Naps & Sleeping

"When Nobel laureate Otto Loewi discovered the chemical basis of neurotransmission in 1921, he attributed his experimental design to an insight he made during sleep. In recent years, scientific discoveries have begun to empirically validate the hypothetical role of sleep in cognitive processes such as insight formation and memory consolidation...new and important scientific findings—that sleep benefits cognition..."
Ellenbogen, J.M. (2005). Cognitive benefits of sleep and their loss due to sleep deprivation, NEUROLOGY, 64, E25-E27.

I love it when - even though I am stressed out about an assignment or reading that is due - if I just gotta take a nap, then I do. And I manage to get everything done and things turn out okay anyway.

I can't seem to get turned on to coffee. When I feel sleepy, I don't feel like drinking it - I feel like taking a nap instead. Makes sense to me.

I noticed that both infamous racehorses, Sea Biscuit and Secretariat, were notorious eaters and sleepers.  Makes sense, no?  If you are going to expend that much energy in pursuit of a goal, you gotta seriously recover and re-juice in between.

Sleeping is very important to me. I have always needed 8+ hours of sleep every night. I also hear it is a fountain of youth secret.

Stress, trauma, aging, medical conditions, anxiety and depression can mess with our sleep patterns. This sets up a vicious cycle as we have less capacity to cope with stress, think or problem-solve when we are sleep-deprived.

In college, on the rare occasion when I'd pull an all-nighter to finish writing a paper, I was a total mess the next day. I'd burst into tears if I thought someone looked at me funny.

In a climate of widespread economic stress that touches us all directly or indirectly, much-needed sleep may be the first to go.

Here's a list of what works for me:

• When I can't sleep, I get up to write because sometimes it helps to download thoughts so my body can rest.
• Other times, I count my breaths (inhale, exhale - one, inhale, exhale - two...) to focus my mind and stop all those distracting monkey-mind thoughts.
• Chamomile tea helps. Warm baths/showers and a routine bedtime help my daughter.
• I ask my husband to stroke my hair just like my mom did when I was little - very relaxing and soothing to my overburdened head and whole body. In fact, just laying on my husbands chest puts me out.
• I bring my iPod and headphones to bed and listen to George Lopez comedy concerts (the laughter releases natural endorphins that relaxes my body and the clever jokes distract my worry thoughts).
• I went through a period of listening to the Pixies song, "Where is my Mind?" over and over again to put me to sleep.
• There is an amazing meditation CD I picked up at Deer Park Monastery. It is of a Vietnamese Buddhist nun singing and talking. It reminds me of the siestas I took during family retreats at the Monastery. At the retreat, sometime after lunch and working or walking meditations everyday, we'd make our way to the Big Hall and lay on a mat while a nun sang to us - like pre-school - I felt taken care of, nurtured and loved.
• Sometimes I have to fall asleep watching TV (as long as I set the timer to automatically shut off the TV so it doesn't wake me later).
• When it is really bad, I have to pull out textbooks and read.
• On a few occasions, nothing seems to work. But nights like these are few and far between so I don't panic. I know that I will find my way to bed earlier the next night or catch up on sleep over the weekend.
• I have fallen asleep to the point of snoring on the massage table or while getting acupuncture.
• My best sleep has been in church or Sunday afternoon-after-church. I wonder what the connection is? :)
  
• It make sense that exercise would help. Diet too. B-vitamins are my new cure-all.

Aging and self-awareness are about knowing what works for you, right? When in distress, what helps soothe the wailing baby inside you so that the baby can finally fall asleep?

Possibly a good resource if sleep is an issue for you: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-topics