For the insomniacs

[ellaila]

I thought there was a recent thread on insomnia but couldn''t find it when I searched, so I figured I''d start a new one.

I was listening to NPR in the car today, and there was an interesting interview with Gayle Greene, who has suffered with insomnia since she was a child and recently wrote a book on the topic. She seems pretty well researched, and I thought it would be of interest to those of you here who deal with this (DiamondFan, I was thinking of you in particular when I heard the story).

The link is here: http://www.here-now.org/shows/2008/05/20080523_2.asp

 

[Independent Gal]

Hmmm. Interesting!

I''ve been an insomniac my whole life too, since I was a li''l wee Indy Gal. So has my dad, my sister, and my grandma.

I figure this prepares me well for motherhood.

 

[miraclesrule]

Date: 5/23/2008 4:43:33 PM
Author: Independent Gal
Hmmm. Interesting!

I''ve been an insomniac my whole life too, since I was a li''l wee Indy Gal. So has my dad, my sister, and my grandma.

I figure this prepares me well for motherhood.

Hahaha, once you are a parent, you never get a good night''s sleep.
Well, until they move out. It does get a bit better after awhile. But until then, every time you hear a siren, you call your kid, just to make sure it wasn''t them.

Although I think that works both ways. If my daughter hears about an accident at commute time where I will likely be, she will call me to make sure I am okay too. Maybe I created a monster.

Anyway, once your hormones are whacked, falling asleep is difficult. It''s interesting that this is more often a problem with women than with men. I noticed this in an airport when we were all stranded. The woman couldn''t really sleep, but the men were snoring all over the place.

 

[katebar]

A lot of my clients suffer from insomnia of a life time and this is very difficult to combat. Its as if they are ''wired'' to be poor sleepers. I have found that learning meditation/mindfulness and/or listening that to Cd''s that promote this state of mind are sometimes helpful with sleeping but often aren''t. However what these practices do if give poor sleepers the chance to recover and rejuvenate during their practice and it can change dramatically their fatigue levels.

 

[Independent Gal]

Yeah, my dad says meditation helps him too, actually. I''ve never tried it though.

I do think that a genetic element would make sense since it does seem to run in my family.