In the Late-Nite Hour

Who, or what constantly keeps you up at night after a long active day?

Restless

       

        When was your last restless night, a night when as bad as you just wanted to turn over and go to sleep, you couldn't? Despite different methods of getting rid of it (counting sheep, counting to one million, sleeping pills), insomnia is a common sleep disorder that every person on the face of the earth is capable of falling victim to. While not a life-threatening problem, the nighttime boogeyman called "insomnia" has been a nuisance to most if not all of it's victims. Inparticularly those on a strick work or school schedule, such as grammer school age children under ten. They're much more likely to have restlessly nights if they're going through hardships they can't escape, like bullies at school. Or even worst, a disfunctional family. Watching certain TV programs or movies right before bed can also put a lot of excitment (if not fear) on a child's mind. The child can go to bed around 10, 11 o'clock and be up til' around 1, 2 maybe even 3 in the morning laying up thinking about problems that they don't know how to handle, or where go to for help. But the dynamics of living day to day, and what you go through (good or bad) can put a lot on your mind to keep it excited and active at night. Especially if it was unpleasant. A lot of times as adults, we outgrow it sometimes, and that's probably because some of us are so busy working that we have nothing else to do but pass out at the end of the day. But instead of school bullies, the basic things that most adults are usually laying in the bed thinking into the wee hours of the morning are bills, debts, how are they gonna make it from day-to-day, and is he/she cheatin'? We also worry the most for the safety and well-being of our children and loved ones. And then there are always "the lonely", who spends a lot of lonely nights fiending for companionship. I remember reading about how in earlier centuries (especially in B.C.) when the day was meant for work, and the evening and night was for rest. Well, if you get up at a reasonable a.m. time (7:30, 8, 9 o'clock) and keep yourself occupied during the day, then around 10, 11, 12 o'clock, you'll be ready to retire. And if you enjoy sleeping through the night, try not to make a habit out of taking afternoon naps. Trust me, you'll regret it. If you're napping because you're bored, fight it. A summertime afternoon nap in your boxers next to an opened window with a good breeze after a nice hot shower is tempting, but find something else to do with your afternoon. Some people have an erractic sleeping schedule where they go to sleep whenever they're tired.

　

Types Of Insomnia

        There's many different levels of insomnia that people suffer from, and they're more severe with people who have anxiety disorders. You can develop a brief case of insomnia after you first move into a new apartment, until you get use to it. This is called Transient insomnia. It's effects are temporary, lasting only less than a week. Changing bedtimes, severe depession, and stress is also associated with Transient insomnia. Sometimes (especially with people who are depressed) The Transient insomnia cycle may repeat itself more oftenly than seldom, maybe a couple off times a month, until the victim get's a hold of whatever it is they're going through that's keeping them up. There's also longer periods such as Acute insomnia (which lasts less than a month) and Chronic Insomnia (which lasts approxiamently a month). And just like with Transient insomnia, I'm sure these cycles (Acute and Chronic) can be repeated or come and go. Onset insomnia is probably the most common form of insomnia being that it's designed for people who have general problems getting to sleep at the beginning of the night. Then then there's Middle-of-the-Night insomnia (aka, nocturnal awakenings) where the victim wakes up in the middle of the night and have difficulty getting back to sleep, this can be due to stress, bad stomach, illness, or just a certain urge of well-rested listfulness. Who knows, maybe a dream you had will keep you up the rest of the night thinking about it.

Then there's always the obnoxious loud snorer who tends to always dose off before you do, and keeps you from going to sleep once they've entered sound-slumberland. And when you do finally manage to go to sleep, they're snoring wakes you up. Then they get upset when you wake em' up and tell em' they're snoring too loud, claiming that it's just a genetic condition. Anyone's capable of snoring depending on how tired they are and what position they're laying in, but what's a person to do if they can't get to sleep?

　

Cases Of Sleeping Disorders

       

        Physical conditions can keep you from getting sufficient rest just as well as mental conditions. Like the case of this three month-old boy who fell out of a grocery store shopping cart. And by age eleven, he had suffered from Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Syndrome) and Headaches for many years. He was experiencing severe muscle pains throughout his body and having muscle spams that barred him from participating in sports. These conditions also interferes with his rest as his sleep was very irregular. He would spend 13 hours in bed (waking up every few hours do to the side effects of his illnesses) and still wake up fatigued.

        There was a case of a seventeen year-old high school student who landed on his head after a pole-vaulting incident at high school track meet. Since the fall, he was diagnosis with bi-polar disorders, daily seizures (2-3 daily), daily headaches, neck and back pain almost nonstop 24/7. Sometimes he would be awake for 24-36 hours straight before finally going to sleep.

        There was also a woman, age 37, who after an auto accident two years earlier was unable to fall asleep until after 4-5 hours of laying down (even after having an exhausting day). When she tried to take naps, she could never fall off to sleep. She had constant headache spells that involved facial pain near her ears and cheeks and occassional would feel nausead.

        Another case (and probably the most vulnerable) was a 10 month old who was sick since birth (a difficult birth requiring forceps). Since his birth, his mother report that he sleeps no longer than 45 minutes at a time, he suffered five ear sinus infections since birth (two accompanied with skin rashes) and took five perscriptions of anti-biotics. His parents also noticed that he didn't like being laid on his stomach and that his head was titled off to the left and he cried frequently with a high-pitched scream. During his upper cervical exams at 10 months old, a neck injury was found, most likely resulting from the forcep birth process. At the time of the exam, he also had a sinus infection.

The above mentioned victims suffered from sleep disorders due to trauma substained to the head at some part earlier in life, but are now cured thanks to cervical exams.

　

Summing It All Up!

       

        Unless you have an extreme physical or mental condition, at the end of the day, those nights you spend laying up wishing your way to sleep, you should be focused on the most important things in your life and how you can make it better, and wake up to those thoughts and reflect on them those first 10-15 minutes in the morning when you first open your eyes. Not thinking a bunch of overplayed, unproductive, irrelevant thoughts that you can't seem to be able to put on the backburner. They say sometimes reading'll make you go to sleep (especially if it's the bible, satan would much rather see you sleep than getting closer to god), but maybe you're just simply not interested and reading anything. And if you try to go on your computer, it's bright light'll definitely help keep you up. The National Sleep Foundation's website https://sleepfoundation.org/ is a good place to find out more about the world of insomnia and sleeping disorders, and make you more self-aware of the mentality of your sleeping habits.

　

                              Til' my next piece... 

                        DAYDREAM, BABY!

　

　

　

　

　

Author's Note

Thanx 4 Reading, what's on your mind?