The difference energy makes

Even though I was once a very bad sleeper, it’s sometimes hard even for me to remember just how much harder life felt through sleep deprived eyes. Lately I have been kept awake from noisy neighbours. Backbackers who don’t seem to keep the same hours as the rest of the residential population. All the herbs in the world will not alter noise. You can be desensitised to it but it’s not always possible to sleep through the sounds of a banging base, drunken party anthems and high pitched screaming.Needless to say my heads been feeling pretty foggy. What normally would be a synch to complete, the housework, cooking, gardening, trip to the shop, visit to parents etc, has started to feel a monumentous effort. What’s more even the thought of any of it is too much to deal with. I forgot to put the butter in my cake, I tripped over the tiles and cut my foot and my son must have asked for his lunch for an hour before I was able to muster the energy to make a grilled toasted sandwich..

I was describing this to an aquaintence. Just how hard it was to juggle everything through tired eyes. Of course I got the lecture that this person has a daughter who works nightshifts in a supermarket, runs a business, looks after kids, with boundless energy to spare. It made me realise that unless you suffer insomnia you just can’t relate to what a struggle it can be to get through the next day. I am guessing his daughter does not have insomnia.She also has a partner who shares the chores.

Today I woke up after an amazing sleep. I went and bought some duper heavy duty ear plugs and had a herbal mix before bed. Despite the fact they did manage to wake me at 3am, I was able to fall back to sleep in another room in the house. Today it’s like I am living on another planet. I have boundless energy, I’ve cooked a cake to offer my dad, I’ve spring cleaned the house, something I’d been putting off since spring, I’ve made home made muesli, enough to give to a few friends and I have installed a new tv, I’ve done three loads of washing, changed the sheets, vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen and it’s only 11am. I am ready for what the rest of the day has in store. I don’t feel any sleep debt that people speak of. I am not sure if I’m just lucky or if sleep debt is a myth to make insomniacs feel even worse about not sleeping. All I need is one good night and I’m back to normal.

So this is not a post to tell you that I can help you sleep through noisy neighbours, it’s a post to say that it’s so worth getting your sleep under control because the benefits are huge. And if anyone will understand what you are going through it’s me. The only difference now is that I know how to get my sleeping under control and I know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel regardless how bad my insomnia or sleep deprivation from outside sources may be.