At 3 AM, senior women all over town lie in bed with their eyes wide open; or sit up with a book under a bright lamplight; or, heaven forbid, munch on chocolate with a glass of wine. Not to worry. It’s normal. It’s aging. It’s hormones. It’s “nocturia” (frequent urination.) Or, perhaps, it’s a bit of pain, playfully cavorting around in our aging bodies.
How can we make insomnia enjoyable? I take comfort in knowing I’m not awake alone. It’s part of our sisterhood. I jot down my bright ideas—or what I forgot to do yesterday. I comfort myself remembering there’s plenty of time to sleep after …you know! Eventually, I settle down and close my eyes. When my thoughts are very strange, I know sleep is near. I smile and try not to analyze it. Then…it’s morning! Here’s a thought from a fellow insomniac: “Without enough sleep, the next day we all behave like tall two-year-olds!” (Jo Jo Jensen) Or, in our case, 102 year olds!
I think your new direction is amazing!
I feel blessed that getting a good night’s sleep has never been too hard for me, except when my knees got really bad and painful, mostly at night. But once I had two bionic knees put in no problems with pain at night.
I always play thunderstorm or rain storms on my phone at bedtime to drown out neighborhood sounds, especially now as the airport and Grass Valley Hwy get really noisy as soon as the sun comes up. I swear there are some guys on super noisy motorcycles and trucks who must leave for work by 5 am!
I became a night owl once I retired so I could stay up late after my husband turned off the tv and went to bed. Then the entire house was my playground, no phone calls, no visitors.
Possible future topics: accepting aids for making our lives easier: hearing aides( just got my first pair), using a cane or walker to reduce pain on joints and help with balance, ideas for reducing bathroom trips at night.
The inability to get back to sleep isn’t a huge problem for me when I have few plans for the next day. I can always take a lovely nap. If I do have plans, it becomes a matter of convincing myself I can still function on 4-5 hours of sleep as I used to do when I worked full time. Now, I will think of you on sleepless nights and hope you aren’t also awake.😍🐘
The inability to get back to sleep isn’t a huge problem for me when I have few plans for the next day. I can always take a lovely nap. If I do have plans, it becomes a matter of convincing myself I can still function on 4-5 hours of sleep as I used to do when I worked full time. Now, I will think of you on sleepless nights and hope you aren’t also awake.😍🐘
Sheila, I very much enjoyed your turn of topics. I never thought that there is a sisterhood lying awake with me. 😊