A few years ago, I wrote two blog posts all about my sleeping habits (part I and part II). I find the topic of sleep and our habits surrounding sleep to be endlessly fascinating. Sleep is something we all do but we all go about it wildly differently. For today’s post, I wanted to continue the sleep conversation with some more thoughts I’ve had about sleep. Sprinkled in this post will be pictures of my beautiful boy Dutch, who was my heart and soul before he passed away in February 2018. I’m reading blog posts from early 2018 for my blog recategorization goal and it’s bringing back so many memories of him. This one broke my heart the most, and I had to snuggle the cats afterward. <3
1) I had a terrible run of insomnia when I was in 6th grade. Falling asleep on my bed was nearly impossible so I devised a plan to start my night on the floor. I would gather my pillows, blanket, and book and place them on the floor next to my bed. And then I would just lay on the floor, reading until I fell asleep. Eventually, in the middle of the night, I would move to my bed (it was always the falling asleep that was hard, not the staying asleep) and sleep the rest of the night on my bed. Whatever works when it comes to insomnia, right?!
2) I really hate getting up in the middle of the night to pee, and I avoid it at all costs. I try to pee right before going to bed, but it never fails that I will wake up maybe an hour or two before my alarm is set to go off, needing to pee. And usually, I will just hold it until my alarm goes off. This can’t be good for my body. I think it stems from taking care of a senior dog. It took a lot for him to go to sleep and if I ever got up from the bed (he slept with me, of course), it would wake him up. Then, I’d have to take him out for a potty break and spend 20-30 minutes trying to get him back to sleep. After he passed away, it took me a long time to realize I could get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break without disturbing him. And I’m still weird about it! It just feels like so much work to get up, even though it’s so much more painful to lay in bed and hold it.
3) While I know that sleeping on your stomach is one of the worst sleeping positions, it’s my most favorite one. Usually, I’ll start the night on my stomach with my left arm tunneled underneath all of my pillows (I sleep with an insane amount of pillows; one-pillow life is not for me) so that my left hand is near the top of my bed frame and my left shoulder is twisted up near my ear. My right arm is usually tucked in close to my body. This position doesn’t sound comfortable, BUT IT IS. I can’t explain it. Throughout the night, I’ll usually end up on my side or on my back and I typically wake up on my back.
4) I am pro-pets sleeping on the bed. Dutch would sleep with me all night long and now, the cats sleep with me. They’re a lot different than Dutch, though, as they jump on and off the bed throughout the night. Usually, Lila will climb into bed when I’m reading and sleep next to me, and then she jumps off when I turn out the light. Eloise will sometimes start the night in my bed but more often than not, she jumps up in the middle of the night. She either settles herself right on my belly (if I’m sleeping on my back) or finds a spot smack-dab in the middle of the bed, causing me to angle my body in a weird way. (I’m used to doing this as Dutch would sometimes sleep sideways on the bed or snuggled in so close to me that I would barely have any room. He took up more room on the bed than you’d think a 10-lb dachshund could take!)
5) Does anyone remember how popular waterbeds were in the 80s and 90s? My family had one, a large waterbed that I think was my brother’s and so did my grandparents. The more I think about waterbeds, the weirder they seem to me. The process of filling up a water bed is WILD to me (hooking it up to a hose from your yard…?) and I can’t imagine they were very comfortable. Or maybe they were the MOST comfortable? I guess sleeping on water would be really nice for some people, like if you have chronic back pain, but I need a little structure to my bed.
Tell me a random sleep habit/memory you have!
I get up to pee multiple times a night and I think it becomes a habit, so my view is that you are “sleep training” your bladder to chill out until morning, LOL! (Obviously I am not a urologist or anything so take that with an enormous spoonful of salt.)
Waterbeds!!! My neighbor had a waterbed — well, it was her older brother’s — and we would sneak into his room and sit on his bed sometimes. We thought it was hilarious! But yes, now that you point out how weird it is, it is SO weird!
My daughter and husband both sleep with multiple pillows but I can only deal with one, and it has to be fairly flat, otherwise I have dreadful neck pain all day long. Getting old is ridiculous!
Okay, I like this view that I’m sleep training my bladder. It knows I’m not going to get up multiple times during the night, so it doesn’t even TRY!
Waterbeds were just one of the MANY weird things to come out of the 80s, haha.
Reading that post about Dutch’s end of life care was so sad. It’s terrible that our four-legged friends have such short lives and rely on us to make hard decisions without their input. It would be easier if we could communicate with words.
I am, and always have been, a good little sleeper. I once flew from Minneapolis to Cleveland for a friend’s baby shower and I fell asleep before we took off and had to be shaken awake by a flight attendant. I work up about two and a half hours ago and I could probably go lay back down and sleep for another eight hours. I write all of this to say that I’m constantly amazed by how much trouble people have sleeping. Insomnia isn’t fun and I honestly don’t know how people cope if they can’t get to sleep or are up multiples times a night!
It really is sad how our pets don’t live long, long lives. Reading that post brings back so many memories for me – I don’t know how I got through it!
I will have random nights were I can’t sleep, but I’ll usually pop some melatonin and then I’m sleeping like a baby. (A baby that sleeps.) And you know I’m a champion napper. I consider it a feat if I wake up from a nap after 2 hours and don’t feel like going back to bed, ha.
I always have four pillows on my bed, the two with shams and two others with pillowcases. When I go to sleep at night I throw my one decorative pillow on the floor (LOL) and then put the sham pillows underneath my pillowcase pillows for support. If I feel like I need to wrap my arm around something or have something to prop my knee on while I’m sleeping since I’m a side sleeper, then I’ll grab the spare pillow on the other side of my bed and use that. But generally I don’t use my spare pillow, because my cat will sometimes curl up beside my stomach at bedtime.
But I’m terrible at falling asleep. I basically have to keep myself awake until I’m so tired I can’t hold my eyes open anymore, and lately that’s been anywhere from 12-2 in the morning. 😑 I have been like this since I was young. I’ve always been a night owl and am so jealous of people who can wake up absurdly early in the mornings, haha.
I love reading about your pillow habits! I usually have one pillow next to me that I use for hugging. I love having something to hug in the middle of the night; it just feels very comforting. I also keep two pillows to the side for my cats, haha. The things we do for these little balls of love.
It’s too bad you can’t switch your schedule so you’re doing less in the morning and more in the late mornings/afternoon/early evenings! That way, you could just be the night owl your body wants you to be! I think it’s crazy that we have adopted this 8-5 schedule when some bodies just don’t function in a way that they can be up and at ’em by 7am or something crazy like that.
I just did a big ol’ post on sleep, and I think you read about my quirks.
Sleep has been hit-and-miss since having kids; the last few months have been especially rough. I can usually fall asleep (6 days out of 7) quickly, it’s the waking to pee and then not being able to get back to sleep thing that screws me up. I pee SO many times before bed. I’ve had bladder adjustments by an osteopath. Sigh. At this point it’s such a mental hurdle, too – if I wake up to pee my first thought is: “Oh no, my night is ruined.”
The last month or so has been better, but I usually have 1-2 nights/week where I wake to pee and then am awake for 2-3 hours.
Hmmm. Weirdest memory about sleep would be tied.
For years I slept in a sleeping bag so I didn’t have to make a bed. Basically all through high school. It was awesome. And then in university I had this stretch of time in June when crows in a field across from my rental would wake me up at 4:30. It was terrible, and the only way I could get back to sleep was by turning upside down in bed (putting my feet on the headboard). I still, occassionally, do this now. Mostly, though, I get up if I’m having a hard time sleeping and read or write.
Oh my goodness, it has to be so frustrating to wake up for the first middle-of-the-night pee and realize you may have hours until you can get back to sleep! That’s usually how I felt if Dutch woke up in the middle of the night. I knew it would not be a night of good sleep for me, ugh. I wish there was an easier option for you! That sounds so mentally frustrating.
I am one of the lucky people who mostly sleep through the night. I am bothered if I have to get up to pee even once (and I know that lots of people get up multiple times!).
I’m pretty good about sleeping through the night, too, and I consider myself so grateful to be able to do that! My mom has such trouble sleeping and that would bother me so much.
I do remember water beds! The 80s were a strange time. My friend had one and it was heated – I guess they all must have been heated – and I remember it felt so weird to sleep on. I like a really firm bed myself, and I’m a side sleeper.
Water beds were such a weird invention, haha. My grandparents had one for years and years and I don’t know how they slept on one for so long!
I have to go to the bathroom probably twice a night on average! I should drink less water in the evening but I am always so thirsty and also keep water in our bathroom in case I am thirsty when I get up to use the bathroom! But I don’t mind getting up to go to the bathroom and if I feel like I need to go, it’s better to just get up versus feel the discomfort!
My brother had a water bed! They are truly odd and I don’t know how they could have been comfortable! All the sloshing of water when you move around at night sounds awful!
I am a super particular sleeper. I need a sleep mask and ear plugs. I used to be a stomach sleeper but then I started to have neck problems and the doctor I saw said stomach sleeping was contributing, so I converted to a side sleeper. I sleep with a body pillow and that has really helped. I like having something between my knees and something to hug in my sleep. I have had bouts of insomnia in the past, but since having kids I typically don’t have trouble falling asleep because I am so dang tired all the time!
Gosh, Lisa, remember when you had all of those sleeping issues?! At least having kids has solved that for now, since they are so exhausting! Haha. I’m grateful that I don’t tend to struggle with my sleep and when I do, a simple dose of melatonin can usually do the trick.
I need to learn how to be a side sleeper. I love sleeping on my stomach but it’s so bad for my back, I know.
Sleep is so interesting, isn’t it? I suspect it’s like fingerprints – no two people will have exactly the same experiences with sleep. We’re all sleep snowflakes. (:>)
I would have to get up to use the bathroom in that situation. The idea that just getting up for that would be the only thing keeping me from another hour of sleep would be torture for me.
OMG, waterbeds. What the heck? I just picture what would happen if said bed, um, sprung a leak. Yikes. A totally 80s thing, along with glitter, gold bath accents/handles/etc., and satellite bangs. 🙂
Sleep memory or habit? Hm. I’ve never been good about sharing a bed, not even when I had a spouse who shared the bed with me. I don’t sleep well under the best of circumstances; throw in snoring, random intrusions on my side of the bed, and discrepancies in need for various covers, and… yeah. I am loving my solo sleeping and plan to keep it that way forever. 🙂 (Well, okay, if I can ever add a cat or dog to the bed, perhaps I’ll allow that. But honestly? it’s an equal chance that I wouldn’t…)
I know of couples who sleep separately and I have the admit, I might need that if I ever am coupled up. I am so used to sleeping by myself and I never sleep well when someone else is in the bed with me! Give me my bed all to myself, please and thank you.