Can you remember what a full night’s sleep feels like?
Yes I am talking about a full night of sleep, one night after another; and sleep ins at the weekend… a luxury that you don’t appreciate until they are gone (or just interrupted)
My husband used to wonder why I always wanted to sleep in at the weekend… I wouldn’t get out of bed until late morning if I could get away with it – now I think he appreciates that I made him do it! Ah the good old days right…
You always hear about sleep deprivation and know before you start getting in the family way that sleep would be limited and intermittent. However, you have no idea how it is going to affect you. And yes, some people are lucky enough to have babies that sleep through much earlier. We weren’t those people! So, after 3 years of interrupted sleep, we finally got to the stage where our girls were sleeping through the night.
Woo hoo!
Yes, there was the odd night where we didn’t get a full nights’ sleep, but on the most part – I thought we through the worst of it…
And then… we decided to tackle toilet training at night
It’s amazing how suddenly sleep interruption screws you up! With working, looking after the girls and trying to catch up on 3 ½ years of sleep deprivation, suddenly I am struggling both physically and mentally with fatigue, lack of focus and short-term memory loss (although it might not all be to do with lack of sleep!)
Jojo Jenson
So, what do I do… well I google ways to help of course! (isn’t that what everybody does…?)
And here is what I found and what made my “try it” list:
- Exercise – made the “try it” list – now to get up early and do it
- Drink more water – made the “try it” list – only because this is my nemesis, one habit I really need to get right!
- Meditate – made the “try it” list – will see how it goes
- Don’t sleep next to your phone – made the “try it” list – think this isn’t a bad thing, regardless of my sleep problems
- Go to bed earlier – haha – this definitely didn’t make the list or I would be in bed at the same time as the girls
- Nourish your body with better foods – made the “try it” list – I think this is one habit that I definitely need to work on, although the I Quit Sugar Programme, Arbonne and Dr Libby programmes are definitely giving me more direction and helping me make healthier choices
- Relax time – this is worth doing, I have a spa routine which includes a mud mask and I have been trying to do it more consistently, but unfortunately, I suffer from that awful disorder called lack of discipline
- Read – made the “try it” list – I used to do this and when the girls came along, I got out of the habit. But with so many books on my ‘to read’ list, there is no reason why I shouldn’t’ be doing this!
So we shall see how these work, or if basically, there is nothing that can help with sleep deprivation apart from sleep…
Let me know your experiences with sleep deprivation, and if you have any tips or tricks you would like to share, by all means comment away…
Catriona Brimble 