Hello my beautiful, wonderful sisters!!!
Just a few musings....
Anyone wake up every night at about 3 am? I do. Lately it has been pretty frequent. I had mentioned that this was happening in my post about focusing on the Lord, but the past two days I am still waking at this hour. THANK THE GOOD LORD that I am not waking in fear, or from a nightmare. I wake, feeling pretty much fully rested, and stay awake until about 4-5 am, then fall back asleep.
I have read several theories as to this, but there are some that make more sense:
1) Depression. TBH I am not the LEAST bit inclined to depression. Anxiety, yes (in fact the Lord had to lead me out of crippling anxiety). Depression, not in the least. If I am down for more than two days in a row SHAW is about ready to have an intervention with TWS.
2) Falling levels of cortisol due to the low point of the circadian rhythm....or something like that. This does make sense. Asthmatics will sometimes have problems at this time of night. Your body will rouse yourself to start producing more of the chemicals that it is lacking
3) Bimodal sleep patterns. This makes the most sense of all. Apparently some researcher took over a dozen volunteers and set them to what light would be occuring during winter in a latitude around Washington DC. After the first night (where the participants slept 11 hours making up sleep debt), they settled into a routine that is markedly different from our norm. They went through periods of "quiet rest" where they were awake, alternating with plunges into REM sleep. The article is here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE6D71630F936A35752C0A961958260&sec=health&pagewanted=9
This intrigues me. I think that might be it. Our season is changing RAPIDLY into fall and there is a marked decrease in light levels. Or it could be the circadian rhythm thing.
In either case, that leaves me with a bit of a dilemma--I LIKE rising early! I enjoy getting up around 6 am after a complete night's sleep. I find that I am rising instead around 8 am. So either I find quiet, yet productive, activities at 3 am (unfortunately, most of what I like to do would probably wake others--like sew, etc), or I try to find a way to stop this pattern.
What I think I might try is a "reset". On the VERY off chance that this is a symptom of mild depression (though I am eating the same, not crying, very interested in activities, etc), OR if I just need a "reset", I am going to try to pick a night to stay up all night. This works with some people to stop a period of depression, and it might reset my circadian rhythm.
Or....I need to find some of y'all who have yahoo instant messenger who might be up at untenable hours to chat with! lolol
Another note: wanted to send my very best wished to the most wonderful art teacher (and friend!) we could have. I hope you feel better soon sweetie! (though I have to admit that it bugs the mess out of me that you were feeling SOOO under the weather and yet still looked so blasted beautiful! :-) When I am sick, as the Col would put it, I look "like I been et by a wolf and pottied over a cliff"!).
OH and another note! I am excited to try my version of frozen pizza this evening! I made it last week and it is cooking in the oven now. We will see how it goes!
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5 comments:
Greetings, I came over to your blog from a link at another blog and I have enjoyed what I have read so far. I too am in Alaska.
Melissa
Welcome! thank you so much!!
Truly enjoying your blog -- loved the transparency & honesty -- and had to share I, too, often wake up at 3 a.m. It seems to come and go in waves -- a wise woman said that she believed it was the Lord nudging her to be with Him -- so I go with it and it is always a blessed time. I would like to place your link on my new blog. judy --
Waking at that time of night can also be a hormonal issue. I began to waken about 2 or 3 a.m. when I was pre-menopausal. I wasn't anxious or worried or distressed, just awake! At first I started getting up at that time because I hated just laying there. Then I was exhausted the next day. I discovered that I could still rest, even though I didn't sleep, and still feel refreshed in the morning. Sometimes I would recite scripture I was trying to memorize. I think it's important to keep our thoughts very healthy at that time of night, as it can become a habit to wake up and worry!
Hello!
I just found you today through a link to your post on losing weight and read a bit more. Love your blog :)
Funny you should mention "resetting your clock". I used to work the midnight shift and it would really mess me up until I would actually do this about once a week. The first day off (I would work from midnight until about 8 am that morning) I would crash like usual and then end up waking my normal time...but I didn't have to work and I couldn't sleep so I would then end up staying up almost 24 hours straight and then it would allow me to spend time awake with my dh and I would get so tired I would sleep enough to make it to the next day and get back on my pattern.
I used to have insommnia really bad after this...for years. I don't know why but I even actually remember being up really late as a kid. My Dad used to do this too. If I did this too much I would force myself to stay awake just as I was getting tired from being up all night and stay up until normal bedtime (or a bit earlier if I couldn't make it).
It was the only thing that worked....but now I have young children:)
Sorry so long.
Many Blessings :)
Ace
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