I think everyone's optimum amount of sleep is different, as well as everyone's habits. The trick is aligning the two!! It's years since I had more than 3 or 4 hours unbroken sleep. Sometimes it is only 1 or 2 hours between waking - I think that is a menopausal thing and really hope it will improve a bit in time. Sometimes I can get back to sleep again easily after waking. Often not. I think I still need the 7 or 8 hours I used to sleep, as I am always very overtired. Hard to find the balance between being aware of this unmet need and trying to cultivate habits that will support its acheivement and obsessing about it, which certainly doesn't help.
It remains MUCH easier for me to meditate as soon as I get up in the morning. I find it both easier to establish and keep to the habit and easier to focus than I do in the evening. Also, it's very nice to start the day by doing someting I WANT to do, since the rest of most days will be spent in work I do not want to do at all, which is a depressing thought to wake up to (and, yes, not accumulating negative thoughts about this is also a form of meditation practice, which is supported by the sitting practice). Meantime, I still aspire to sitting for a short period in the evening also, as I committed to try at the beginning of this 100 days, and I think it would help with the sleep problem, but I have signally failed to do this so far. I hereby renew the commitment!
Just had a yoga class, where I felt exhausted almost to the point of nodding off after attempting a pose my body does not want to adopt - perhaps I should try this before bed :-) Having this class in the middle of the work day is lovely.
My sleep patterns fluctuate. Last week when I was preparing my presentations (which went extremely well), I was getting by on perhaps 3 hours a night because I was waking at 5am and getting up. But I'm too old to go on that amount of sleep. I got so tired I thought if I closed my eyes for a second I'd keel over. It's not sleep per say that I need, either; rather about 7 - 8 hours of lying-in-bed time each night. However many hours of sleep happen between waking or not doesn't matter as much as the downtime. Plummeting the depths of my rich inner life and the vast daily impressions of the outer one, perhaps. If I'm around people a lot, I need extra time to integrate all I'm feeling, intuiting, positing. And that's on top of meditation, which is a stillness in it all.
I have been sick with another strange achey virus these last couple of days and with the builders (delightful as they are) in and the terrible weather I have not been able to sit inside the house. However thismorning it was a stunning hot day and I sat in complete solitude under a cherry tree which was absolutely delicious. Then I sat and packed prints until now ( 8.30pm). In which case I think I sat 12 hours...
and it will soon be time for bed. I love ten but go for eight. Any less is crap for me. We are mostly in bed by 11 here out in the country. I try not to follow blog trails late at night - it's like channel hopping on telly (which i occasionally do in hotels) and it makes my mind both crowded and yet somehow dull...
I started blogging because of what I thought was frequent insomnia, but discovered that it actually happened less than twice a month. I fall alseep quickly and easily, but often (see above) wake around 3am.
I've found that the amount of sleep I need depends on the season (less in summer), the weather (less when sunny), the state of my business (more when I'm working hard) - and on top of that seems to run on a long (2 or 3 month) cycle. There are weeks when I am satisfied with under 6 hours, and others when I need at least nine to be optimally rested.
The secret is to accept this and go along with it. If you're tired at 9pm, then go to bed at 9pm. Don't fight your body, it always wins in the end (and if it has to fight dirty, it will).
4 Comments:
I think everyone's optimum amount of sleep is different, as well as everyone's habits. The trick is aligning the two!! It's years since I had more than 3 or 4 hours unbroken sleep. Sometimes it is only 1 or 2 hours between waking - I think that is a menopausal thing and really hope it will improve a bit in time. Sometimes I can get back to sleep again easily after waking. Often not. I think I still need the 7 or 8 hours I used to sleep, as I am always very overtired. Hard to find the balance between being aware of this unmet need and trying to cultivate habits that will support its acheivement and obsessing about it, which certainly doesn't help.
It remains MUCH easier for me to meditate as soon as I get up in the morning. I find it both easier to establish and keep to the habit and easier to focus than I do in the evening. Also, it's very nice to start the day by doing someting I WANT to do, since the rest of most days will be spent in work I do not want to do at all, which is a depressing thought to wake up to (and, yes, not accumulating negative thoughts about this is also a form of meditation practice, which is supported by the sitting practice). Meantime, I still aspire to sitting for a short period in the evening also, as I committed to try at the beginning of this 100 days, and I think it would help with the sleep problem, but I have signally failed to do this so far. I hereby renew the commitment!
Just had a yoga class, where I felt exhausted almost to the point of nodding off after attempting a pose my body does not want to adopt - perhaps I should try this before bed :-) Having this class in the middle of the work day is lovely.
My sleep patterns fluctuate. Last week when I was preparing my presentations (which went extremely well), I was getting by on perhaps 3 hours a night because I was waking at 5am and getting up. But I'm too old to go on that amount of sleep. I got so tired I thought if I closed my eyes for a second I'd keel over. It's not sleep per say that I need, either; rather about 7 - 8 hours of lying-in-bed time each night. However many hours of sleep happen between waking or not doesn't matter as much as the downtime. Plummeting the depths of my rich inner life and the vast daily impressions of the outer one, perhaps. If I'm around people a lot, I need extra time to integrate all I'm feeling, intuiting, positing. And that's on top of meditation, which is a stillness in it all.
I have been sick with another strange achey virus these last couple of days and with the builders (delightful as they are) in and the terrible weather I have not been able to sit inside the house. However thismorning it was a stunning hot day and I sat in complete solitude under a cherry tree which was absolutely delicious. Then I sat and packed prints until now ( 8.30pm). In which case I think I sat 12 hours...
and it will soon be time for bed. I love ten but go for eight. Any less is crap for me. We are mostly in bed by 11 here out in the country. I try not to follow blog trails late at night - it's like channel hopping on telly (which i occasionally do in hotels) and it makes my mind both crowded and yet somehow dull...
love to all.
I started blogging because of what I thought was frequent insomnia, but discovered that it actually happened less than twice a month. I fall alseep quickly and easily, but often (see above) wake around 3am.
I've found that the amount of sleep I need depends on the season (less in summer), the weather (less when sunny), the state of my business (more when I'm working hard) - and on top of that seems to run on a long (2 or 3 month) cycle. There are weeks when I am satisfied with under 6 hours, and others when I need at least nine to be optimally rested.
The secret is to accept this and go along with it. If you're tired at 9pm, then go to bed at 9pm. Don't fight your body, it always wins in the end (and if it has to fight dirty, it will).
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