According to Wikipedia (where would we be without it, ‘ey?):
Insomnia is most frequently defined by an individual’s report of sleeping difficulties.
It says that Insomnia can be defined by a positive answer to either of these two questions:
“Do you experience difficulty sleeping?” or “Do you have difficulty falling or staying asleep?”
So, do I experience difficulty sleeping, falling asleep or staying asleep? Yes. To all of the above.
And tonight my main problem is the simple act of falling asleep. I’ve been trying for the past 5 6 hours to fall asleep. And I have to get up in about 4-5 3 or 4 hours.
Tried and failed attempts so far tonight:
- Doing my assignment on feminism in the marxist ideology. (Fun fact: This didn’t bore me, and I didn’t get anything done…)
- Watching a boring movie I have seen 3 times before, and never actually managed to see all the way through without falling asleep at least once. (I watched it to the end this time. The girl chooses the right guy, they get married on the beach eventhough she wanted to get married in the boat-house like her parents, her sister forgives her, and she has 29 brides-maides.)
- Working-out. (This helps sometimes. I guess I just didn’t work hard enough.)
- Seperating and counting my dreadlocks. (I have 27 26, and am wondering where the last one disappeared to…)
- Fixing some of my my nails. (I got bored after 2 and a half…)
- Applying cold, green eye-mask-thingy from the fridge. (Then I just got chills… Not the multiplying kind, thank God! Positive note: I looked like a superhero!)
- Lying around with my eyes closed. (Yes, this was the first thing I tried. And I tried it again, and again, and again.)
- Eating a light meal. (My mother mentioned that if you eat something before going to bed it’s easier to sleep. And I was hungry.)
- Drinking cranberry juice. (I wanted hot milk, but seeing as I’m allergic to milk I went for the cranberry juice instead.)
- Brushing of teeth. (4 times. I flossed twice. I even tried doing it with tepid water, so that the cold water wouldn’t make me more awake. Well, not tepid as in 2 parts cold, 1 part boiled water, but tepid as in “hotter than I want for the water I use to brush my teeth”.)
- Reading from the Catcher in the Rye. And some curriculum stuff.
- Writing this blogpost with a list of things that didn’t work. (And guess what: Not working!)
I would have tried a hot shower, but a friend told me it worked once, and I tried it, and it just woke me up even more.
I also thought of trying a glass of red wine, but the only wine I have is a) white, 2) sparkling or whatever, c) was a gift from a friend (so saving it for something more special…), x) is locked into the apartment of my best friend (who lives in the same building as me, but is visiting her boyfriend) and z) I no longer have her key. Oh), and I’m going to work in some hours, so drinking now would be stupid.
Oh yeah, it is probably my own fault for not beeing sleepy. I slept all day yesterday, because I couldn’t sleep the night before, and instead of sleeping for a couple of hours, getting up, being tired all day and going to bed early I just stayed in bed untill I felt like getting up. So I blame me.
One good thing about this night: I found wonderful music that I will now share with you:
Cristopher O’Riley – Second Grace, a tribute to Nick Drake.
You are welcome.
-Frida
