By Kimberly Alexander, M.S.
My “To Do” list has been looking pretty lengthy these days. Even as the academic year winds down and as certain responsibilities drop off, others are waiting to get bumped up to the highly coveted “High Priority” list. As this constant hustle and bustle persists, one thing that has largely never been an issue for me is my ability to sleep. This has always been surprising given that the prevalence rate of insomnia disorder in the United States ranges from anywhere between 6-10 percent, and it is one of the most common sleep disorders. Furthermore, between 30 to 35% have brief symptoms of insomnia and 15 to 20% have a short-term insomnia disorder.
To be honest, the fact that I have skirted past this fairly prevalent issue may be too good to be true! Actually, the problem that I have with sleep is that I utterly despise waking up! The level of irritability intensifies when my “To Do” list gets longer and when various “benign” scenarios occur. This particularly occurs when someone in my home decides to wake me, thinking that I missed my alarm (which NEVER happens). Or on days I sleep in, I experience a sort of abdominal muscle pain that medical doctors have not been able to diagnose. This goes away after I reposition for a while to an upright position but who wants to sleep sitting up on their day off… if at all?!?
I have found myself so irritable at times that I am likely to respond pretty harshly to anyone who provokes my slumber or is simply an innocent bystander. I would say these are my most irrational moments and I have seen how my behavior has led to others tiptoeing around me to “maintain the peace.”
Since working with clients who have struggled with more tradition symptoms of insomnia, I have worked to instill the value of mindfulness strategies and debating irrational beliefs and habitual thinking patterns that get in the way of restful sleep. Given my sleepy state, my ability to challenge irrational beliefs is a bit impaired, whereas, my ability to come up with a host of irrational beliefs is heightened! I’m usually stringing a few curse words together in my head and asking myself, “Why did person X decide to wake me? How dare they? This is followed by, “They should know my schedule by now! No one should call or email me at this time. I CAN’T STAND THIS!!! etc.”
Since it can be difficult to use higher reasoning skills as soon as you open your eyes, the system that I have in place now is that I will rotate soft meditative music for my morning alarms and move into a deep breathing and mindfulness technique as soon as I feel the irritability kick in. Because I have found myself to become irritable toward the meditative music if I repeatedly use the same song, I have learned that it is important to change songs. After my brief 10-15 minute meditation, I either reposition or get out of bed while monitoring for any intrusive thoughts. Should they occur, I immediately think about a pretty dark but factual thought… I remind myself that this massive “issue” WILL NOT be the last thing I think about on my death bed. It is just not that important so what am I working myself up over? Especially when disturbing myself is not going to make the situation any better.
So my advice is, when dealing with sleep problems, just like with my clients and myself, I think you want to first consider what’s happening in your life that might intensify your symptoms. For me it was my ever expanding “To Do” list triggering increased irritability. Then, you want to incorporate mindfulness and breathing techniques that help to deescalate or reduce your symptoms especially when you are not fully awake to use all your cognitive faculties! If you should happen to fully wake, then first try jotting down the thoughts that come to mind. Even if you can’t address them in the moment (which means that it is not “life or death” anyway) then you can work on them later when you are sharper and more alert. And lastly, you want to address the items in your environment that may also be triggering such as screens, “abrasive” alarms, and snorers and kickers (lol). For more information and ideas check out the following websites:
https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/publications/media_products.html
http://sleepeducation.org/essentials-in-sleep/healthy-sleep-habits
https://www.better-sleep-better-life.com/relaxation-techniques.html
