Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. If you found your way here through a share or just by accident, you can subscribe for free and get your own issues! If you are a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to paid. Just go into your subscriptions and you can do it fr
I have lost count of the number of articles I’ve read over the past year about how dangerous lack of sleep is. It increases our risk of dementia, cancer, and who knows what else. There are multiple articles that preach the best way to get sleep. But you know what these articles aren’t doing for many people like me? Helping.
For sure, articles making people aware of what causes insomnia can be helpful for those who have just started having trouble falling asleep or have occasional insomnia but reading headlines like, “Sleep disruptions in 30s and 40s linked to cognitive decline a decade later, study finds,” and “New insomnia research shows how improving sleep can lower heart attack risk” don’t help – at least they don’t help me. They may even make it worse. Because then people like me start worrying that the inability to sleep is going to kill us.
I’m not saying those stats aren’t true. I’m saying that they’re not helpful.
According to these articles:
“One study from 2021 found that people who reported routinely experiencing difficulty falling asleep had a 49% increased risk of dementia, while those who often woke in the night and had difficulty falling back asleep had a 39% increased risk of dementia. And a study published in October found that chronic loss of slow-wave sleep – the third stage of sleep, during which the body removes unwanted or potentially harmful materials from the brain – may increase the risk of dementia.”
And
“People with insomnia are 69% more likely to have a heart attack, compared to those who do not have the sleep disorder…. Researchers found that good sleep habits can benefit the heart and overall health, and even life expectancy. They also found that 8% of deaths from any cause could be linked to poor sleeping patterns.”
I’m not saying those stats aren’t true. I’m saying that they’re not helpful.
I’ve never been a good sleeper
Going back to my childhood, for a few reasons, I wasn’t a good sleeper. Then I became a nurse – now that is NOT a profession for someone who already has trouble sleeping. Those night shifts (11:30 pm to 7:30 am), mixed up with day and evening shifts really didn’t help. I tried going to a permanent night shift for some stability, but that didn’t last more than a year because the lack of sleep was making me physically ill.
Sure, there were nights when I did sleep soundly and well. But as I got older, those nights became fewer and far between. By the time I hit my 50s, I began averaging just a few hours of sleep every night. But to this day, it often isn’t restful sleep. Doze 30 minutes, wake up. Sleep another 40 minutes, wake up. Repeat and repeat until by 5, 4, or even 3 a.m., there’s no more dozing off.
Here are some photos that show my sleep efficiency. (It’s usually lights off for me between 9:30 and 10 – what can I say, I remain ever hopeful?) Green is good. You can see how rarely green pops up in the graphs.
I don’t have trouble falling asleep. I can put my head down and fall asleep anywhere. I just can’t stay asleep. And then there are what I call my “no sleep” nights. Those are nights when the brain just doesn’t allow me to fall asleep at all and I pull an all-nighter. Unwillingly.
I did have a sleep study and there was no obstructive sleep apnea causing my problem. Now that I live with burning mouth syndrome, I do know that some of my sleep issues are related to the pain – but this started well before the pain did.
Solutions galore, or so the internet says
If you Google insomnia, the number of hits is astounding. From research papers to how-tos on how to get a better night’s sleep, the information is never-ending.
The most common suggestions are:
Make your bedroom sleep-friendly.
Wear earplugs or use white noise machines.
Wear a sleep mask if your room isn’t dark enough.
Buy good pillows, mattresses, and linens.
Have a consistent sleep routine.
Avoid electronics.
Meditate.
Avoid naps.
Get regular exercise.
Don’t eat too close to bedtime.
Avoid alcohol and caffeine.
And so on.
But many of us have tried all that and then some. We. Still. Can’t. Sleep.
Sleeping pills?
Aside from all the suggestions listed above, there are many types of sleep aids available, from OTC supplements, like melatonin, to cannabis to prescription medications. But…again… for some of us, they just don’t work.
I know I’m not the only person in this situation.
All the medications that are supposed to make me sleepy (like some allergy medications or anti-nausea pills) don’t. Some sedatives didn’t help me sleep but still left me horribly groggy the next day. Not sleepy enough to actually, you know, sleep. But groggy in that I had a hard time functioning. Other sedatives did nothing at all.
So what do we do?
I know I’m not the only person in this situation. And I do know that studies that say your risk of dying increases by such and such a percentage don’t mean that my own risk is increased. But it is disconcerting to keep reading things like that.
I get it. Journalists find interesting material and want to share it. Or their editors assign the articles because they know people will read them. But most of these articles include the simple changes I listed – and nothing for people who really and truly cannot get a good night’s sleep.
And a note to the researchers. Yes! We know that not sleeping is hurting us. But rather than telling us what is going to happen to us, how about trying to find a way to help us get that much-needed sleep? There has to be a way.
What do you think? Do you have trouble sleeping? What do these studies and articles do for you? Leave your comment below. Let’s get a conversation started.
If you are a free subscriber, please consider upgrading. You’ll get the Monday Musings issue and access to audio versions of each newsletter issue. Subscribe for only $5/month or $50/year. If you are a free subscriber and use computer-generated reading to listen due to visual impairment, please send me a message and I’ll arrange for you to get audio versions as well.