'm really just starting to become aware of this.

I'm off to take a hot bath and drink some valerian tea and I'm just going to try to be open to sleep without stressing or trying to force it.

 

[Barberian]

This link below might help. Lack of sleep = bad stress multiplier.

https://www.myptsd.com/threads/the-ptsd-cup-explanation.13737/

 

[maddog]

Absolutely. Lack of sleep is a serious and cumulative stressor. I know that my coping threshold becomes drastically lower when I am chronically sleep deprived, and I become more susceptible to triggers, general anxiety, general emotionality, general depression... etc.

I have a terribly disrupted sleep cycle, and it is a constant battle in my life. Like you, sometimes I know that unless I want to tempt fate, I just need to take a step back and give myself a break when I feel I'm at that edge of serious sleep deprivation. Otherwise I just have to deal with the ugly consequences.

Maddog