Precious Sleep!
When I recall my time in 911 and why I left, an inability to sleep comes to mind.
I was on the overnight shift. We worked eight hours, from 10pm to 6 am. For years, I loved it. Until I could no longer sleep.
Most of my years there I slept in a basement room with no window. Pitch dark with the lights out. Then through divorce, single-parenting, and selling the house, I no longer had that.
-no longer in the dark
-anxious about my future
-scared about raising my kids alone
-lonely
-overwhelmed at work
-in an apartment instead of a house
Hmmm, I wonder why I couldn’t sleep?
The nightmares began after a horrendous call for service.
RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION
Since I left 9-1-1, I have spent a good bit of time and research to get a handle on this sleep thing.
Here I’ll give you THREE of my top tips on getting quality sleep.
-SOUND
Some people require absolute quiet to be able to get to sleep and stay asleep. That can be impossible in our noisy world.
Silence is also referred to as black noise. It can be difficult to create.
Earplugs- Fit matters. Getting them to stay in for eight hours can be tricky. I always carry the spongy ones when I travel. Makes a big difference in a noisy hotel.
Noise machines can be useful. Even the drone of a fan can help.
White noise~ White noise carries all the audible frequencies, so that nothing interesting can come through.
Pink noise- White noise with moderate emphasis on lower frequencies.
Brown noise- Has stronger emphasis than pink noise on lower frequencies
Music-Depends on you. I cannot sleep if I hear the faintest music playing. Thus, apartment living is hard on my sleep hygiene. My alarms are always music. Bells don’t necessarily awaken me.
Nature sounds- My husband had a sound machine that played a thunderstorm on constant loop. On the occasions where I tried to sleep with him at night, I would get awakened every 45 minutes when the thunder clapped. He, however, slept so much better. Interestingly, once I was asleep, most noises didn’t bother me. He woke up to every rustle. But, the thunder didn’t wake him up. People are all different.
-LIGHT
Our bodies are responsive to light. If you are on a shift that requires you to sleep when the sun is out, do everything you can to block any sunlight. It is a powerful signal to your body to be awake. (This is why I’m not sure if teenagers are fully human, how do they sleep until noon?)
Sleep masks changed my life. I’m so light sensitive that I keep it on for my middle of the night treks to the bathroom. I found that it took persistence to get used to it. Don’t give up. Find the most comfortable one you can.
-OVERALL HEALTH
- If you exercise hard enough to sweat within the first hour after you wake up, you will sleep better the next sleep cycle. This is especially crucial for overnight workers.
- Carefully monitor your caffeine consumption. Many people can’t get to sleep because they have too much caffeine, that’s easy to notice. What I experienced was that I couldn’t stay asleep. I had to pay attention to what time I stopped putting caffeine in my body. Over the years, it got earlier and earlier. Now I don’t ingest caffeine at all. I feel so much better!
- Stay away from electronics for 30 minutes to an hour before sleep time. Let your brain get re-centered. If you can’t turn them off (like at work), use the blue light blocker for an hour before the end of your shift.
That’s all for now. There is more.
