Sleep inertia, or Call Me Goldilocks

Last night I was discussing with a friend my life-long inability to jump right up in the morning and get going. I don't (can't) sleep in, but I take a long time to get up once I'm awake. He was saying he is a morning person, gets up early, conquers the day (today he was planning a 5:30 AM work-out at the gym... it was already 10 PM). I was recalling daily fights with my mother in high school because I would lie in bed for 30 minutes after the alarm went off. I've hit a snooze button for an hour before.

Turns out, there's a term for my sluggish waking up: sleep inertia. I just read about it on Oprah.com. There are several things that could be happening, and a few remedies to try if you suffer from this malady.

In my case, I think a big contributor is the fact that I don't always sleep all night. I have suffered from insomnia off and on all of my life.

• Pets can keep me up - if they sleep with me and I bump into them, or if they whine or snore.
• Worry can keep me up - I've been known to ruminate and stew over problems during the night.
• Drinking too much before bed - alcohol makes us sleepy at first, but did you know that as it is metabolized, it converts to a stimulant? Yep, having some wine to help you sleep, will likely result in restless sleep. AND, for me, if it's red wine, fuhgetaboutit. Heartburn!
• Being hot can keep me up - a too warm room makes me suffer. Or a cat sleeping against my back can make me hot!
• Being cold can keep me up - a too cold room keeps me awake, and sad. I never want to let go of sleep enough to get up and actually get another blanket, but then I can't sleep anyway because I'm cold. I'm miserable when I'm cold.
• Being hungry is bad. Being full is bad.

Other people wake me up - my partner, other people in the house, noise outside.

Hmmm...I'm starting to sound high maintenance!

But none of that would be so bad, really, if I were able to fall back asleep. As I am writing this a commercial for MidNite came on the screen...a message from the universe? Have never tried it. What it can't help with is when I wake up at 5:00 and I don't have to be up yet and I lose that last precious hour or two...that's so painful.

Part of my interest in the Attention and Interpretation Therapy course is calming my mind so that I do not ruminate so much. I have ADD, and insomnia is a common side effect - a busy mind keeps me awake. So now that I am learning to control my mind instead of it controlling me, I'm off to a better night's sleep. Also, judging being awake is a problem. If I wake up and start labeling it as "bad" or "annoying" or I start to worry about how I will be sluggish today because I didn't get enough sleep... instead, I'm trying just to breathe, quiet my mind, hunker into my pillow and drift back off gently.

Now, though, insomnia is only one reason for sleep inertia. Others identified in the article that I can relate to are

• the shock of an alarm clock. I actually have a Pavlovian response to an alarm clock - it makes me sleepier! (Maybe that's what I should try at 3:00 AM... nah!) Changing states from deep sleep to suddenly awake is not good for us. I mostly stopped using an alarm clock many years ago. I lived along a railroad track and could sleep all night through the trains until the one at 6:00, when I needed to get up anyway. Also, I trained myself to wake up whenever I needed to - I established an inner alarm clock. I've tested it many times, and it's worked. Having a firm bedtime is the best way, though. But my inner alarm has been off duty for a few years now that I have had a steady partner who uses an alarm clock. Ah, the sacrifices...
• a bad pillow
• waking up in the dark
• waking up in the wrong part of your sleep cycle.

What I really wanted to read about in the article was how to fix it. They had a few tips to get you going. I was happy to see that doing a little yoga was on the list - I have been working on that one anyway. Only trick is actually getting up to do it. Hmmm.

Also on the list was getting pets that need to go out or be fed -- but if you read earlier, sometimes they are the reason that I am sleepy!

For me, I think that my remedy for sleep inertia is the following combination:

• a routine sleep time and wake time, including allowing enough time to wake up naturally
• a comfortable bed in a not-hot and not-cold room
• eating about 2-3 hours before sleep; too early and I'm hungry, too late and I have reflux
• meeting my pets' needs before bed: dogs go out last thing, cat gets fed other last thing
• small amount of liquid at bedtime only; too much have to wake up, too little and I wake up thirsty
• maintain my meditation practice to control my thoughts
• take care of stressors so that there are not open files in my head while I am sleeping
• eschew caffeine, particularly any time after lunch
• be ready for the new day before I go to bed: gym bag packed, clothes picked out, food at the ready for a quick but nutritious breakfast.

And recently I've found that if I wake up too early and want to sleep in a little bit longer, a little lovin' helps a lot. ;-)

Resources:
http://www.oprah.com/health/How-to-Wake-Up-More-Refreshed/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sleep/HQ01387

Damn ice dams

Minnesnowta has an epidemic of ice dams. Ice dams form on the roof of a building as the snow melts and then runs down to a colder overhang. The ice builds up in the gutters and then as the melt flows to the dam, it pools and freezes behind, and so on and so on. My dams are about a foot high in places, and there are icicles that could pierce your chest.

Principle among causes are a poorly insulated attic. My house is a common "story and a half" that doesn't have much insulation at all. I postponed replacing insulation because I thought it might take a while to recoup my expenses in energy bills. Now I realize that it must be done to save the roof and the interior walls. I had water dripping in behind a front window.

So, damn ice dams...

What: dam of ice along the edge of roof, usually beginning in a gutter

Remedy:
- You can have them steamed off for about $300-800.

- Many people this year are trying out "salt bombs" - eco-friendly (non-corrosive) salt melt in nylon stockings laid over the dam to melt a channel for future run off.

- Remove loose snow.

Prevention:
- Properly insulate the attic and allow ample air flow.

- Rake the snow from the roof after a snowfall.

- Install heat coils along roof edge.

- Live in a warm climate.

Resources:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/umnext/news/2010/12/snow-ice-cause-concerns-about-farm-buildings.php

http://www.ehow.com/how_4914834_fix-roof-ice-dam.html

There is no shortage of crooks

Basically I believe that the world is full of good people, and that we good people (if I may be so bold as to include myself in the category) far outnumber the bad people. However, just like a little arsenic goes a long way, bad people have a way of dominating a person's history and time.

I work with very generous people -- benefactors to the institution where I work. People who have no responsibility to donate a thing, but who often donate everything they own to a worthy cause. I was speaking to one such person today, we'll call her Olive, and she has had a run of crooks. It's like they line up at her door. I worry about Olive - she is 80 years old and lives alone. She has had large sums of money funneled away from her from irresponsible sales people representing various mutual funds or other investment opportunities. She even had an actual sociopath in her life.

I diagnosed the sociopath myself. You see, I am now an expert after having read The Sociopath Next Door earlier this year. Seriously, it's not paranoia to say that they are friggin everywhere. The author, Martha Stout, believes that 4% of our population is a sociopath -- I think the number is growing (but we'll talk about that later). Anyway, luckily Olive had a young attorney who smelled a rat and suggested a pre-nup for her and Rat Man, and Rat Man refused to sign it. The attorney also created a trust to protect Olive's assets so that no one else could steal from her. I am happy to report that they did not marry and Rat Man eventually moved on to another victim, God bless her.

And Olive is no dummy. It's just that she has so few people in her life to run things by. You see, there are lots of older folks in our society who have NO ONE. I have had more than a few say to me, "You get to a point in your life where you've outlived everyone else." A project of mine for 2011 is to help Olive find a good attorney and accountant in her community whom she can trust. There are too many complex decisions to be made without solid advice. And although the good people outnumber the bad -- it only takes one to steal everything she has.

Aha moment of the day: Olive said to me, "Never trust anybody." I struggle with trust, but life is a whole lot happier when we have close loved ones. How about instead of Olive's maxim we adopt, Understand that people will disappoint us, but only give decent people the opportunity.

Thumbs

I heard on the radio today that a person can now purchase gloves that are texting-friendly! I think it's always interesting when we reach that tipping point (thank you Malcolm Gladwell!) where something becomes mainstream. See for yourself:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html?a=B0031AVBNG

Old Friends and Glitter

So, this morning I asked my cousin what her kids would like for Christmas. Turns out they love ... books! How great is that? And moreover, they enjoy re-reading books! I cannot remember the last book that I read twice. My brother will. An old friend of mine did -- she compared it to walking the same trail more than once and asked, Don't you enjoy it just as much or MORE?

I listen to CDs more than once.
I revisit restaurants.
I've seen every episode of Seinfeld a dozen times.
...I only read books once

So, even though there are so many books left to read, I will select a previously read volume for my next book. I will let you know how it goes.


And, BTW, we are having the sort of snow today where it just looks like diamond dust in the air. It's sort of non-directional and totally sparkly. Just billions of flashes of silver under a bright sky. I love it!

Meditation in the World of iTunes

I've mentioned my Attention and Interpretation Therapy course before. I am working on bringing the concepts deeper into my daily life. Today my focus was on meditation.

I have known in some recess of my mind that iTunes is a treasure trove of resources and information, and today it exceeded my expectations again. There are many free podcasts of excellent quality on ANY topic. Some of the most notable names in education in Western society have channels there -- Oxford, Harvard, or Stanford ring any bells?? -- and also many lesser known scholars and teachers with important knowledge to share.

Today I found my way to two resources I will be accessing for a while. There were several examples, but I settled on a series called "Learn to Meditate" from the Meditation Society of Australia. There are currently 43 classes of varying lengths available for free. In the first class I learned some practical tips for approaching daily meditation, and also a useful candle meditation. The class was 18 minutes long, and during the candle meditation - which promises to open the doors of heaven to a degree that matches your level of intensity on the candle flame - I actually felt the presence of my spiritual guides, including my grandparents Melva and Eddie Parks. I think Sue Daniels was there, too. I felt a slight dark presence, also, but had a strong barrier by the light guides. In watching the candle, we breathe in peace and love, and exhale their opposites. The dark presence I felt was likely those shadow qualities that we all struggle with. I am working overtime to purge them from my heart and mind that I might live my right life.

After that meditation I continued to look at a few other resources and stumbled about a set of music mixes designed for running. They are courtesy of http://www.fitmusic.com/ and are 20-60 minutes long each. You can download the mixes for free and play them as podcasts right from the iPod. Amazing.

We are living at an amazing time overall in human history. With all of the change and opportunity I hope that we can collectively tap into the beneficial potential. How can we not perceive the end of all suffering within our grasp with the power of the technology available to average people? Even if all of us with abundance only gave 1-2% of our time, intellect, and resources to others, we would change the world. Join me in stamping out unnecessary pain, anger, hunger, poverty, doubt, fear, war -- if only by curing the demons within ourselves.

Twelve Days of Minnesota Christmas

12 snow plows plowing
11 geese a fleeing
10(,000) lakes a freezing
9 flights delaying
8 spots of frost bite
7 scarves a missing
6 pair of mittens
5 feet of snow!
4 Tom and Jerry's
3 extra hours of nighttime
2 frozen dogs
And 1 really effin long winter