Insomnia stinks. For as long as I can remember I have had problems sleeping...I remember back in grade two laying awake at 2am crying because I was thinking about how horrible it would be when my rabbit (Fluffy) died. My rabbit wasnt even sick at that point in time, nor was he that old....nevertheless I felt that 2am on a school night was a perfectly good time to get upset about such a thing. Oddly enough, I dont even think I was too upset about when we had to put him down several years later...
So, what can I take away from this story? It seems as though I am just hardwired to lay awake at night and think about things that dont matter, or things I cant do anything about, and that probably (no, almost certainly) are not going to be as big of a deal when they actually happen as I think they are going to be. Oddly enough, even though I know this, and acknowledge it, it doesnt actually stop me from doing it! And so, here I am again, unable to sleep while I try and come up with solutions to things that seem important now, but probably arent.
I have gotten alot of suggestions on things to do to help me fall asleep...things like special breathing exercises, tensing all the muscles in my body and then relaxing them one by one, putting peanut butter on my toes and letting them stick out of the end of the bed with the idea that I cant move otherwise I will get peanut butter on the sheets (ok, I just made that one up, but it could work, I suppose). And really, Ive tried it all and nothing works.
Focusing on breathing is just darn boring- it is too much like trying to think of nothing. Not to mention I tend to get carried away and my thought process starts to go a little something like this. The air molecule enters the external nares (known to common folk as the nostrils ;) ) and travels to the pharynx (sub divided into three parts: the nasopharynx, the oropharynx (not important here) and the laryngopharynx (posterior to the larynx)). Next it travels to the larynx (also sub divided into three parts supraglottis, glottis, and subglottis) by passing the epiglottis (the little flap that flips to cover the larynx when you swallow food so it doesnt go into your lungs). The air then travels to the trachea, then to the bronchi, then to the bronchioles, and finally to the alveoli where the oxygen diffuses into the blood and....
Are you still with me? Did it make YOU fall asleep? I am still awake....
