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By Dr Peter Dingle and Toni Brown
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Insomnia -
Jean Shaw© -
—-
Last night I had a really
restless night and today I feel really tired and lethargic.
It's my own fault though.
I did something I shouldn't and had a guilty conscience.
Now don't get all excited
and think I'm going to reveal something really juicy or controversial. It's nothing
like that.
You see my son has autism. He also has a huge collection of old videos
which he rarely watches. They just take up space.
This weekend he went away for respite
care and as he has just celebrated his 18th birthday I decided to get rid of some
of the older ones which I considered inappropriate for his age.
Actually, I could
have got rid of most of them using those criteria, but like most people with autism
my son likes familiar things so the ones he's watched since a child are his favourites.
Anyway, whilst he was gone I placed some of them outside the door of a local charity
shop feeling good that someone else might get enjoyment from them.
However, when
I collected my son from his respite care yesterday afternoon he proudly produced
two new videos. Apparently he'd found them in some charity shops.
My heart sank,
not because he's brought home some more but because the two he'd just bought were
different episodes of the videos I'd just given away. I realised he must have been
collecting them.
My son doesn't really speak so I had no way of knowing but once
the possibility hit me I knew I had to get them back.
I couldn't sleep. I tossed
and turned and thought what a rotten mother I was until eventually I could stand
it no longer. As dawn was breaking I left my son sleeping in the care of his elder
brother and went to the shop to try and retrieve them.
I felt like some sort of thief
and hoped no-
I returned home dejected and my troubled mind kept me awake. If my son had been "normal"
I would never have contemplated disposing of his possessions without asking his permission
first.
I had to get them back and decided to go the charity shop as soon as it opened.
Fortunately, when I arrived first thing this morning and explained the situation
they kindly returned the videos to me. The experience taught me a lesson though and
hopefully tonight I will be able to sleep.
I had one sleepless night but many people
aren't as fortunate. Their lack of sleep goes on for days.
Insomnia affects approximately
60 million people, usually more women than men and can drive some people to the brink
of madness.
I have had many sleepless nights over the years. Until my autistic son
was about eight I didn't get one single good night's sleep. I can remember how awful
it made me feel and once I wrote off my car because I think I fell asleep at the
wheel. Fortunately I'm here to tell the tale but there are numerous similar situations
which have a different ending.
Sleep deprivation creates all sorts of problems, not
least the ability to think straight.
However, it is not necessarily the quantity
of sleep which affects people but rather the quality. To prove the point one man
actually went without sleep for almost 19 days in 1980 but that's certainly not to
be recommended. He got his name in the record books but I doubt that it did much
for his overall health.
You see it is whilst we are asleep that our body restores itself. The blood nourishes
and repairs our muscles and our immune system turns on. That's why people sleep so
much when they are ill.
I didn't realise until recently that sleep is actually quite
a complex process. It's not just a case of relaxing, closing your eyes and then waking
up sometime later.
Infact there are five different stages of sleep using different
brain waves. Some stages benefit you more than others, and during the course of the
night you will go through these stages multiple times.
The first stage is when you
sort of daydream. During the second stage you feel drowsy, but it is the third and
fourth stages which benefit you most. That's when you are in what is known as Deep
Sleep and accounts for almost 25% of the process.
The final stage which is known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) also accounts for about
25% of the process and whilst no-
The realisation that there are different stages of sleep explains why sometimes
you can wake up feeling refreshed and at other times you feel absolutely awful. Also,
why you can only sometimes remember your dreams.
Insomnia is a horrible thing and
there are even clinics set up to deal with the problem. You can take medication,
listen to music, try relaxation techniques and self help routines. You can even buy
Counting Sheep night attire but I never could understand how the vision of energetic
ovines leaping over a gate could send people to sleep. It's just the wrong message.
On the other hand, two of the best things to help insomnia are exposure to natural
sunlight and exercise, so bearing that in mind I am now off for a brisk walk in the
lovely spring sunshine.
I would run but I'm tired!
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