I work from home but spend a day or two each month in the office, usually timed to fit in with training sessions, wrapping up projects or client meetings. It’s typically quite a relaxed day, a chance to catch up with my colleagues and feel part of the team. The 4-hour round trip to the wilds of Oxfordshire (our office is a converted barn in a village bordering the Cotswolds) is fairly demanding but I’ve worked out a back roads' route that cuts out the horror of the M1 and M40 taking instead me through pretty stone cottage villages and farmland for much of the journey. Not quite so pleasant driven in the dark, when road-hogging 4x4s can be lurking around every dark corner, just waiting to blind you with their bright lights and force you onto the verge...but still not the worst trip in the world (that of course would be any trip involving the aforementioned motorways, with the M25 thrown in for good measure).
For some bizarre (and highly annoying!) reason I can NEVER sleep properly the night before any office trip....I’ll toss and turn all night, snatching a couple of hours at best. Consequently, I feel rubbish the next day and probably shouldn’t be sitting behind the wheel of a car at all, let alone driving the distance I do.
I’ve tried everything to break the once-in-a-while insomnia hell...
Going to bed early, usual time or even later than usual...just varies the amount of time spent wishing I could SLEEP!
Taking a warm bath before bed, a bath early in the evening or not at all....I end up too hot or too cold and AWAKE!
Reading till I feel drowsy....not even the The Big Book of Things To Do With A Broken Elastic Band induces slumber.
Sleeping in the spare room...or B sleeping in the spare room and me in our bed (nothing worse than being the restless fidgety one while your spouse is blissfully snoring away next to you).....but that just creates extra laundry!
Taking rescue remedy and over-the-counter sleeping pills....but I seem to be resistant to their chemical charms and they just make me groggy in the morning!
Cutting down on caffeine...this is something I’ve been trying to do lately anyway, setting a cut-off time of 2pm....but nope, 3am and I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!
Eating a high-carb supper to lull me into lethargy....that just seems to play havoc with my digestion and leaves me feeling like rubbish AND bloated after a restless night.
It’s driving me mad as I don’t function well without sleep....it takes a couple of days to get over every trip to the office and really can’t understand why I am burdened with this ridiculous phenomenon. I now have the deepest sympathy for anyone who suffers long-term insomnia or sleep deprivation.
Insomnia is largely attributed to psychological reasons and typically triggered by stress....but I don’t feel stressed! At least not stressed about work...stressed about not getting to sleep, maybe....but not worried about work!
Would really welcome any suggestions on overcoming this irritating and exhausting habit I'm developing. In the meantime I'm off to catch up on some shut eye....
For some bizarre (and highly annoying!) reason I can NEVER sleep properly the night before any office trip....I’ll toss and turn all night, snatching a couple of hours at best. Consequently, I feel rubbish the next day and probably shouldn’t be sitting behind the wheel of a car at all, let alone driving the distance I do.
I’ve tried everything to break the once-in-a-while insomnia hell...
Going to bed early, usual time or even later than usual...just varies the amount of time spent wishing I could SLEEP!
Taking a warm bath before bed, a bath early in the evening or not at all....I end up too hot or too cold and AWAKE!
Reading till I feel drowsy....not even the The Big Book of Things To Do With A Broken Elastic Band induces slumber.
Sleeping in the spare room...or B sleeping in the spare room and me in our bed (nothing worse than being the restless fidgety one while your spouse is blissfully snoring away next to you).....but that just creates extra laundry!
Taking rescue remedy and over-the-counter sleeping pills....but I seem to be resistant to their chemical charms and they just make me groggy in the morning!
Cutting down on caffeine...this is something I’ve been trying to do lately anyway, setting a cut-off time of 2pm....but nope, 3am and I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!
Eating a high-carb supper to lull me into lethargy....that just seems to play havoc with my digestion and leaves me feeling like rubbish AND bloated after a restless night.
It’s driving me mad as I don’t function well without sleep....it takes a couple of days to get over every trip to the office and really can’t understand why I am burdened with this ridiculous phenomenon. I now have the deepest sympathy for anyone who suffers long-term insomnia or sleep deprivation.
Insomnia is largely attributed to psychological reasons and typically triggered by stress....but I don’t feel stressed! At least not stressed about work...stressed about not getting to sleep, maybe....but not worried about work!
Would really welcome any suggestions on overcoming this irritating and exhausting habit I'm developing. In the meantime I'm off to catch up on some shut eye....
I get insomnia from time to time - usually because of stress.
ReplyDeleteWhat works for me? Nuthin really... by the time I am ready for chemical help it's too late for the stuff to be out of my system by morning, and that's worse than being weary!
The only thing remotely helpful is to force myself to lie still (I get twitchy too which doesn't help) and breathe slowly, thinking "at least I'm resting... at least I'm resting..." over and over. Although it doesn't feel like I sleep at all the hours skim past and I don't feel too rubbish the next day.
...sometimes a chamomile tea at 2am helps a bit. Good luck!