Ish, try my remedy!!
I had the same problem -- or very much the same problem -- as you. I could fall asleep, but would wake up a few hours later. If I managed to fall asleep again, I would wake up again shortly afterwards. And so on. Sleeping was work, a job, like any other. It certainly wasn't restful. And, like you, I do need my eight hours. (How I envy people like Edwarda, who can happily make do with much less!)
And then -- don't laugh -- somebody put me onto "environmental" tapes. That is -- thunderstorms, ocean waves, rainforest noises, winter gales, etc. None of that New Age stuff, nature mixed with music. Only The Real Unadulterated Thing, recorded "live" on the spot.
I started with tapes; now I have CDs, which are even better, because you don't have to turn them over in the middle. I get into bed at night, read a little (my custom), turn off the light, and turn on the player. I fall asleep, almost immediately, lulled by the sound of rain or ocean waves or whatever...Eventually, the player will turn itself off. When/if I wake up again, I lean over and press the "go" button on the player. The rain starts up again, and again I immediately go back to sleep.
These nature sounds have a hypnotic effect. And not only have they been effective in getting me back to sleep, but they also seem to have pretty much cured the waking-up problem -- the "broken sleep" problem -- that I had in the first place! In other words, I usually sleep solidly through the night now. That has not been true in years!
Do give my remedy a try, Ish. It certainly can't hurt. And it is a lot more enjoyable than drinking chamomile tea (ugh!).
Somebody once said that one of the reasons that "modern man" is often so ajangle is that he has been "torn away" from nature; and that one of the things that he most misses, whether he is aware of it or not, is the "sensearound" provided by natural sounds. In short, he "needs" natural sounds to settle his nerves. I think there is a lot of truth in that (although it probably does not apply to you, since you live on a farm).
Joan |
