I’ve experienced increasingly disturbed sleep for years now and at a certain point this tips into what we call Insomnia.
I wouldn’t say this has bothered me terribly but as I’ve got older and the problem has worsened, I can clearly see the effects a lack of sleep has on various functions.
One of the main issues is falling asleep in the evening earlier and earlier, either on the sofa or the desire to go to bed way before any normal adults bedtime. In retrospect, I can see this has a compounding effect on the Insomnia and reinforces unusual sleeping patterns. Plus I’ve found I need to take naps here and there in the last couple of years which I never used to require.
Anyway it’s all got worse to the point where I’m searching for answers and since I definitely don’t want to “medicate” (healthcare and big pharma’s favourite solution) I turn my overly active brain to the challenge of solving the problem. This isn’t an irony thats been lost on me the whole time, I’m well aware that my own brain is the main culprit. I love thinking, I love writing code and that’s often what my brain decides it wants to do at 2am (even if I don’t).
Recently I took a holiday where, for once and for a prolonged period, I actually did switch off from work. Infact I detoxed from all devices and pretty much all entertainment too and then - hey presto good sleep.
And herein lies the simplicity of the solution. A simplicity that the mind repels; because even after I returned I still thought that it must be one of the ingredients causing the Insomnia. My first conclusion was the screens, and I’m not wrong, it’s one of the main causes and it’s widely accepted as inhibiting sleep. However it was my father that suggested it might be ALL stimulus.
I found this difficult to accept simply because we live in a world of stimulation; from pings, notifications and technology demands to action movies and the bright flickering images of entertainment. It couldn’t possibly be just “life” in general could it ?
It is ! … Because after percolating on this idea for a few weeks and conducting experiments, adding in X and taking away Y, I’ve realised a number of things that fit in.
I get “ear worms” from songs very easily … You know, where a song sticks in your head. And they often remain for days too, until you hate the song you previously found catchy. One of my no-screen experiment days included listening to music as an alternative. This had followed a number of “zero stimulous” days where sleep had improved, but when I woke at 4am with an ear worm and some stupid lyrics in my head, the conclusion was obvious. So it’s not just screens.