It has come to that point in the semester. Yes, many of you know what I mean but I will elaborate.
I can’t sleep.
After 12 weeks of school and a mere 4 weeks left, I am so exhausted that sleep evades me. I have dealt with this same issue usually around the same time almost every semester I have been in school. You would think that I would be so tired from kids, school, and everything that I would just literally fall over in my seat. BUT, no. As the song goes in The Phantom of the Opera, I am “past the point of no return.” I want to sleep. I miss sleep. But here I sit because nothing is working. I know what some of you may be thinking — I shouldn’t be up telling everyone this but instead laying down. WELL, you obviously have never had insomnia!
I have heard all the advice:
- Take Melatonin, or Valerian, heck even NyQuil has been suggested.
- Take a warm bath
- Avoid caffeine and sugar
- Pray
- Meditate
- Just lay there…I love that one. If I “just lay there” I will start thinking everything over and that will NEVER help me sleep.
- Read, Um HELLO, I am an English major and LOVE reading. If you give me a book at bed time, I will never sleep. Trust me, I read the entire Deathly Hallows within 24 hours.
There are more, but the point is that insomnia is a condition that some of us deal with. However, I am posting this for all of you who may be suffering from insomnia and as such are feeling alone! You are not alone! In fact, a study was done in 2009 and results were posted in the Journal of Adolescent Health (yes, I know we are moms and not adolescents, but stay with me), that stated several interesting facts that kind of make sense:
- Stress about school and life keeps 68 percent of students awake at night – 20 percent of them at least once a week. Stress affects the quality of their sleep far more than alcohol, caffeine or late-night electronics use, a new study shows.
- More than 60 percent of college students have disturbed sleep-wake patterns.
- On week nights, 20 percent of students stay up all night at least once a month and 35 percent stay up until 3 a.m. at least once a week. Twelve percent of poor sleepers miss class three or more times a month or fall asleep in class.
This study was a case of over 1,000 students and while it is likely us moms are not represented in the study, it can be inferred with our added levels of stress due to our dual roles, we are suffering the same if not more. So what do we do? I don’t know really. I know that as mothers we are at times conditions to get very little sleep (due to those tiny little cute things we call infants), but once our infants grow in to toddlers and toddlers in to school-age children, we get used to sleeping a few extra hours.
If you suffer from insomnia, what do you do to combat it? I would love to know your modes of finding restful sleep! If such a thing exists, that is.
College Success for Moms 
I’ve suffered from insomnia more times than I would care to admit, and I realized it happens mostly when I’m anxious about something. In that respect, I subsequently realized that the best way to overcome anxious thoughts is believing there’s a power greater than me. so prayer and meditation work for me best. It also helps to relax the body, by inhaling deep then exhaling slowly; it calms the nerves.
Thank you for chiming in! I do believe in a higher power, but prayer just doesn’t always work for me! I am glad it works for some people though. I agree it is usually anxiety-related, especially in the case of college students.
I put on Harry Potter movie or book, something I know well enough not to get caught up in but enough to keep the rampant thoughts rolling around in my head from overtaking me. I have to have TV on when I go to bed or I will never fall asleep.