Today was a rough day for me and I will now write a short blog post to put it aside and quickly forget about it. I had about 2 hours of sleep which means that I felt like a zombie the whole day, i.e. I felt I was there physically but not present mentally. I have this quite regularly as at the moment I am suffering from short-term insomnia. In my case, this means that I have a hard time falling asleep and also I wake up early in the morning. Think of a night from 2 am to 6 am or even shorter. It can be triggered by certain events and stresses in life. I have been going through some emotional pain recently which I believe to be the cause. 

On days that I sleep badly, such as today, my well-being is quite compromised. I find it harder to concentrate, especially when listening to people. Also, I feel a kind of weakness, sluggishness during the day, and a will to sleep but an inability to do so. I have less motivation for doing enjoyable things or doing some exercise. During the night it is reversed as I am fully alert and motivated in my head, I can solve complicated math problems at this stage, which I sometimes do, and it is impossible to get to sleep. All in all, it is not too bad at the moment luckily enough because I could still complete my daily tasks. However, pleasant it is certainly not. 

To cope with this I have learned several strategies but putting them into practice on low mood days like this is quite hard. A golden trick I found at night is getting out of bed and doing some light none-screen activity, like going for a short outdoor walk or reading on a chair/couch. I believe this might have to do with my body temperature, as I am quite hot when I can’t sleep, and being out of bed makes me cool down and sleep more easily. Maybe I should just use a lighter blanket tonight… During the day I just try to take things step by step and practice kindness. Thinking about positive affirmations in my head like: “I am doing well”, “I am doing what I can today”, and “I will be fine”. 

So that was a bit of my experience and take on insomnia. I like to learn more from other people who are bad sleepers. Potentially we can help each other. Let me know in the comments. And for now nighty night. 

References:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/symptoms-causes/syc20355167#:~:text=Insomnia%20is%20a%20common%20sleep,tired%20when%20you%20wake%20up.