Smarter Sleeping 101

Archive for the ‘Insomnia Stories’ Category

This week’s Insomnia Story comes from the Islington Tribune.  Poor Marsha Soriano is kept up night after night living above a lively night club.  Unfortunately I have met too many people, especially here in New York, who have experienced the same issues.  They’ve tried sleeping in other rooms, turning up the TV or music, using earplugs, even yelling down at the club patrons below (probably the worst out of the ideas listed.)  Marsha decided to keep a journal of her noise problem and is now doing something about it.  Read the excerpt below:

“ A TEACHER has re­vealed how noise from an Islington bar has almost ruined her marriage.
Marsha Soriano has documented her sleepless nights in a noise diary, which will provide vital evidence when councillors review the Ladybird bar’s licence at the Town Hall on Monday.
Her notes, written in the middle of the night, describe how loud music from the Upper Street bar keeps her awake at the flat she shares with her husband Cesar. She has taken sleeping pills and spends part of the night on a sofa to escape the noise.
Bar owner Habib Eldebs maintains he has done everything he can to keep the noise down.
Ms Soriano said: “We’re moving out. We can’t take it any more. We want him to run a business and don’t care if he’s open till 4am, we just don’t want to hear it.”

Keep reading… 

This week’s Insomnia Story comes from the popular site She Knows.  This is for all the new mother’s who have discovered a new found sleeping issue along with their little bundle of joy:

“Every now and again, no matter how tired I am, it happens, I go through several days of having a very difficult time sleeping. I’m sleepy and yawning and (day)dreaming about my favorite flannel sheets, but when the lights go out, my eyes won’t close.

I’ve never been able identify a trigger or a pattern for these episodes. It doesn’t seem to be related to family issues or work issues or other issues. Perhaps it’s environmental or even hormonal. No matter what it is, I’m restless on those nights. I can’t settle my brain even though I’m not thinking about anything in particular. Trivial things bounce through, not really stopping to be considered or resolved. I’m not particularly aware of big things lurking in the shadows, but probably they are there.”

Keep Reading…

We all have celebrities we can relate to whether it’s by looks, hobbies, sense of humor.  Many of us think, “if only I could meet them, I’d bet we’d be friends.”  In actuality the majority would freeze up and stutter uncontrollably until he/she awkwardly left your presence.  However, here’s a list of celebrities you can share in suffering with.  These 10 celebrity insomniacs, some alive and some dead, all battled the crippling effects brought on by a lack of sleep.  Next to the names are the personal insomnia remedies used by each.  The list comes from Canongate (the link to the story has since broken):

1. Marlene Dietrich, actress : a sardine-and-onion sandwich on rye.

2. Amy Lowell, poet : in a hotel, Lowell hired five rooms - one to sleep in, and empty rooms above, below, and on either side, in order to guarantee quiet.

3. W.C. Fields, actor : On his worst nights, he could only fall asleep under a beach umbrella being sprinkled by a garden hose.

4. Alexandre Dumas, author : He took late-night strolls.

5. Judy Garland, actress: As a teenager, Garland was prescribed amphetamines to control her weight. As the years went by she took so many that she sometimes stayed up three or four days running. She eventually died of a drug overdose.

6. Tallulah Bankhead, actress: She hired young homosexual `caddies’ to keep her company, and one of their most important duties was to hold her hand until she drifted off to sleep.

7. Franz Kafka, author: kept a diary detailing his suffering. For October 2, 1911, he wrote, `Sleepless night. The third in a row. I fall asleep soundly, but after an hour I wake up, as though I had laid my head in the wrong hole.’

8. Theodore Roosevelt, US president: a shot of cognac in a glass of milk.

9. Groucho Marx, comic actor: When he couldn’t sleep, he would phone people up in the middle of the night and insult them.

10. Mark Twain, author: Twain once threw a pillow at the window of his bedroom while he was a guest in a friend’s house. When the satisfying crash let in what he thought was fresh air, he fell asleep at last. In the morning he discovered that he had broken a glass-enclosed bookcase.

Now, I certainly do not recommend breaking bookcases or hiring homosexual caddies to hold your hand, but as you can see some people will do anything for some shut eye.

What’s the strangest remedy you’ve ever tried?

This week’s Insomnia Story comes from Skwashy.  If you’ve ever been hesitant to take prescription sleep aids (namely Ambien,) just read what it did to Skwashy:

“Why, I ask you, do I wake up at 4:15 a.m., all chirpy and awakey, and then fall asleep right about NOW, at 9:11 a.m. as grumpy people are calling me on the phone, demanding the most detailed arcane information possible? I can barely focus my eyes by Thursday. The insomnia was supposed to go away when my levothyroxine dose was lowered, but it didn’t.

I spoke with a friend of mine about sleeping pills. She takes Ambien, she says, in spite of the reservations she had about becoming dependent on them. She has children, she said, and could not afford to go without sleep.

I have no children. Oh, there is the Stinky Terrierist, of course, but he gets along very nicely, peacefully lying on his side and gazing into space (when he is not scheming to supplant me in the affections of Mrs. Skwashy) from his little cushion-bed on the floor. He does not need help with his homework or to be picked up after dance class. So that is no motivation for regular sleep.

Also…what was I going to say? Darn. Was it something about needing to be alert for work? Don’t believe me if I tell you that.

Oh yes. I remember: Ambien is so strong that even half a pill gave me a blackout. It is scary! I swear! It happened twice. I took a half-pill, then settled on the sofa to check my email before bed, and then woke up at my usual time with no recollection of sending the letter I was writing, shutting down the computer or going to bed. A total blank. Very scary. What if there was some emergency that I need not to be blackouted for? If you understand what I mean.”

Keep reading… 

I just stumbled upon this item from The Times Online profiling three successful individuals who get 5 hours of sleep or less a night.  How do they do it?  Read below.  Then pick up some tips on sleeping like a pro here.  How much sleep do you get each night?  If it’s less than 8, are you able to function normally?

HOWARD BENTHAM, 42, is the presenter of BBC Hereford and Worcester’s breakfast radio show. He lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and three children aged 7, 14 and 18. He gets 4 hours’ sleep a night.

I have been presenting breakfast shows for seven years. I was a primary school teacher before doing radio and never got out of the student thing of going to bed at midnight or 1am and getting up at the last possible minute before work.

That had to change virtually overnight. My daughter, Molly, now 7, was born the week I started my first breakfast job. Thankfully, she proved not to be a baby that woke up a lot and my wife, Gail, took care of that side of things.

Now my day runs like clockwork. I’m up at 3.15am. Often I anticipate the alarm and only occasionally am I shocked awake from a deep sleep by it ringing. I have a 30-minute drive to work and am in the studios researching the items to be featured on the programme by 4.30am. My show is on air 6-9am and I often have meetings after that.

I once played sport to a high level, but now find I have little time for exercise other than the odd round of golf and cricket in the summer. Despite the way I live my life, the astounding thing is that I no longer feel as if I’m getting tired.

I still teach three afternoons a week and on those days I have an energy dip between 4.30 and 5.30pm so I frequently have a power nap. Even then, I never shut my eyes for more than 20 minutes and have mastered the art of micro-sleeping where I am unconscious for just 2-3 minutes but wake up feeling completely refreshed.”

Professor Horne says: Successful people who enjoy life and are on top of their jobs tend to sleep less.However, the 4-hour sleep that Howard gets is just about the tolerable limit long term.

MARK PERRY, 39, runs a deli and coffee shop, Delizioso, in Cookham, Berkshire. He lives in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, and has three children aged 14, 12 and 2. He gets between 4 and 4 3/4 hours’ sleep a night.

I worked on the London Underground for eight years, four of those as a driver on a Tube train, and my shifts changed my sleeping patterns for good. Before I did that job I had pretty regular seven to eight-hour nights. Now I often sleep for just four hours and the most I get is five.

At weekends, when I have the chance to lie in a little longer, my body clock won’t allow it. I’m still awake at 5am, no matter what time I go to bed. Whenever I sleep an extra hour or two, which is rare, I feel awful all day. It’s like I have a hangover that I can’t shake off. When I first opened the deli in 2005 I was working extremely long hours - we were open until 9pm - and that did start to affect me. My wife and I also had a baby the following year and he contributed to my tiredness with his night-time waking routine. I tried going to bed earlier, but even then I would wake up, staring at the ceiling, at 2 or 3am, which seemed pointless. Now I work fewer hours and the sleep I get seems to suit me.

The shop now closes at 4.30pm and after that I have to rush around getting the vegetables and other fresh stock for the next day as well as doing the banking and accounts. In the evenings I relax by playing my guitar - I’m in a band and often play with them until midnight before making my way home and crashing into bed. I am also sure yoga helps me to relax - I attend a class twice a week and always come out feeling as if any tensions have lifted.

If I get a tired patch during the day it is usually between 10 and 11am. I drink coffee to keep me going, although I don’t get through anywhere near as much as when I was driving trains, which could be as much as 15 cups a day. I never take naps during the week, but will do occasionally at weekends. They are never longer than 5-10 minutes.

Even if I don’t get round to it because I am rushing around with the kids, it doesn’t make any difference. I set my alarm but am always awake before it is due to go off at 5am.

Professor Horne says: A driven man, Mark should cut back on the coffee he relies on for a perk as it is no substitute for sleep. And he should try to get at least one short nap every day - napping is as good as yoga for revitalising the body and mind, if not better.

KYLE CATHIE, 59, is managing director of the book publishing company Kyle Cathie. She has three grown-up children and lives in London. Kyle gets four hours’ sleep a night.

I am sure I inherited my sleep patterns from my mother. I recall hearing her up at 2 to 3am when I was young and, although my three siblings and three children sleep regularly, I am similar to my mother. I go to bed at midnight and usually wake up at 4am, feeling fine and itching to get going with the day.

I drink lots of coffee, then do the washing or other household chores and check my e-mails. Just before 7am I’ll have a bath, which is my relaxation, and then I head for work at 7.45am.

I eat extremely healthily and get exercise from walking. I have two of my children popping in regularly for meals and a chat. My life is busy. At 2pm every day I hit a tired patch. It just happens and, wham, my energy goes down.

I never sleep at work, but on Fridays and weekends when I’m not in the office I succumb to this tiredness and shut my eyes for 15 minutes. That is usually sufficient. My daughter sometimes sleeps until 1pm because she needs it. I don’t. I have no problem nodding off. I don’t need sleep aids. I sometimes read in the bathroom before going to sleep because it relaxes me a bit. But then I hit the pillow and I am off.”

Professor Horne says: Older people can generally get by with less sleep. Kyle is probably a naturally short sleeper but still needs a nap and I recommend that she does that regularly. But she shouldn’t overdo the caffeine in the morning.