Having Difficulties Getting To Sleep? Then Read This

Posted byFractured Faith BlogPosted inA Fractured FaithTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The older I get, the weirder I seem to be getting. Hard to believe, I know, but true. Take my sleep patterns for example. I can’t remember the last time I experienced an uninterrupted night’s sleep. No matter how tired I am, at some point during the hours of darkness my mental alarm clock will go off, wakening me at some ungodly hour. I will then toss and turn before invariably slipping into a deep slumber, just before the real alarm clock brings me rudely back to the land of the living.

It’s not much better, either, at the other end, the going to sleep end. Used to be I could sit up all night, watching movies and the like. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I see beyond 10 pm. I spend roughly 67.478% of an average day in my pyjamas and from 9pm onwards feel my eyes getting heavy as the lure of sleep becomes too much and I succumb to it, stumbling up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire.

Which brings me to the point of this post. My inability to read more than ten pages of a book at night time without nodding off. It’s the same sad ritual every night. Often, bedtime is the only time I get to indulge in my passion for the written word. It’s my downtime, where I get to temporarily escape the rigours of the real world into lands of dragons, magic and the occasional angry orc.

I’m currently reading ‘The Priory of the Orange Tree,’ by Samantha Shannon. It’s a sprawling, epic fantasy novel which has been receiving rave reviews. Right up my literary alley. All 800 plus pages of it. Every evening I look forward to disappearing into the story, and every evening I find myself dozing off within a few minutes of opening it. The book isn’t the problem. It’s brilliant. The problem is Sleepy Stephen. Not quite so brilliant.

At this rate, I will be drawing a pension by the time I finish. Ms. Shannon will have probably penned the sequel and I’ll be forced to leap straight into it, leaving the growing queue on ‘to be read’ novels on my Kindle accumulating dust….or whatever e-books do these days. This does not bode well for my bucket list target of reading ‘Lord of the Rings’ in a year. I’ll be lucky if I get out of the Shire by Christmas.

Last night, however, was a huge step in the right direction. Fionnuala was exhausted after a long day being Super Mummy so said she was going to bed early. I jumped at the opportunity. This was my chance to make serious inroads at the Orange Priory. Would Ead save Queen Sabran from the evil clutches of the Nameless One? There was only one way to find out. Quick, get reading you fool, before the Sleep Fairy arrives and sprinkles you with her pixie dust or whatever it is she does.

10, 20, 30 pages passed without a yawn, stifled or otherwise. The story ebbed and flowed, as I devoured the pages. By 40, I could sense my eyelids drooping but soldiered on, determined to reach my predetermined target of 50 pages. 40, 45, nearly there. Zzzzzzz…..wake up you idiot. Finally I reached the summit, barely able to set my Kindle on the bedside table before collapsing in an unconscious heap. I slept the sleep of the victorious. Until I woke up at 4:50 a.m. again. Some things never change.

It’s funny how the activities we love the most are often the hardest to squeeze into our increasingly packed schedules. But we must continue to strive for our downtime at regular intervals during this hectic rollercoaster ride we call life. I hope you enjoyed this post and managed to read it from start to finish without falling sleep. And if you did, don’t worry. I forgive you.

When do you read?

At what time do you feel your eyes getting heavy?

How many hours sleep do you need every night?

Published by Fractured Faith Blog

We are Stephen and Fionnuala and this is our story. We live in Northern Ireland, have been married for 17 years and have three kids - Adam, Hannah and Rebecca. We hope that our story will inspire and encourage others. We have walked a rocky road yet here we are today, together and stronger than ever. We are far from perfect and our faith has been battered and bruised. But an untested faith is a pointless faith. Just as a fractured faith is better than none at all. We hope you enjoy the blog.

43 thoughts on “Having Difficulties Getting To Sleep? Then Read This”

  2. I read in the mornings & in the afternoons. I get up VERY EARLY & go to bed QUITE EARLY. I too, wake up in the middle of the night … I’ll get up & have a cup of Sleepy-Time tea & then go back to bed. I might mention that my one cat Radar wakes me up a few times a night to feed him & his two brothers … but I’m not quite sure if I’m really awake or not when I’m doing this LOL & some nights he just sleeps all night through. Full Moons are the worst, of course.

    I am a morning person & if I have anything important to read or write, it HAS to be done in the morning. Afternoons are for enjoyment reading. Or watching a movie & embroidering.

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  3. I read whenever I have downtime.
    My eyes start growing heavy around 9:30, 10:00. It’s crazy. I used to be able to stay up til at least midnight. Not anymore! I tend to get between 8-9 hours of sleep.
    Oh, and sleeping in??? Yeah, that is no longer a thing. I’m up between 6 and 7 every day. My eyes just pop open! It’s quite frustrating, lol.

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  8. When I read your blog..I often wonder if we are the same person. I find being overtired the worst because then I really can’t sleep. I started using melatonin to help relax me and ease me to sleep but I very rarely have a solid 6-8hrs these days. It’s highly frustrating. I often feel sleepy around 9:30-10 and try to crawl into bed to read about an hour or so before that if the rest of the house is settled. Generally falling asleep by 10:30 but awake anywhere between 4-5am. It sure makes for long days.

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  12. What is amazing to me is how I can read a mystery for an hour at bedtime. But if I open my Bible, it is goodnight, sweetheart. Even during the day, opening my Bible to study or prepare to teach or preach, and I am down for the count.

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  14. I always read before bed – mmm, usually at least an hour and half. I also haul my Kindle to Dr’s appointments, picking up the husband, and other such potentially “waiting” times. Oh, and I cheat like mad – I use Audible when driving, so there’s always something worth listening to. It’s also good on trips or the bus or whatever…
    I’m usually out by 11:30 – due to an incredible number of prescribed medications that all have “drowsiness” as a side effect. Fun times at Bi-Polar High…. But it works. I can get by on 7 hours, but happiness is 9.

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  15. I read my kindle at night, normally 10-15 minutes and then my eyes start to drop. I listen to audiobooks on my commute, runs, or whenever I have my headphones and a spare few minutes.

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  16. I do the same thing! Reading before bed is my regular routine, but I barely get through 10 pages before I start nodding off. More than once, I’ve accidentally dropped the book onto the cat sleeping in my lap! Poor things haven’t learned their lesson yet and keep coming back for more. haha!

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  17. It’s 10:46pm and I’m surprised I’m still awake, LOL (probably because I’m sitting at my desk; if I try to write or read in bed, I’ll fall out by 9:30). I usually like to read before bed and at work on my breaks (I have a bunch of books at home that I need to start reading). There are times when I feel like I’ve gotten enough sleep and times when I feel really cranky because I’ve woken up early in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep…or went back to sleep but woke up again.

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  18. When do you read? Daily

    At what time do you feel your eyes getting heavy? Usually after maybe 10 to 15 minutes of reading.

    How many hours sleep do you need every night? 8-10 hours

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  19. I’m a mattress sales person and as such I’ve done a lot of research into sleep. I also have a boyfriend who is a chronic insomniac and used to spend three out of seven days in bed and the rest pacing restlessly around our home. Let me share with you some of my sleep knowledge:

    1. Harsh exposure to white and blue light two hours before bed will prevent a person from reaching deep sleep cycles because these are the visible light spectrums emitted by the sun. This tricks the brain into thinking it’s daytime thus leading to more frequent wake-ups and higher levels of fatigue. Try some blue/white filtering glasses when using your Kindle before bed.

    2. Alchohol may help a person /get/ to sleep, but it prevents you from staying there. Alcohol sits in the system for two hours and can affect the consumers sleep for up to four hours.

    3. Caffeine stays in the system for 6 hours and has the same effect on sleep as alcohol.

    4. Our body’s core temperature needs to drop 3 degrees at night for us to hit those deep sleep cycles, so try to keep your sleeping environment cool. If you’re actively sweating then it’s too hot (also, your average adult sweats between half a litter to a whole litter every night – yuck!)

    For more tips feel free to hit me up! Hope these ones help at all!

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