Mediocre sleep

[chanaleh]

The moral of the story may be that writing up an intense to-do list (see previous entry) is not the best pre-bedtime activity.

I went to bed at almost 12:30 to begin with, and couldn't stop my brain from hashing over details (mostly seder-related). Plus my feet were cold, and that often keeps me awake. Then it was 1:00. Then I think I fell asleep for a while. Woke up again at 2. Woke up again at 5:30. Woke up with the alarm at 6:45 (at which time I had a momentary but disturbing mental image of the alarm clock as a small furry critter with horns and teeth that I had to Pound to Make It Shut Up!).

The other factor is that, as I've noticed more and more lately, I don't sleep as well alone. It's nothing to do with sexual activity; it's having someone to cuddle up intimately with. Partly the warmth, maybe; I also sleep less soundly when I'm cold (and occasionally will wake up without knowing why, and be unable to get back to sleep until it occurs to me to get another blanket). And partly it seems to shift my focus so my brain quiets down. Mmm. Love. Safe. Yes. zzzz...

However, I'm happy to report that, all things considered, I don't really feel underslept today. And I haven't even had any coffee.

Comments

[blkdrgn.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I'm not alone. In recent years, I've found it hard to sleep on my own because all sorts of random thoughts keep me awake a lot longer than they ought to. My mom said it was just part of growing up and having responsibilities. But I think I'm just spoiled. There were just so many cuddly guys around in my dorm...

I guess it all boils down to the fact that men make wonderful personal heaters and safety nets at night, and that we find them just as cuddly as they find us. Now if only I had a man...

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

baby, someone as cool and beautiful as you, you'll have a man again as soon as you are ready for one. :-)

[navrins]

I sometimes find that writing a to-do list before bed is helpful. When my mind is buzzing with "I need to do A, and B, and Q, and B, and C, and maybe I should do E, but I can't do E till I do A but I have to do E reallly soon if I'm going to do it at all, and wait I forgot about Q...", writing an actual list sometimes helps me feel like it's all under control. Even if the list is long, at least it's finite, and I know I can get up tomorrow and look at it and not have to worry about whether I'm forgetting something.

As for cuddle-sleep... well, I think I made my point offline. :-)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Yes, that often does work as you describe for me too. But then there are cases like last night, where I haven't gone so far as to make a *comprehensive* list of everything that was rattling around in my brain on the topic. Maybe I should have gotten up and done that anyway.

[laurens10.livejournal.com]

I find that if I do any thought-involved activity right before bed -- especially one that is trying to figure out the answer to a problem, I can't sleep at all.

Such as preparing for my philosophy final the other night. No sleep. My brain kept chewing on Spinoza. And then started to chew on the other corners of my thoughts. Like a lonely, teething puppy.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I have an internal soundtrack. I mean, I *always* have music stuck in my head. But when I try to go to sleep, sometimes I get music that plays so insistently it keeps me awake. This is one of the downsides of a high musical-intelligence score that they do not tell you when you take the MI test: sometimes stuff that sticks easily in your head, doesn't want to vacate the premises.

[tcb.livejournal.com]

for me, cuddling, and sleeping next to someone is much more important and emotionally satisfying than sex..

[(Anonymous)]

If you wish, with someone to sleep... Their admiring secret