Insomnia

What made me happy today? Insomnia!
That will need some explaining. I'm not happy about having bouts of insomnia. But I am happy that I finally seem to have found something that works for me. And the best part is that I can totally relate to this post! Major frustrations, I'll say!
I know people who zonk out the minute their head hits the pillow. There is no way to describe how envious I am of that! The only time I ever zonked out minutes after putting my head down, was when I had to get general anesthesia to have all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. But I've found a few things that will help me fall asleep faster on most occasions. Like my sleepphones, breathing exercises, relaxation exercises and the right temperature in the bedroom.
What helped me most was throwing out my alarm clock! I would find myself obsessively staring at it, calculating how long I had left before I had to get back up. Which of course led to me obsessing over how little sleep I'd be getting, and how tired I'd be the next day. So I put my alarm clock away. Now, I put my smartphone on my nightstand, so I still have an alarm to wake me up. But I can't constantly see wat time it is. And oddly enough, that helped!
Sleep tight tonight!

Brain experiment

What made me happy today? A successful experiment on my own brain!
In order to get to my point, I first need to give you two pieces of background information.
Backstory 1: I'm a nurse, specialised in neurology. I've worked in a hospital for 4.5 years, and now work in clinical research. I like science, and will do the occasional experiment on myself. Nothing dangerous of course :-)
Backstory 2: for as long as I can remember I've been a pretty bad sleeper. I have days when I sleep ok but I also have days when I am plagued by insomnia.
Combine backstory 1 with backstory 2 and you'll sense where I'm going with this :-)
Over the years I have tried a lot of things that are said to help with insomnia. From the simple 'hot milk' to the 'get out of bed, do something different and go back to bed when tired'. None of those things ever seemed to work consistently. Warm milk before bed is a bad idea for me, it upsets my stomach. Getting out of bed does not help either, I'm tired any way... I refuse to take sleeping pills. I know my body, and I know I would be all fuzzy during the next day. Which I do not want.
So over the years I have developed several coping strategies for my bouts of insomnia. But there are occasions when nothing seems to help, or seems to be able to get me to sleep. That's when I decided it was time to start doing some experiments on my own brain.
The leading two causes of my insomnia usually are: ambient noises (old building, the pipes and central heating tend to be a bit noisy) and my own brain.
Now for the noise, there's a simple solution: earplugs. They'll help, but I can't use them every night because they'll irritate my ears.
For my brain that keeps on thinking about, well, everything when I'm in bed, it was a bit harder to find a solution. But after digging around in my brain and on the internet I think I finally may have found a solution: white noise and other soundscapes. They cancel out some or all of the background noise, and seem to give my brain something to focus on, other than thinking about so much stuff. I even found some soundscapes on Youtube that are said to promote sleep.
So far, the results seem good! I've had a very good night's sleep last night and the nights before were pretty ok too. I feel rather well rested at the moment so it might be working. Here's hoping!
Yes, I am perfectly aware that 1 person is not a valuable test group, but I'm only experimenting with what works for me and my insomnia.
Also, I know this post is up a lot earlier than usual, but it's snowing very hard and I have some social obligations this afternoon :-)