52 Lists Week # 22; The Things that Keep Me Up At Night

This week's list: The Things that Keep You Up at Night really made me think.

Often I am a pretty sound sleeper and have no problems sleeping through the night.  I can have a difficult time falling asleep at night because I usually have a thousand different thoughts running through my mind; remembering the day we just had, planning ahead for the next day, making lists of what we need to cover for school, etc.




A few years ago I realized I could drown out these thoughts by watching TV.  I know many studies suggest that having a TV in your room is bad for you and usually leads to less sleep but I find if the TV is on I can easily fall asleep.  I end up falling asleep easier and faster and for me it just works.

On those nights I am up, these are the typical reasons:

  • Luckily I no longer have little kids that literally are keeping me up at night every night but sometimes it is the kids keeping me up at night.  They can't sleep, they had a bad dream, etc. 
  • I am up at night whenever anyone in the house is sick. I tend to sleep lightly while listening to see if I'm going to be needed. 
  • I am usually up at night when my husband is gone for work and I'm home alone.  Any little sound has me jumping. 
  • I will randomly wake up and worries/ fears about the boys, their school work, their future, etc. will keep me awake.
  • The night before (and often the week leading up to) our family vacations finds me up running through the list of what we need to pack, if we have everything we need, and planning our time table. 
  • The night before (and maybe even the week leading up to) an event, party, or other occasion we're hosting or co- hosting finds me making mental check lists of everything I need to do, what days I need to get things done to be ready on tie, and lists of what to buy.
  • Nightmares will keep me awake at night.  If I have a bad dream; one that was bad enough to shock me awake... I am usually resistant to falling back to sleep.  

Luckily none of these things happen very often anymore.  I am one of those people that require quite a bit of uninterrupted sleep or else I just can't function.

How about you?  What keeps you up at night?



Others in this series:

Comments

  1. Courtney DimmittJune 2, 2016 at 8:51 AM

    Yes! All of these! After having kids, I've turned into a very light sleeper. It takes me forever to get comfortable enough to fall asleep and then any little thing will wake me up. My husband acknowledges that I just "don't sleep" and will thankfully let me sleep deeply whenever I need a nap or fall asleep early on the couch.

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    1. Mother of 3June 2, 2016 at 9:59 AM

      I used to be such a heavy sleeper before I had kids. I was actually afraid to have them at first because I never thought I'd hear them and wake up... turns out that is not a problem anymore! Unfortunately I am not a napper but I am known as the insomniac of the family. I have weeks where I sleep great and other weeks where I don't feel like I slept at all. Somehow my body adjusts.

      Delete
  2. Megan RussellJune 2, 2016 at 10:20 AM

    I also cannot function without a solid 8 hours of sleep. I usually go to sleep around 9 pm and am up at 5 am. I'm a morning person!!

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    1. Mother of 3June 2, 2016 at 3:39 PM

      Me too! Usually I nod off around 9:00 or 10 and I'm always up by 6.

      Delete
  3. TammyJune 2, 2016 at 1:31 PM

    Enjoyed your list!

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  4. chasing slowJune 2, 2016 at 4:10 PM

    I admit to falling asleep with the tv, too :) I have such a difficult time falling asleep otherwise. I not really a night owl, in bed before 11, but NOT a morning person. I don't get moving until at 7:30-8am.

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    1. Mother of 3June 2, 2016 at 5:35 PM

      I never was a morning person but all three of my boys are and I found that I just have a better day when I'm at the same time as them (if not a few moments earlier).

      Delete
  5. Mother of 3June 3, 2016 at 7:23 AM

    I know; reading all these other lists about sleeplessness I realize we all have many of the same reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  6. shelly sangreyJune 4, 2016 at 9:26 PM

    I need the TV on to sleep, too. It really relaxes me. And it has to be something that interests me, but not so much that I won't fall asleep. I usually end up staying awake when I'm planning something new in our homeschooling. I get so excited that my mind just won't stop! Other than that, my kids usually have me so exhausted that I'll conk out within 15 minutes of lying down.

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    1. Mother of 3June 5, 2016 at 7:19 AM

      Yep a new unit will keep me awake with ideas and anticipation. I don't seem to mind those sleepless nights though!

      Delete
  7. TiP TeamJune 6, 2016 at 2:40 PM

    Like you, and despite the advice of experts, TV has helped me unwind and quiet my mind at the end of the day for years now. Otherwise, my brain is more active at night, and I'm up until the wee hours writing and working or worse: coming up with new projects, lol. -Elle

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    1. Mother of 3June 6, 2016 at 3:54 PM

      Yep! Exactly. I find it's just distracting enough to keep my mind off.

      Delete
  8. BARBIEJune 8, 2016 at 11:33 PM

    I don't like sleeping alone either. My husband is unable to go up and down our stairs easily due to an injury, so often sleeps on the downstairs couch, without me. I have a hard time falling asleep just me.

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    1. Mother of 3June 9, 2016 at 6:51 AM

      It can be a real problem for me; when he's gone he's often gone for weeks at a time and I get to wiped out. Usually, in that case, I just keep the TV on all night long with the volume on real low.

      Delete
  9. MeredithJune 17, 2016 at 11:06 AM

    I've been having trouble sleeping too... before kids, I never did, but now the constant worry, planning, organizing, trying to keep things straight in my mind, it all leads to lack of sleep. TV does help sometimes! Thanks for linking up at the Manic Mondays blog hop!

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    1. Mother of 3June 17, 2016 at 4:46 PM

      I used to sleep so well before we had kids... so well that I was afraid to have kids thinking I would never hear them and wake up with them. HA! That was definitely not a problem. Once I had them I felt like every little creak, cough, sigh and sniffle had me wide awake in bed. Now that they're older I can sleep a bit better but I'm starting to think that whole list thing is never going to go away!

      Delete
  10. Alana - Burnished ChaosJune 3, 2017 at 3:35 AM

    I used to lie awake for hours but miraculously, since having my second child, I can fall asleep in seconds. I still wake up countless times throughout the night, needing the toilet, one of the kids needing the toilet, husband getting up to the toilet (you get the idea), one of the kids having a nightmare, noisy drunks walking past on their way home from the pub in the early hours at the weekend. But, I will always get straight back to sleep again. Until it gets to 5 am and then I lie there with back ache and have to get up.
    #FabFridayPost

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    1. Mother of 3June 4, 2017 at 2:27 PM

      Oh I envy that ability to fall asleep so easily. I can and do fall asleep quickly on days when I am totally exhausted but otherwise I find my brain just keeps me awake so the TV helps distract me and I can easily fall asleep during one commercial break.

      Delete
  11. Susie / So Happy In TownJune 4, 2017 at 3:42 PM

    The list whirs around in the motherhead of all the things that need to be done the next day, that week, in two weeks, it goes on....I find that since having my 3 children, my sleep has been completely turned on its head though now they are all older, I'm getting it back. #fabfridaypost

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    1. Mother of 3June 4, 2017 at 5:11 PM

      I do find my sleep had gotten a bit better now that my boys are getting older too.

      Delete
  12. Jade - Raw ChildhoodJune 4, 2017 at 8:24 PM

    Yep I agree with you here! The thing that keeps me up most often is just before I am going to sleep I think of things that I need to do or have forgotten to do but I've come to realise if I just put what I am thinking into the notes on my phone then it helps me slip off to sleep. #fabfridaypost

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Mother of 3June 4, 2017 at 9:41 PM

      I tend to keep a notepad and paper near the bed just to jot things down too. I find if I know I wrote them down I don't have to keep thinking about them.

      Delete
  13. JoeyJune 4, 2017 at 8:53 PM

    I need 8-9 hours per night to be functional and I still feel tired! I've taken to reading on my kindle to fall asleep. It works well as long as the book is interesting enough to keep my mind from wandering but not so excited that I can't put it down or lose consciousness in the middle of a page. It's a careful balance! Having sick family members is the worst. I have the mom super power of sleeping while still hearing every sound!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ethan.n.EvelynJune 5, 2017 at 5:55 AM

    Oh... I hate those nights. I am the same as you with the night before/ weeks leading up to something. I can never stop worrying! Then I be like - I got up late this morning because I have a late night! lol! Thank you so much for linking up with us on #FabFridayPost x

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Mother of 3June 5, 2017 at 7:02 AM

      LOL! I am always afraid we'll oversleep on those days we absolutely NEED to get up... and while that rarely happens I do feel so overtired that I can barely function.

      Delete
  15. Lisa PomerantzJune 9, 2017 at 8:10 PM

    I am a wonderful fall-asleeper. Stay asleep is a whole other story. I wake up to pee. Then the brain wakes up. Oy. Worries about anything form the sniffles, bills, money, girls, the Mrs., mr t, the crazy world... you name it, it comes up. Sleep is hard to do and I wish I listened more to my mom to go to bed or take a nap--I'd do it in a heartbeat now! Sorry for the delay in commenting! I'm a week behind! #FridayFrivolity xo Have a good nights sleep!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Mother of 3June 10, 2017 at 6:22 AM

      Yeah, I find saying asleep is not nearly as it used to be when I was younger!

      Delete

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