Tag Archives: insomnia

Night Owl or Morning Lark?

Posted on by

Originally posted in 2015

hands up

I don’t know about you but for me, one of the least desirable aspects of getting longer in the tooth is lack of sleep. Gone are the nights of 10-hour slumbers like in my teens. In my 20s-30s I often achieved a steady nine hours. In my 40s-50s, eight hours hit the spot. Ah, those were the days.

Now that I’m in my 60s, my snoozing time lasts about as long as an Oliver Stone movie, generally just over three hours. I’m then awake for two, followed by another hour or two of semi-consciousness. I tell ya, if I keep going like this, when I hit 70, the act of a prolonged blink will constitute a nice little nap.

dear 3 a.m

I suppose it doesn’t help that I’m a night owl. Now don’t get me wrong; it’s not my fault. I blame my mom. Like my sister and me, she stayed up well past midnight, needing to force herself to sleep around 2:00 a.m. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for a visit from the Sandman, does it?

Continue reading →

A Billion Dollar Business

Posted on by

A while back I blogged disparagingly about the FDA, how they approve thousands of drugs that end up being recalled, or worse, killing people. Can you believe there are over 20,000 prescription drug products approved for marketing? Commercials list horror stories of side effects, and not the good kind like suppressing the appetite or reducing the appearance of wrinkles. I remember thinking, how on earth did that drug ever pass clinical trials?

The pharmaceutical business is just that — a business. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying everyone associated with creating and/or approving drugs for marketing is only in it for the cash but the yearly billion-dollar-budget pharmaceuticals pay to those who regulate the drugs they’re peddling seems a bit self-serving, don’t you think?

Take the latest push to sell QUVIVIQ, a drug that purports to help with insomnia. Actor Taye Diggs has the affliction (as do I, which I blogged about last Sunday). In the commercial he talks about counting sheep and listening to white noise and nature sounds, all to no avail.

Continue reading →

Pot Gummies Rock

Posted on by

After years of being an insomniac, I’ve discovered something rather disturbing and it’s this: Not sleeping sucks. This comes from someone who, given the chance, would enjoy 9-10 hours of blissful slumber a night until my late 40s.

Something changed when menopause hit. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not alone here. Few ladies I know around my age who aren’t on a low dose of hormones sleep throughout the night. I’m envious. I’ve asked my doctor about this and I get the same response my sleepless friends receive…

Keep a sleep routine; don’t use your computer late at night; get a sleep app; take Melatonin; no caffeine at night; take a hot bath…yada, yada. Well let me tell ya, none of that worked. And since Alzheimer’s is on both sides of my family, my doctor advised against taking sleeping pills and using hormone therapy.

Continue reading →

Night Owl or Morning Lark?

Posted on by

hands up

I don’t know about you but for me one of the least desirable aspects of getting longer in the tooth is lack of sleep.

Gone are the nights of 10-hour slumbers like in my teens. In my 20s-30s I often achieved a steady 9 hours. In my 40s-50s, 8 hours hit the spot. Ah, those were the days.

Now that I’m in my 60s, my snoozing time lasts about as long as an Oliver Stone movie, generally just over 3 hours. I’m then awake for 2, followed by another hour or two of semi-consciousness. I tell ya, if I keep going like this, when I hit 70 the act of a prolonged blink will constitute a nice little nap.

dear 3 a.m

I suppose it doesn’t help that I’m a night owl. Now don’t get me wrong; it’s not my fault. I blame my mom. Like my sister and me, she stayed up well past midnight, needing to force herself to sleep around 2:00 a.m. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for a visit from the Sandman, does it? Continue reading →

Welcome to My World

Posted on by

I slept three and a half hours Friday night. This is not particularly unusual for me. That’s partly because ever since menopause my body says: Who needs sleep? Why waste all that time with your eyes closed when they could be open? That’s what my body says to me and unfortunately, I usually listen.

So Friday night (actually early Saturday morning), I was sound asleep, having finally dozed off somewhere around 12:30 a.m. watching Stephen Colbert. Then one of the dogs started whining at 4:00 a.m. It was my Greyhound, Nellie.

stephen-colbert

Nellie happens to have the bladder of a camel so I know at that hour she was simply bored and wanted to go outside to eat poop off the hill, keeping me waiting at the back door until she has her fill. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not exactly psychic. I know Nellie eats poop because she returns chomping on it. Anyway, I didn’t fall for her whining this time and told her to go back to bed. Trouble is, now I couldn’t do the same.

My mind started thinking of my ‘To Do’ list for Saturday and it was a long one. So I read a magazine for a half hour, hoping it would bore me to sleep. But it didn’t. So I watched a program I’d taped. Then I watched another. By 7:00 a.m. I was still awake but starting to doze off. That lasted until 7:30 when the animals decided they’d had enough rest for the night and it was time for me to rise.

rise-and-shine

And so our morning routine began…

Continue reading →