h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Houston, I believe we have a breakthrough!

After having had trouble sleeping for - uh... months, I think - it finally seems to have taken a turn for the better.

My problem wasn't falling asleep - it was staying asleep. I'd wake up at 3-4 am, and not be able to go back to sleep.

I tried just about everything (having gotten some excellent advices from my h2g2 friends) but nothing seemed to make a change.

Then I tried something that I remember having read about in a magazine. I didn't quite understand it at the time I read it, but now I think it's about teaching your body what happens if it won't do what you want it to do, to realize the consequences.

Instead of lying awake in my bed, I'd get my pillows and go into my living room and try to sleep on my (relatively) new sofa.

Now, the sofa is very comfy to sit in, but a bit too firm to sleep in, as I discovered. I sleep on one side, but ended up resting on my shoulder and hip, and would wake up with a sore back.

I was consequent in this - if I woke up during hours, I had to switch to the sofa.

After a couple of nights of this, there was one night when I felt too tired to get up and switch to the sofa. Instead I stayed in my bed, and promptly fell asleep again.

It's now been working for about a week, and some nights I've even slept the whole night through! You've no idea about how wonderful it feels to get enough sleep again!

Also, the increased amount of dayligt hours might have something to do with this...

Congrats!
That's a very good news.

Thanks! I hope you sleep well too?

Yes, especially in the morning. Evenings are not so good. But it's obvious that spring is breaking in and we both know what it means.

That's good news, Ti. Chronic tiredness takes the joy out of life.

Such a backwards advice?! And to make it work!

Actually, I do that when I can't fall asleep - when I have rotated like a chicken on a skewer for an hour (or what it feels like, can't read the clock without glasses, and can't be bothered to find them in the night) I go to the couch. On the reason that I shouldn't keep Dear Husband awake with my tossing. Not that he is the least disturbed it seems, snoozing away.

And it does the trick! I just feel stupid that I didn't think to tell you earlier...

After a couple of hours (again, guesswork) I wake up, being uncomfortable, and toddle back to bed. Or tuck in a dreaming - woken child, sleep there for a bit and THEN go to bed.

Milla

Well, the article mentioned making it clear to your body that only two kind of activities are allowed in bed - sleeping or

Only in bed?

Milla

Wicked, Milla, totally wicked you are!

Ti, it's good to know you've 'trained' your body to avert the consequence of an uncomfortable night's sleep on the sofa. Funny little way to use your mind to pull the wool over your body's...eyes? Uh. Forget it. That analogy totally sucks...

Anyway, may all your nights be peaceful, quiet, and--if you do dream--that your dreams are pleasant.

B4icatchacatnapB4myNightShift

That my dreams are pleasant? I don't know if they're pleasant, but they are certainly - uh - interesting...

Very early Saturday morning I had one of the weirdest dreams I've ever had. I dreamt I was a male Arab with a teenage daughter!

Now, I've dreamt of being someone else a number of times, male as well as female, but at least those people have been European - and this is certainly the first time I've dreamt of having a kid!

And the plot was just plain - obviously I had tried to cut in on a big business deal and grab some money for myself. Unfortunately, the business belonged to one of the local big-wig sheiks who was - eh - pretty enraged to find out I had tried to take advantage of him.

His men dragged me all around town in handcuffs, repeatedly holding a knife to my throat and threatening to cut it.

And then, the thing that always happens when I dream about being someone else happened. Suddenly I was no longer this man, but an outsider, not even involved in the dream, just a spectator.

And it *was* entertaining to see him wriggle and make frantic excuses trying to explain how it was all just one big misunderstanding (yeah, yeah, sure).

Once I woke up, I tried to figure out where my brain had gotten hold of the material for this dream. I haven't watched any film or read any book that bares any resemblance to the story at all - odd.

How it ended? Oh, the sheikh eventually tired of tantalising the poor guy and let him go with a warning, because having him killed would have meant he'd have to arrange for someone to care for the daughter (the man was a widower) and besides, he had stolen the money to be able to afford a pretty dress for the daughter's graduation. Awwww...

I love those mad cinema dreams! As long as they're not really scary, it is a cheap way of entertaining yourself!

*note to self - do not try to cook while hootooing*

Milla

Ooops sorry... *hands Milla another to wipe up*

Have you ever tried running in a djellaba (trying to escape from the sheik's men)? Damned inconvenient for serious running, those things...

My dreams are more of the detective story type, with Fiat car chases...

*wipes splattered macaroni water off stove, scrapes the blackest bits off the meatballs* Thanks!´

Hafta go see the dentist now! See you later!

Milla

Funny - whereas I usually (as my wife will testify any day!) just sleep like a log, there are periods where I dream the most bizarre cinema-like and more-often-than-not crime movie inspired dreams.

They actually wake me up. Not even kids have been known to achieve that, though a nudge from my wife has been known to send me next doors to tuck in a kid and return. All without waking

These weird dreams come in waves. I've tried to correlate it with work stress and other things - doesn't really seem to fit to anything.

Well done, Ti
I might try this myself.

I've been reading recently, to make myself fall asleep (which is my problem)

I had a strange dream last Friday night and so did Trillian's Child (discussion in my journal) do you have anything to add?



I'm so happy the lighter days are here too