Are You Having Trouble Sleeping?

Old Photographs – Memories – Why Sleep

I was looking through some old photographs and the memories that came welling up left me saying to myself, “Why sleep?” Life is too short. You’ve heard the saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” I just ran across a photo of someone who lived life to the fullest and now, I guess he’s sleeping.

If you are familiar with the original “Jesus Christ Superstar” then you may remember this man. He played Judas. His name was Carl Anderson and he was one of the most amazing jazz vocalists I have ever heard. In 2004 just 4 days shy of his 58th birthday he left this world and we are poorer for it. Fortunately his legacy of amazing music and film stays behind to enrich our lives.

The reason I was into those particular old photos is I was looking for pictures of when I was doing massage backstage in Southern California. It was the late 1980′s and I had followed my passion into a number of wonderful situations. My passion? Bringing relief to musicians through massage. I could look at a musician and tell what instrument he or she played by the way they held their body. By where their tension was located.

I did my part, during that time, to bring massage out of the darkened room and into the light of awareness that it was for healing not for sexual gratification. For relief of stress and to increase productivity and creativity. It was a burning passion for me and I’m glad to be reminded of it.

I’m sad to know that Carl Anderson is gone, but very grateful I had a chance to know him. He made every one around him feel good, whether it was because he was singing or just being himself.

Now that my second wind has kicked in, it’s after 1:30 this morning, I’m not likely to get to sleep anytime soon. You know, it is a tough line to walk. It seems either I’m not sleeping enough or I sleep too much. No happy medium. The research shows we need sleep. That lack of it will age us. But there is only so much life in our human bodies and how to get the most out of that life without a few sleepless nights.

Any thoughts?

Sleep Sweet Sleep

Oh, yes, sleep, sweet sleep! For 4 whole nights in a row. I have got a good nights sleep. In part from the advise I got from the blog I turned you on to in my last post. But mostly just allowed myself to chill out.

One of the traps it is easy to get into when the Internet is your primary contact with the world is to work late at night. It doesn’t matter when you do your work, because the Internet is always open. If you want a good night’s sleep, do that work before midnight… And don’t get up when you wake up at 3 am with an idea burning through your brain.

Okay, if 3 am is when your best ideas come have a notepad next to your bed so you can write out the idea and then let yourself go back to sleep. If it is truly a great idea, it will still look so in the light of the day… And chances are you will do a better job at bringing that idea to fruition if you are well rested.

There are exceptions to this obviously. There is what I call the “Einstein mode”. When all your ideas are coming so fast and you are vibrating with the desire to complete them or at least get them down. At those times, I think you just have to go with it and get some sleep when you finally wind down.

Take care and get some sleep!

Another Good Night’s Sleep

Even though I was awake for awhile around 3 o’clock this morning, I still feel like I got a good night’s sleep. When I woke up and made my way to my computer, I found in my email box a blog post by someone who’s always made sense to me. He’s always given good advise for free. Some day maybe I’ll go to one of his System seminars.

His name is Ken McCarthy and he’s one of those internet marketing trainers. I don’t get anything for sending you to read his blog post. It contains some really good free advise he got, in part, from Warren Buffet about the importance of sleep.

Here is a portion of what he had to say about a good night’s sleep:

“now after reading a joint study by Harvard Medical School and the University of Berkeley, I realize there’s a lot more to it.

In a nutshell, here’s what they found:

Lack of sleep can drive you crazy!

Maybe not permanently, but without proper sleep, the study says, your brain dramatically overreacts to negative experiences.

“Dramatically overreacts”…that’s pretty strong language for a scientific study.

The researchers admit to being surprised at the massively disruptive effect lack of sleep can have on people’s moods and mental health. Going into the study, they intuitively knew – as we all do – that not sleeping well makes you cranky, but they weren’t prepared for what they found.

Lack of sleep, researches say, causes people to act as if they have psychiatric disorders.

Think about the potential significance of this…

It may be that the current epidemic of mood disorders like depression, anxiety and just plain unhappiness may be come from the fact that people just aren’t sleeping enough.

What to do?” Read the whole post here…

Getting yourself to bed before 11 pm was one suggestion. Otherwise you get a second wind and off you go until 3 – 4 o’clock in the morning. Drinking chamomile tea to help you relax was another possible sleep aid suggested in the blog post. Go read it and try what he suggests. Maybe tonight you won’t have trouble sleeping.

Southern California Fires Keeping You Awake?

The fires in Southern California are what’s keeping me awake tonight. We think we had it bad up north this last summer, but when it burns here it is forest and trees burning. Only a few structures are threatened. In California it is homes, pets and personal belongings burning. Already over 500 homes in just the San Diego area have been destroyed. The Santa Ana winds are pushing the fires so fast the fire fighters can’t keep up. Much less keep track of all the destruction.

There is no telling how many more homes will burn before it is all over. The news coverage I have read shows 1000′s more homes and structures threatened.

I remember an article in the paper this summer about some new gel they used to protect homes. It worked much better than foam retardants. I hope they have some of that Thermo Gel available for the homes in the way of the fires.

I’ve lived in Southern California. I have family in there. In the last big fire they lost everything. Their home, pets and all their belongings that weren’t in their car. Luckily they had been at a friend’s house the night that the fire destroyed their home. Some neighbors weren’t so lucky. They didn’t make it out alive.

My sister called me during the day. I could hear the fear and remembered horror in her voice. They are prepared to evacuate again. I’m sure she’s not sleeping well tonight either. If she’s sleeping at all. I know she’s glued to the coverage on TV and reliving what it was like to see what was left of her home and her cats. It was the most horrific thing imaginable.

And now it is happening again. Only this time it is even worse. With over a half a million people already being evacuated. Who knows how many more before it is all over. Please, God, turn that Santa Ana wind around. Or let it die down, please!

It’s not just the loss of homes, pets and belongings that is effecting our neighbors to the south. It is also the air quality. I remember this summer when we didn’t see the sky for days. There it is not just trees and forest burning. It is all kinds of materials. Plastics, glue, rubber and anything that makes up homes, belongings and commercial structures. I saw a burned car in the Malibu coverage. Think of all the poisons that are being pumped into the atmosphere. The toxins in the air are dangerous!

I pray for everyone in the areas affected by the fires tonight. Please, will you too? I mean if the news coverage about the fires is keeping us awake and we are not likely to be sleeping, why not say some prayers for those who are in danger. At least it is something we can do.

A Full Night’s Sleep!

I can’t believe it, last night I got a full night’s sleep. How did I do it? I hate to admit it. I took a drug. No, this wasn’t a sleeping aid. It was a muscle relaxer. My last one from an injury a couple of years back.

Now, I know you’re not suppose to keep drugs around that long. But they said “take as needed” and I hadn’t needed them very often. And when I did take them, I was so knocked out that it was awhile before I was willing to do another.

I don’t recommend taking a muscle relaxant as a sleep aid. I was woozy and my vision was blurred and when I finally woke up, I was useless for hours. Pretty much a wasted day. I hadn’t taken it to get to sleep. I took it because I was in a lot of pain. Cramps from hell! I will be glad when this part of womanhood is over.

My husband says it’s the price I pay for all those orgasms. I don’t agree. It has more to do with my diet and that I haven’t been eating as well as I could lately. I suppose not sleeping also has something to do with it. If only those orgasms helped me sleep. No most times, I am energized after sex. Well, it could be worse. I could be single and not having sex! Or worse yet, having risky liaisons and definitely not getting a full night’s sleep.

But here it is another night or I should say morning, 3:33 am my time and I’m up and in front of my computer again. Those cramps are back and now I have no more muscle relaxers to take and really, I wouldn’t take one if I had it.

I wish I had a glass of wine though. That was a quick pain reliever! But I’m glad that’s not part of my life anymore. Too easy for one glass to become two, become three and then at least 2 every evening. It wasn’t worth the price. None seems to be how I have to do it.

I have found something else that helps with the menstrual pain. My sister made me some microwave heat packs. You know, those wheat filled bags you can toss into the microwave and heat up for a few minutes. Not too long, you don’t want them too hot! I put on a weight reduction belt and stick those bag in-between the belt and my clothes, one in front and the other in back and I have a portable heating pack.

It looks like I have a strange shaped tire around my middle, but who cares it does work. For all but the worst pain anyway. Last night it wasn’t working, that’s why I took a drug. Was the full night’s sleep worth it? I’m undecided. I feel better now that it is out of my system, but I still have dark circles under my eyes. I guess one good night’s sleep can’t make up for a number of interrupted ones.

I’m heading back to bed with my portable heating pack and my copy of “The Life on Mars”. Wish me luck…