We haven’t had a post on dealing with stress dreams, insomnia, and other sleep issues in far too long — so let’s discuss! How is the anxiety, uncertainty, and craziness of the current age affecting your sleep? Are you having more stress dreams than usual? Are you sleeping MORE than usual, or feeling like you need more sleep than usual? Are you having trouble turning off your thoughts at night, or waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to get back to sleep? There’s so many different ways insomnia and sleep problems can manifest…
I detailed some of my personal stress dreams a zillion years ago — still on my list of “greatest hits” is this one:
I’m in college again. Months ago, I signed up for a class — maybe a complicated math class, but more likely a class with lots, and lots of reading, such as a study of Shakespeare’s entire works, or perhaps it’s Dostoyevsky. And here’s the thing: I meant to drop the class. I realized early on it was too hard, too time consuming to do the work… but somehow, I never got around to actually getting to the registrar and dropping the class. It is now near the end of the semester, and I am responsible for taking the final for this class — and I don’t even remember where or when it meets. I have a week to learn everything, or face an F on my transcript.
That said, though, I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t been having a ton of stress dreams lately. Insomnia has also been low (although last night I had trouble falling asleep, but it’s IEP week for us, so that’s a given). Instead I feel like I’ve been sleeping more lately — like I’m kind of exhausted even though it feels in general like I’m moving less and generally taking in less “new” information.
{related: how to optimize your sleep}
Yet I’ve seen that fatigue is a big sign of the times for a lot of people — basically your body is on high alert but can’t fight or flight because we’re just staying in place. The Cut talked to an expert who explained it like thus…
When we’re on high emotional alert — worrying for ourselves, our families and friends, the world at large — we use up a lot of brain energy, and we tend to have a harder time recouping it. “Emotional fatigue is the one that’s going to wake you up at three in the morning or give you insomnia — either you can’t get to sleep, or you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t get back to sleep,” he says.
I thought it might be interesting to discuss — how’s your sleep? Are you sleeping more? Having more stress dreams? Waking up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep? (Is anyone doing upgrades or making changes to your bedroom/sleep situation?) Do tell…
Stock photo via Deposit Photos/photographee.eu.
