The Advantages Of Insomnia?

[Melody coates]

how many of you use insomnia to your advantage? I'm a college student so when I can't sleep I stay up and study. ;)

 

[darrenS]

Lately (touch wood) ive been getting great sleep , im a life long insomniac and spent many years using it to my advantage , especially in the early part of my internet career, when it was considered normal to either not sleep much or sleep at your desk. I have spent years working long hours and long days. Ive learnt two things from insomnia , firstly, yes it gives you more time to do things , but secondly and most importantly , as we have ptsd - we are always pretty much on - our brains literally do not rest. Add insomnia to the mix and initially things may be ok , but over time you become more stressed and actually lose the ability to deal with it. The stress slowly but surely drains your ability to act and think rationally.

When i do suffer insomnia , i do not have a clock where i can see it , particularly if im in bed and trying to sleep. This stops those nagging thoughts of "gee i feel asleep at 4.00am and im up at 6.00am" - (therefore im operating on 2 hrs sleep)

What it does is trick your brain , if i dont know what time i fell asleep, then i cant ascertain how much sleep i had and if i feel ok, then i feel ok. So im not spending my time thinking of the amount of sleep because i simply dont know. It sounds a bit wacky but it actually works. Of course you have your clock where you cant see it but you can hear it.

The biggest danger to our condition besides stress is lack of sleep , its effects are far more insidious than people realize.

 

[Seasounds]

I agree with the above post. Adding 'productive tasks' are contraindicated, in my book, when having PTSD.

Regulating PTSD, in other words, doing everything you can to support optimal brain functioning, in order to help minimize the effects of triggers, anger, anxiety, depression, self-harming behaviors-including suicidal ideation, and in order to maximize the positive coping skills learned to daily live with PTSD require, often a discipline, of getting 6 to eight hours of sleep a night.

The most activity I do, when I wake, in the middle of the night, is to either do mindfulness meditation to go back to sleep, or take my medication to sleep.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

Work at night? Well, actually more pleasant for me, but impossible at hit points from midnight to 2 am, when anxiety is the only thing I feel, so I'm basically just crying in bed for a whole load of time.

But otherwisr I try to use the time a bit, but my productivity is just a tiny bit.

 

[GWhizz]

Actually for me - my insomnia prevents me from nightwork (which I guess is kinda a plus as I have a bit of a more regular routine to stick with). Basically I sleep crap 24/7 so I was recently written off night duty. It was way harder for me to sleep during the day time when I knew I needed to be up for work that evening - my mind would be buzzing from the events of the night shift, sleep deprivation / overtiredness, and then add nightmares/flashbacks and the fact that sleeping by day is unnaturally attained anyway. So I would get one, tops two hours day sleep and this would go on for the 4 or so night shifts whilst I tried to function at night working a busy acute surgical nursing unit - not the safest idea for my career nor my patients. So now I get about 3 or 4 hours at night if I'm lucky, add a wakeful one year old to the mix! But it's better than the two by day and extra tired feelings at night that are naturally occurring. Now I'm pregnant again though, I seem to be having so many more nightmares and am even more exhausted as I'm waking and unable to go back to sleep. I wish I could do something productive at night. But all I try to do is meditate to help me back to sleep. Anything else and I'll be only more tired for my early start in work! I can't say I'm all that positive about my insomnia unfortunately - I just wish I could fall asleep and stay asleep more often :unsure:

 

[Friday]

When I'm at my best... That's exactly what I do! :D

Study, workout, read for fun, catch up on TV, put on the music and clean, call friends in other time zones. Ends up making me love my insomnia runs instead of despairing over them... Almost like vacations where I get to have a ton of personal time in addition to getting my shit done.

When I was single/childless, and the insomnia was as bad as it is now (instead of a few weeks to a couple months a year, near constant) I finally gave up the ghost of looking normal and just ran with it. Up for 36 down for 12. I also found I could catch a couple hours as long as it was daytime and I was around people... So I started sleeping on the beach. Found I could get 5 good hours on the beach every single day. It's part of what helped me kick the insomnia runs to begin with. Catch the morning break, eat some fruit or fish, down thick sweet Turkish coffee, & rack out in the sand.

My rule of thumb has always been : If I can't lick it, put it to work for me.

 

[Karen12]

Sometimes I read, stretch, pray, or do some research but for the most part insomnia renders me a low-energy zombie unable to do or process much.

 

[Justmehere]

Sometimes I can skype with friends in other times zones. :) But, it has HUGE trade offs. I developed "learned insomnia" after awhile because I put my insomnia to use too much. At the same time, there is a limit to fighting it. My sleep med doc said to never stay in bed while awake for more than 15 minutes. He told me to have a routine every night and if I still couldn't sleep after crawling in to bed, get up and go to a different room (don't stay in the same room where I sleep) and do something for awhile and try again in an hour or so. I do enjoy at least being able to connect with friend who are up in other countries if I have to be awake. :)

 

[Friday]

My sleep med doc said to never stay in bed while awake for more than 15 minutes. :)

Wowza. I have never* fallen asleep in 15 minutes in my entire life. It takes me at least an hour to turn my mind off enough to fall asleep. Even when I could still 'fall asleep anytime, anywhere' I was never all the way asleep. Could still hear and process everything, respond if necessary. Normal life? I can remember back until I was 2ish. I don't think even then. The baby would sleep, and I'd watch. I know most people fall asleep quickly, but in less than 15??? Envy.

* Barring up for 72-96 hours straight, or hourly vital check. But the first is dropping from exhaustion, and the second isn't coming fully awake unless action is needed. Even benzos and most heavy meds that knock me flat take 30-60 minutes to work.

 

[afuneralinmybrain]

You're a better college student than I am! I just watch Netflix and read books that aren't related to college.

 

[Gloww33]

Insomnia is the worst, I can't focus on anything besides fear.....I can't remember the last time I slept more than a couple of hours, I am so tired. I am glad you are able to study, I could study if I did not have anxiety.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I do my homework. Written a 5 page essay this way over the last few days. I can't beat it so I'm just joining it for right now.