Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
As many of you are aware, my mother is battling breast cancer. As a result of this I've made a few changes relating to my sleeping situation and it's not going well. She's sleeping on the main floor of our house now cause she was originally on the bottom floor and doesn't want to have to walk up the stairs to let the dogs go outside, use the bathroom, get a drink, etc. Well she doesn't need as much sleep as me and watches TV at night there for at least an hour after I want to go bed and even then she sometimes falls asleep with the TV on. That TV is directly above the room I usually sleep in so I can hear the TV. I can't sleep if I hear a peep. So I've adjusted and started sleeping upstairs because I can't hear the TV. But the problem was only partially solved. One of the reasons I've always liked sleeping downstairs is because I can't hear cars drive by. I can hear cars drive by starting at like 6:20 A.M. till 7. I usually either wake up cold or have to use the bathroom during this time frame. Maybe I kind of need to do either of those and its further exaggerated by being woke up from the cars.
All I know is I get woken up and then I can never fall back asleep cause of the sound. I'm trying to make this process be as easy as possible for my mom but I'm incredibly frustrated. I struggle sleeping as is but don't even stand a prayer if there's a peep of noise. I lost my ability to tolerate noise around when my insomnia started years ago. I don't know if over the years of insomnia that I've delt with if I grew accustomed to listening to literally any peep since I sure as hell wasn't sleeping. But it's finals week and I just hope I don't have a melt down. I'm either super depressed and anxious or so angry that I just want to beat the shit out of someone. It seems like I don't have a neutral mood when I don't get the sleep I need.
All I know is I get woken up and then I can never fall back asleep cause of the sound. I'm trying to make this process be as easy as possible for my mom but I'm incredibly frustrated. I struggle sleeping as is but don't even stand a prayer if there's a peep of noise. I lost my ability to tolerate noise around when my insomnia started years ago. I don't know if over the years of insomnia that I've delt with if I grew accustomed to listening to literally any peep since I sure as hell wasn't sleeping. But it's finals week and I just hope I don't have a melt down. I'm either super depressed and anxious or so angry that I just want to beat the shit out of someone. It seems like I don't have a neutral mood when I don't get the sleep I need.
I like to sleep in silence too, but my new neighbor made that impossible when she moved in almost a year ago...I have found white noise to be so helpful. There is an app called "White Noise" if you want to check it out. If you find a sound you like and use it with earbuds you really can not hear a single thing from the world around you.
Wishing you the best!
Worth noting that you can have sleep disrupting occupying thoughts in the complete absence of sounds. The real solution is to turn off your mind so you can sleep.
Easier said than done, I know. But we've talked about it before ... various distraction methods, deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation. This stuff works, but you've got to try.
Something else that might be of particular satisfaction when you get into the beat the shit out of someone mode ... which I can also relate to ... gross physical impact activity. This might be punching one of those big heavy cylindrical punching bags, splitting wood, beating a rug ... anything that involves making a gross physical impact on something. Works it out real good.