Sleep

Sleep is an odd thing in those of us with ME. So many have insomnia, some can't stop sleeping, some sleep during the day and lie tossing and turning at night. Finding what is right for you and changing as improvement comes and symptoms lessen is the challenge. When I was severely ill in my late teens I would sleep up to 16 hours a day, from 9pm to 9 am and then a long rest in the afternoon, it seemed ridiculous, but was most definitely necessary.
I have generally managed to avoid insomnia throughout these last 20+ years. Using tricks to adjust my routine and keep me from sleeping too much during the day if a couple of nights are restless. Currently I am managing any daytime sleep during the afternoons, three or four days a week.
I have recently read a book on taking naps- Take A Nap, Change Your Life, by Sara C. Mendick, Ph.D. She has studied sleep patterns like no doctor before her. The idea is to plan naps during the day- be they of 20 minutes or up to 3 hours. There are four stages of sleep and by going through no more than two cycles of these stages during a nap, the body won't go into deep sleep- not a pleasant experience if interrupted from that! During the day the body continues going through it's own circadian rhythm of sleep. We constantly have the power to sleep going through our body and the quality of that sleep can be determined by when during that rhythm you decide to sleep.
I have discovered that a morning nap is sometimes needed and now know the reason why that sometimes needs to be longer for me to wake feeling refreshed. At the beginning of the day more REM (Rapid Eye Movement; highly-active dreaming) sleep is experienced, it is why we are more alert and ready for high-powered meetings and cognitive reasoning in the morning.(it's different for teenagers so don't start telling them to wake up at 6.30 you'll still get grumpiness!) We experience more and more REM sleep as the night wears on and if you don't use an alarm you will wake up naturally after a REM sleep stage and therefore awake, alert and ready to go, rather than during a REM stage and therefore dozy and cross!
In the afternoon an interesting thing occurs- personally I relish this and should try and achieve more of it than I do. As the REM sleep stages diminish, the stages flip in size, and the afternoon nap is one of healing, The healing stage- where growth hormones are fed through the body and repair and rest are given in droves. I have taken on this message and now avoid morning naps even more, keeping myself busy in the morning with sitting in the kitchen- like I am now. I want to go back to bed, but the longer I leave it, the more beneficial it will be for my body. This healing sleep is also something which happens more if you go to sleep earlier and for this reason decided this weekend to start a new sleep regime. My husband and I have always turned the light out at the same time. Usually anytime between 10pm and 12 midnight. This is sometimes dictated by me, sometimes by him. The difficulty has been that he does not need as much sleep as I do (funny that, as I have ME!). So last night I decided to choose a new tack. (no we are not using separate bedrooms!) I would sleep when I decided to, I would follow my needs first and foremost; he would read to me first, then choose to do as much TV watching, reading and radio listening as he liked in different room and come to bed when he chose to Full Stop! This worked last night I didn't switch the TV on once yesterday and the light went off at 10.15pm: the bonus was that I was not tired and grumpy when he woke me by getting up at 6.30am this morning; I was calm and peaceful, bright as a lark and ready to start the day with him by 7am; wonderful. We could interact before he went to work, I could help him fill the dishwasher and he said goodbye before he left at 7.45am without disturbing my cross and grumpy REM sleep. Long may it continue(?)