qondio.com/Ducy

Chronic Insomnia

By Donna Miller

I have insomnia. I'm not certain exactly when it began, but I've had it for at least a decade. Interestingly, my mother has the same type of insomnia. She's had it ever since I can remember. Of course way back then she didn't call it insomnia, she just said she was a 'night owl'.

As children my sister and I were sent to bed at a decent hour. It was, with few exceptions, a very regular routine. Just the sort of routine I have read one should implement to combat insomnia. Even then I often had trouble falling asleep. I figured I must be a bit of a night owl too, in stark contrast to my little sister who used to regularly wake up at 'ungodly hours', like 5:30 a.m. She still does. She was, like my father, an 'early bird'.

In my 20s and early 30s I would often stay up late with my friends, go out to clubs till the wee hours of the morning. I found jobs where I started late and finished late. A schedule that fit nicely with my night owl tendencies. No one ever mentioned insomnia back then. And I'm not even sure I had it, not chronic insomnia anyway.

It wasn't until I was in my mid-30s and started pursuing a career that I noticed the pattern emerging that I now recognize as chronic insomnia. The way I was raised a career was the thing I was supposed to do if I didn't want to become a mother and homemaker. That message and the pressure to conform came mostly from society, but there was a subtle expectation from my family that I travel that path as well. Being a bit of a freedom-seeking rebel who was more interested in traveling and experiencing life, I joyfully resisted the career path for a couple of decades. Opting for casual jobs instead. I noticed occassional insomnia, mostly triggered by stress at work. But it was manageable for the most part.

It wasn't until I finally started making my way down the career path that my insomnia became chronic. The pressure to perform, the stress, the politics, the bullying by managers... I was, literally, losing sleep over all of them. Which of course, made it harder to perform at an optimal level. Which in turn increased my levels of work-relate stress.

The more tired and dazed I was from lack of sleep, the more coffee I drank in an attempt to wake up and sharpen up my thinking. Of course, the more coffee I drank, the more my insomnia kicked in later that night. And so the vicious circle went.

Struggling to stay awake in the afternoon as I was literally falling asleep at my desk was bad enough. But the really frightening thing was driving home at night and falling asleep at the wheel. Somehow I developed a way of waking myself a fraction of a second after falling asleep. I was lucky enough that I managed to stay on the long, winding country road that under other circumstances I would have enjoyed driving on.

I've recently seen roadside signs stating something to the effect that driving while tired is as dangerous as drunk driving. It's not a comparison I would have made myself, and the first time I saw one of those signs it startled me into realizing just how much danger I'd been in driving home on so many occasions. I also would have thought it was a slight exaggeration, if I hadn't experienced it first-hand. That awful feeling of falling asleep, the feeling of powerlessness when I couldn't override what was happening to my body.

We have a choice to drive while drunk or not. I've always chosen to either not drive, or not drink if I have to drive. It's the responsible thing to do, right? Yeah, but for me it goes much deeper than that. I will never forget the emotional trauma that rocked my family when I was eleven years old. I lost my paternal grandparents, an uncle and aunt on Christmas eve. A speeding drunk driver, who sustained only a few minor bruises and scratches, killed my grandparents and uncle instantly. My aunt was in a coma for a few days before she died too. So for me it's not just about being responsible. Drinking and driving is simply not an option. I can't dismiss the potential consequences with a casual, "it'll never happen to me". It already has. Even now, forty years later, I fight back tears when I remember my mother saying to me, "it's the only time I've ever seen your father cry".

But what do you do when you have to get home, and public transport or taxis are not an option, and you're falling asleep at the wheel?

The places where I could safely pull over on my country road were few and far between. Sometimes I would pull over and sleep for a few minutes. Sometimes it helped, but just as often made things even worse. I would wake disoriented and uncoordinated. You know that feeling when you've been woken from a deep sleep by a telephone or loud alarm going off nearby? Imagine jumping in your car and driving in that state.

Insomnia is responsible for more automobile accidents you might think. According to Medscape.com "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that at least 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths annually are attributable to sleepiness/fatigue.[1] This equates to an automobile accident every 5 minutes and a fatal accident every 6 hours."[2]

And it's not just automobile accidents, but illnesses and injuries of all kinds are occurring because an increasing percentage of the population are operating in sleep deficit mode.

At the same time employers and managers increasingly demand more hours from their employees under the insanely illogical premise that more hours = greater productivity (read: profit). When in fact, study after study show that the opposite is true.

In addition to the increase in working hours, increased pressure, stress and bullying in the workplace are pushing us as a population into chronic sleep deficit on a scale that's never been experienced before. Sleep deprivation has extreme consequences.

The irony is that in many cases of chronic insomnia it's our jobs, which our necessary for our survival, that are causing the greatest threat to our survival. And the risk isn't just for those of us who have insomnia. Just remember my grandparents. They weren't the ones who were drinking. They were just driving.

Donna Miller is a publisher and owner of the online discount bookstore, BookShop24-7.com, which sells ebooks, audio books, articles, software and more.

Contributor's Note

References:
[1] Zammit GK, Weiner J, Damato N, et al. Quality of life in people with insomnia. Sleep. 1999;22(suppl2):S379-S385.
[2] http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/513572_1

I thank goodness you are now working in the safety of a loving home environment and not commuting for hours on end, we were SO worried about you every night waiting for you to come home and SO relieved when you did.

I am so grateful for being able to work from home too. It was just insane having to do that commute, especially while being so tired.

It may help you if you avoid alcohol, tobacco, stimulants and a heavy meal before bedtime. Food Supplements that can help are Cal-Mag 3tablets 3 times daily, Aloe Vera Plus 50ml in the evening, Rest & relax 1 tablet 2 times daily, Vitamin B Sustained Release 1 tablet 2 times daily. You might find that Valerian tea helps: pour boiling water over 2 teaspoons of valerian root, infuse for 15 minutes, drink before bedtime. It is also available in tablet form.

Thanks for pointing that out. It may help someone else. I don't do tobacco, alcohol. I try not to eat at all before bedtime, and I know from experience that you are right about it contributing to insomnia. I found that caffeine started really affecting me at some point, I couldn't have any coffee after noon time or it would have me just wired by the time it came to bedtime. I have completely quit drinking coffee now... it was a mission to do but I'm glad to be rid of that addiction, as much as I loved it.

I've personally found Binaural beats to be the most consistently helpful thing for combating my own insomnia. Herbal remedies have helped me too, but not as consistently. Chamomile and lemon balm is another good tea combination for insomnia.

I don't like taking supplements, I believe we can and should get early all of our nutrients from the food we eat, even if that means growing it ourselves so that it actually has the nutrients it's meant to. I know we need more than what we are now able to get from high quality fruit, nuts and vegetables, so I turn to superfoods as my 'supplements'. For instance, Raw Cacao is incredibly high in calcium and magnesium and antioxidants, as well as other important nutrients.

I'd especially caution against calcium supplements. I've been hearing a lot over the past year about how calcium supplements in particular are very, very bad for our health.

I know what you mean, Donna. I suffer from the same thing. I wonder if diet and exercise helps with this?

Hi James. In my experience diet does make a huge difference. I think it may be the most important factor in our health and wellbeing.

I've been doing lots of research into food and nutrition with respect to health. I have a lot of recipes at The Healthy Eating Site and I will be writing more articles on nutrition and diet too. We are growing our own heirloom vegetables organically, and it makes a huge difference in the nutrition you get. The heirlooms are generally much higher in nutrients than the F1 hybrids. I'm eating a mostly raw food diet now, so that I'm not cooking out what nutritional value the produce has. It makes a big difference to how I feel and my overall health.

I found that coffee started affecting me at some point in my life. I became really caffeine sensitive, to the point that if I had a coffee at lunchtime it would keep me awake until 3am!

And exercise can too, especially if you do something like walking or running where you are also getting lots of fresh air. The trick is to not do it too close to bedtime or it can actually keep you awake. I think exercise is especially effective for insomnia if the type of insomnia you have is stress related.

I have also struggled with insomnia my whole life. I worry thatmy chronic lack of sleep will affect my health in the long run, as you say, there are so many illnesses as a result of this.

I worry too about the impact that my insomnia has had on my long-term health. I've gotten so many comments on this intel from other sufferers of insomnia that I'm inspired now to write more on this topic, especially writing about the things that have helped me. I tried all the typical things that you read about, but some didn't have any impact. Others, like herbs did help, but not consistently.

Chronic insomnia is dreadful. I once went through a period of about ten years when my sleep was seriously disrupted. It was due to an environmental situation that I could do nothing to alleviate. In time, I gradually lost the ability to sleep even when the situation was not occurring. Happily my natural sleep patterns established themselves after the situation changed. Going without sleep is horrible. Sleep deprivation is one of the methods used in torture.

Thanks June, that's a really powerful statement you make about sleep deprivation being one of the methods used in torture! That sentence alone speaks volumes.

It's inspiring that you were able to get over your insomnia sleep patterns and get back to natural ones. I have mostly managed to get rid of my insomnia, but it crops up at times still, and I'm trying to firmly establish the natural patterns again. It's all too easy for me to flick into 'insomnia mode' when I have a lot to get done. I'm so grateful that I have some really effective natural tools for getting me to sleep when the insomnia starts up again.

Well written and thought provoking. I have had occasional sleeplessness which I wouldn't call insomnia as it was always caused by something on my mind, which my brain just wouldn't let go of. Of course there is a perfect cure for insomnia of all kinds, cannabis, but most countries make it difficult for people to use it by persecuting users. It's the best way to unwind and drift off with pleasant thoughts rather than agonising over the day's events or, often, just fretting over the inability to sleep. The worst thing is getting in a state about not sleeping, it keeps you awake!

I have certainly fretted over not sleeping, and you're absolutely right, it keeps you awake. I did eventually learn to at least try to relax, even if I couldn't sleep. If I fretted, I got stressed and I would be totally exhausted when it was time to get up. By relaxing instead I could get an effect similar to a powernap, where I actually felt quite good after getting up.

I never would have thought of cannabis when thinking about sleeping herbs, but it would have to be the most powerful one of all. It is a shame that governments are fighting against cannabis use because of the recreational drug properties because it has some very powerful medical applications.

Of the entire hemp family, only cannabis has the narcotic properties, yet many governments also make it very hard or completely illegal to grow hemp crops. Hemp seeds are incredibly nutritious, and the plants have nearly no pests so there is no need to spray them with pesticides. We are really missing out because of the way that most governments are handling the 'cannabis problem'. I must admit I don't know what the best solution is, but it has always seemed silly to me that alcohol is legal, and cannabis is illegal. If cannabis were legal, I still wouldn't touch it, but you can bet I'd have a whole field of hemp growing!

Here in New Zealand you can get cannabis for medicinal purposes. I know they use it for pain relief, and something else I can't quite remember. It's very expensive though, as you can imagine, because it's produced by pharmaceutical companies. Comes in a spray. I don't know if they have ever prescribed it for insomnia.

You have a wonderful site. (I subscribed) Your intel is wonderful. Thanks for sharing... I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Please keep posting more great work. I look forward to reading more from you.

Thank you Ladyd, I really appreciate that! It's one of my goals now to post much more frequently here.

Far be it for me to try and tell you something that you are sure is right Donna, sorry. You did seem to forget to mention the stimulants contained in cacao, caffiene and theobromine, it is also rich in fat.

Yes true about the stimulants in cacao, although they are not as strong as many people think. At least not in raw cacao. When I have raw cacao it's usually in my morning smoothie and I find it doesn't affect my sleep. But for those who don't want to use cacao at all, there are other superfoods as well. The fat in raw cacao is a healthy fat. There are many different forms of raw cacao, but the cacao powder has had much of the fat removed. They separate the cocoa butter out before they powder it.

There is a prevalent misconception that all fat is bad. It's not. Our bodies need fat to function properly. There are incredibly healthy fats, like coconut oil. Then there are incredibly bad fats, that have been promoted as 'healthy', like canola oil. Then there are just plain bad fats that we know are bad, like trans fats.

A recent report I read which was on the possible effects of lack of sleep suggested quite strongly that constant lack of sufficient sleep is detrimental to one's health. That concerned me a little because I never now get anywhere near 8 hours sleep, in fact if I get 6 or 7 I think I've done well. I just put it down to getting older, I never had any problems sleeping when I was young. It's interesting to read some responses to your Intel here, there are probably more than we realise who also suffer from insomnia.

I've read a lot about not needing as much sleep as you get older, but I'm not sure how true that really is. I think it's common that for whatever reason people tend to sleep less when they get older, but I'm not convinced it's because they don't need as much sleep.

I agree with you, I think insomnia is way more common than anybody realizes.

Two or three times in my whole life I have stayed awake through most of the night, and yes, those were "thinking nights" spent in anticipation of having to perform in some public manner in connection with a work assignment. Being retired now, I sleep like a log, once I am able to drag myself to bed, as not having to go to work in the morning too often makes me think it is ok to stay up until dawn...having fun! They say a regular sleep schedule helps prevent insomnia but I find a routine entirely too confining. Your working at home should help!

You're so blessed to have been a 'good sleeper'!

I know what you mean about a regular schedule being too confining too. I have always felt that way about job schedules. Everyone has different times of the day when they are productive, or not. And different high-productivity times for different types of activities, like physical work, or creative work, or menial tasks that don't require too much thinking. I think when companies cram everyone into the same 9-5 schedule they are not generally getting the most productive work from their workforce. You're right, working at home definitely helps!

A while ago I was forced to adapt to a new sleeping routine when I was staying in hospital. A different diet, a sudden chronic physical fatigue and no PC nearby made rising more early possible.

The copyright for this content entitled "Chronic Insomnia" has been specified by the contributor as:

This content may be copied and distributed (but not modified), as long as the original author is acknowledged with a link back to the content page. If you use this content according to the license specified, you must link to the following URL: