Saturday, January 8, 2011

Is There Such A Thing As A "Good Sleep"

Sleep like a baby.

   It is rather frustrating getting older. All of the things that I did not understand about my parents and other elderly friends, loss of energy and strength, the not being able to open a jar of pickles, dislike of extreme cold or heat, etc...all of these things have come to haunt me! And the worst of the maladies that I now seem to suffer from is not being able to get a good night's sleep. Yes, that is the most frustrating of all.

  While I am not so young, I am not so old. Yet, I find that I frequently cannot lay down at a reasonable hour and sleep until another reasonable hour. NO! If I lay down to sleep at 10:00, I must get up at 11:30 or 1:00 for a nature call. And, for no reason known to me, I must always wake up again around 4:00 a.m. I don't really "have to go", but I do, because, most mornings, I don't need to be up and around until 6:00. So I "go" and then hope that I can go back to sleep for a couple of hours. But it's a crap shoot if I will be able to sleep those extra two hours.

   I will say this; while I was getting up and walking regularly for those months before the week we went to Mississippi, I was sleeping better. I think there is something to that "fresh-air-and-sunshine thing, and its effects on our overall health. I can still walk mornings. It's just that, since Christmas, I have not been out more than three times. It takes a lot to get up on a dark, freezing morning, get bundled up, and go out for a thirty minute or an hour jaunt. I am determined to get back to it, but just haven't had the will power the last two weeks.

  Anyway, I know there are sleep aids. I know they work, too. I took melatonin for a little while, and it helped. I do not want to be dependent on yet another "product" (read P-I-L-L) for another function of life. I am only 53, and it looks like I will be on thyroid medication for the rest of my life. Now the Dr. has put me on iron tablets because of low hemoglobin, I am hoping that is temporary. I would really like to solve as many health problems as I might be presented with natural remedies. So, even though it is cold, and I must get up at 5:30 instead of 6:00, and it is pretty dark right now at 5:30 am; I must get back to my early morning walks!

1 comment:

  1. Good for you mom! I would never be able to do it! It seems like we younger people take sleep for granted, when, later in life it's not at all (granted)!

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