Article about Insomnia - NY Times

Here's an article about behavioral techniques to break the cycle
of insomnia. Not OT, because insomnia is a frequent
perimenopause complaint.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/1.../index.html?hp
or
http://tinyurl.com/2wbbc5

The behavioral techniques are fairly standard, probably effective
for moderate insomnia, but they have to be applied consistently.

Just as interesting are the readers' comments that follow the
article, and they too have some suggestions.

What works for you?

FurPaw
--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.

"FurPaw" <furrealpawdog@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:_N6dnfOry_IecLLanZ2dnUVZ_jqdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> Here's an article about behavioral techniques to break the cycle of
> insomnia. Not OT, because insomnia is a frequent perimenopause complaint.
>
> http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/1.../index.html?hp
> or
> http://tinyurl.com/2wbbc5
>
> The behavioral techniques are fairly standard, probably effective for
> moderate insomnia, but they have to be applied consistently.
>
> Just as interesting are the readers' comments that follow the article, and
> they too have some suggestions.
>
> What works for you?

I've never understood this advice: "This means not watching television,
eating or reading in bed." Well, the reading bit. I've always (well, since
20's) read in bed - to me it is super-relaxing. I *don't* tend to read
nonfiction - that I know wakes my brain up & gets it thinking, too much.
But fiction, esp. lightweight fiction... that's relaxing & a rather
self-indulgent way to end the day, to me. I sometimes fall asleep with the
book still open... These post-meno insomnia years I tend to get
considerably more reading done before falling asleep, but I can't imagine
giving it up.

Cathy


>
> FurPaw
> --
> "Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
> every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
> a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
> those who are cold and are not clothed."
> - Dwight D. Eisenhower
>
> To reply, unleash the dog.

On Nov 6, 10:49 pm, "Cathy F.
>
> I've never understood this advice: "This means not watching television,
> eating or reading in bed." Well, the reading bit. I've always (well, since
> 20's) read in bed - to me it is super-relaxing. I *don't* tend to read
> nonfiction - that I know wakes my brain up & gets it thinking, too much.
> But fiction, esp. lightweight fiction... that's relaxing & a rather
> self-indulgent way to end the day, to me. I sometimes fall asleep with the
> book still open... These post-meno insomnia years I tend to get
> considerably more reading done before falling asleep, but I can't imagine
> giving it up.
>
i know more than a few people with sleep problems who find that
reading relaxes them before bed. it generally works for me as well.

i think the general sleep guidelines are useful, but there are
certainly individual variances & it's a question of knowing yourself &
understanding the principles behind the guidelines. the truth is
there is much that is unknown about the whole process of sleep (check
out william dement's work), & it is easy to put the current behavioral
template on it. if it were only so simple as not eating dark
chocolate at bedtime...

ellen

x-no-archive: yes

ellen wrote:
> On Nov 6, 10:49 pm, "Cathy F.
>
>>I've never understood this advice: "This means not watching television,
>>eating or reading in bed." Well, the reading bit. I've always (well, since
>>20's) read in bed - to me it is super-relaxing. I *don't* tend to read
>>nonfiction - that I know wakes my brain up & gets it thinking, too much.
>>But fiction, esp. lightweight fiction... that's relaxing & a rather
>>self-indulgent way to end the day, to me. I sometimes fall asleep with the
>>book still open... These post-meno insomnia years I tend to get
>>considerably more reading done before falling asleep, but I can't imagine
>>giving it up.
>>
>
> i know more than a few people with sleep problems who find that
> reading relaxes them before bed. it generally works for me as well.
>
> i think the general sleep guidelines are useful, but there are
> certainly individual variances & it's a question of knowing yourself &
> understanding the principles behind the guidelines. the truth is
> there is much that is unknown about the whole process of sleep (check
> out william dement's work), & it is easy to put the current behavioral
> template on it. if it were only so simple as not eating dark
> chocolate at bedtime...
>


That advice is all wrong for me and for Tom. He needs to read, I need
TV to fall asleep, which means I have to wear the damned headphones.

I love when I hear his breathing get heavy and the book starts to waver
and it sometimes falls on his face and scares the bejeebies out of him. :-)


Susan

ellen wrote:
> On Nov 6, 10:49 pm, "Cathy F.
>> I've never understood this advice: "This means not watching television,
>> eating or reading in bed." Well, the reading bit. I've always (well, since
>> 20's) read in bed - to me it is super-relaxing. I *don't* tend to read
>> nonfiction - that I know wakes my brain up & gets it thinking, too much.
>> But fiction, esp. lightweight fiction... that's relaxing & a rather
>> self-indulgent way to end the day, to me. I sometimes fall asleep with the
>> book still open... These post-meno insomnia years I tend to get
>> considerably more reading done before falling asleep, but I can't imagine
>> giving it up.
>>
> i know more than a few people with sleep problems who find that
> reading relaxes them before bed. it generally works for me as well.
>
> i think the general sleep guidelines are useful, but there are
> certainly individual variances & it's a question of knowing yourself &
> understanding the principles behind the guidelines. the truth is
> there is much that is unknown about the whole process of sleep (check
> out william dement's work), & it is easy to put the current behavioral
> template on it. if it were only so simple as not eating dark
> chocolate at bedtime...

The reason for the recommendation of no activity in bed besides
sex or sleep is to break any associations you may have between
bed and waking activities. They want 'bed' to become a stimulus
for 'sleep.' In which case, they should disallow sex, too, but I
guess they realized that that's simply unrealistic.

The guidelines pretty much come from Dement's web site - I think
he may have been the one to pull them together initially, based
on his years of sleep research.

I've read in bed ever since I was a kid, so I associate reading
with falling asleep. My biggest problem with sleep is waking up
around 3 or 3:30 and not being able to get back to sleep.
Sometimes just watching the "light show" in my brain or doing
progressive relaxation is enough to get me back to sleep, but
other times the hamster in the brain just won't give it a rest!
I don't like to put on a light then, because that sometimes wakes
Hubster, so I go out to the living room and watch TV in my
recliner. Watching a documentary or a movie that I've seen
before usually lets me fall asleep again.

One woman I know recently told me that she uses 3 AM waking to
meditate (she's been doing TM for about 30 years). She figures
that she gets almost as much rest by meditating as she does by
sleeping, so it's not time wasted - and most of the time she
falls asleep before she's done meditating. I think I'm going to
try that.

FurPaw


--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.

Susan wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes

> That advice is all wrong for me and for Tom. He needs to read, I need
> TV to fall asleep, which means I have to wear the damned headphones.

> I love when I hear his breathing get heavy and the book starts to waver
> and it sometimes falls on his face and scares the bejeebies out of him.
> :-)

Humph. And what, pray tell, is funny about that? It happens to
me, too! <G>

FurPaw


--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dog.