Name: Linda
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Sleep (or the lack thereof)
I cannot remember the last time I slept through the night. I'm not sure when it began, but sleep has gradually become very elusive. I put my head on the pillow feeling as though I could sleep for weeks only to lie there for an hour or two as sleep slips further and further away. I do eventually fall asleep, but it is an interrupted sleep - something in my disfunctional system causing me to wake up every couple of hours and lie waiting for sleep to come again.
Occassionally I do fall right to sleep, but in a couple of hours I am awake continuing the cycle of sleeping and waking. I wake up feeling pretty much the way I felt going to bed - exhausted. I have tried all sorts of mediations from Tylenol Pm to Benadryl to perscribed medications. I read articles on "Getting a Good Night's Sleep" and follow all the suggestions - to no avail.
I have tried running down my prayer list, which is a good use of the time but only serves to make me more wakeful. I think my main problem is shutting down my mind, which seems to just want to rev up the minute my head hits the pillow. Deciding to clear my mind and think of nothing just doesn't do the trick :-)
A few weeks ago a dear friend sent me this little book - "The Valley of Vision". It is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. The prayers are beautitul and inspirational. There is one I have decided to begin praying each night before I go to bed. It "fits" so perfectly. For any of you who share my struggle with sleeplessness I thought I would share a portion of it:
Sleep
"Blessed Creator,
Thou has promised thy beloved sleep;
Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow's toil;
If dreams be mine,
let them not be tinged with evil.
Let thy Spirit make my time of repose
a blessed temple of His holy presence...
Help me when I helpless lie,
when my conscience accuses me of sin,
when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts,
when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties.
Show thyself to me as the God of all grace, love and power;
Thou has a balm for every wound,
a solace for all anguish,
a remedy for every pain,
a peace for all disquietude.
Permit me to commit myself to thee awake or asleep."
Pleasant Dreams,
Occassionally I do fall right to sleep, but in a couple of hours I am awake continuing the cycle of sleeping and waking. I wake up feeling pretty much the way I felt going to bed - exhausted. I have tried all sorts of mediations from Tylenol Pm to Benadryl to perscribed medications. I read articles on "Getting a Good Night's Sleep" and follow all the suggestions - to no avail.
I have tried running down my prayer list, which is a good use of the time but only serves to make me more wakeful. I think my main problem is shutting down my mind, which seems to just want to rev up the minute my head hits the pillow. Deciding to clear my mind and think of nothing just doesn't do the trick :-)
A few weeks ago a dear friend sent me this little book - "The Valley of Vision". It is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. The prayers are beautitul and inspirational. There is one I have decided to begin praying each night before I go to bed. It "fits" so perfectly. For any of you who share my struggle with sleeplessness I thought I would share a portion of it:
Sleep
"Blessed Creator,
Thou has promised thy beloved sleep;
Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow's toil;
If dreams be mine,
let them not be tinged with evil.
Let thy Spirit make my time of repose
a blessed temple of His holy presence...
Help me when I helpless lie,
when my conscience accuses me of sin,
when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts,
when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties.
Show thyself to me as the God of all grace, love and power;
Thou has a balm for every wound,
a solace for all anguish,
a remedy for every pain,
a peace for all disquietude.
Permit me to commit myself to thee awake or asleep."
Pleasant Dreams,
12 Comments:
Oh, Linda, that has got to be frustrating! I've experienced insomnia from time to time, and I just hate when it happens.
I hope you find relief and rest!
Linda,
I don't know if it has anything to do with us being in our "Middle Years" or not but I sometimes have the same problem. One night I decided to take my small CD player and a Bible CD and put it on my bedside table 'just in case' I had one of those nights and couldn't sleep. I had my ear-buds plugged in so I wouldn't wake my hubby in the middle of the night. Sure enough, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so put the ear buds in and turned on the CD and listened to some of the Psalms. I don't know how many I listened to but it put me to sleep. I guess it just relaxed me so. Now I try to keep either Bible CD's or soft Christian music or a Christian book on CD where I can listen to it when I need to at night. You might try that sometime.
Pleasant dreams....
Marilyn in MS
Linda, you might consider having a sleep study done at a hospital. I have sleep apnea and my CPAP machine has been a lifesaver for me, literally.
That is a beautiful prayer. Thank you for sharing it.
Hope other than your insomnia that all is well with you and yours.
Love and hugs,
Diane
That is a lovely prayer. I have no suggestions just a prayer that the Lord would grant you a very restful night!
i love written prayers, and that one is beautiful! i haven't read valley of vision yet, but it sure looks like a good one!
tonight i will be praying for you to rest peacefully and soundly.
God bless dear friend.
The prayer is indeed inspirational.
My friend was having much trouble with sleep. She began turning the tv off an hour before bedtime and started bathing at night. She washes her hair in the a.m. in the sink. These things have helped her.
I bought her Sleepy Time tea from the grocery store. She said it helped too.
Hoping you had a good night's sleep last night! Lack of sleep can be so frustrating! Trusting you find answers soon!
Thanks for sharing the lovely prayer poem.
I really hope you begin to have more restful sleep, dear Linda.
This prayer is so beautiful...thank you for sharing it!
I noticed Devotional Classics!
I just pulled it off my bookshelf to re-read it again (a little a day).
Hope you get a good night's sleep soon. Both my daughter and I have trouble sleeping from time to time and it can be so frustrating.
Dearest Linda,
Like you, I haven't had a full night's sleep in ages it seems. If I do fall asleep right away, then I'm awake a couple of hours later or else I get to bed exhausted and can't fall asleep. I spoke to my doctor about this and she said it was due to my being in the menopausal stage, that it was one of the symptoms. So many people suffer from insomnia for one reason or another...wish we could just shut off our minds when it's bedtime! lol Praying that it will get better for you. xoxo
Hi Linda,
I haven't been bothered by insomnia until the last couple of nights with my cast, but if this is what it's like, my heart is with you. The prayer is beautiful and I'll try to remember it tonight.
A good night's sleep is a blessing indeed..
xo
Hi Linda! I followed you over here from Tonia's blog and I think I have found another kindred spirit. I know of what you write all too well. It's the mind that is so hard to stop grinding. I love that prayer - thank you for sharing it. Blessings, Patricia
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