Free Writers Critique Meeting
As a writer have you been searching for a place you can bring your material to get useful feedback? Well, welcome to the critique group.
Come and join us in a safe supportive environment where you can read your writing and get helpful feedback from other writers regarding your fiction or nonfiction journal, autobiography, articles, novella or book. We do not review pornography. New and seasoned writers welcome. We will take turns reading our writing and getting feedback from the other writers in the group.
We look forward to seeing you there!If you would like to attend pls. e-mail Laura at words2results@gmail.com with the e-mail you would like your invitation sent to.
Pls. plan on sending around 6 copies of the work you want reviewed 5 days before group, via e-mail, to the e-mail list that will be circulated before group starts so group members will be able to offer their feedback.
Questions? Comments? Call Laura Bloom (916) 251-9301
www.words2results.com Words2results@gmail.com
No registration necessary. New members welcome.
Up all night, or how I learned to deal with Insomnia.
Let me first start with a story.
Awhile ago I decided I was finally ready to have children. And then when most people were planning for their retirement; I had twins. The one criteria the hospital needed to release me, after the birth of my twins, was making sure the children could tolerate time in a car seat. They passed the car seat test and I was discharged. I knew nothing, though, about how to raise a child, much less twins. Not how to change a diaper, not how to feed a child. Nothing.
In my last trimester of pregnancy I had some insomnia and of course after the twins were born sleep, especially for longer than three hours, was hard to come by. After about a year and a half I was exhausted but also elated. The twins were finally sleeping through the night and maybe now I would finally be able to get some serious shut eye, but surprisingly I could not.
I would lay in bed all night exhausted but sleep would not come. I would get out of bed. I would do boring things and than get back into bed. I finally started playing “musical beds” and would try sleeping in various beds throughout the house. This worked, but only for a short time. My insomnia finally evolved into a very sad pattern. I would be up for two days and two nights, doze for around four hours and than be up again for two nights. This painful pattern persisted for two years. Meanwhile, I had two young children to raise. In retrospect I see those years as my “dog paddling years.” I was just trying to survive and keep my head above water.
Hang in there, it will get better.
After some of the extreme stress in my life decreased suddenly I was able to sleep. I’m still not a great sleeper but I’m better. And in the meantime I learned, the hard way, about how to manage my insomnia.
When you can’t sleep you want to begin your journey with a trip to your doctors office. As a general practice it is a good idea to consult with your healthcare provider first about any medical conditions you may be experiencing and whether these are contributing to your insomnia. You also might want to include your pharmacist in this conversation as sometimes people are unaware that a medication they are taking contributes to or even causes insomnia. Your clinician may recommend a sleep study which can determine if there are physical aspects to your sleep disorder, if so you may be referred to a doctor who specializes in sleep disorders. Most medical doctors who treat “sleep disorders” do not treat insomnia.
A lot of times sleep disorders occur alongside mental health issues; so it can be helpful to see a psychotherapist or a psychiatrist who may prescribe psychiatric medications to treat a depression or anxiety disorder. For example, after major surgery many people experience a depression and insomnia can be a symptom of depression or an individual may be experiencing the manic phase of a bipolar disorder and may not feel sleepy, and therefore may not want to go to bed; usually a psychiatrist will treat these disorders with psychotropic medications in conjunction with a psychotherapist providing counseling services.
The different types of Insomnia
There are generally three different types of insomnia: inability to initiate sleep, inability to maintain sleep and/or the tendency to wake up before your alarm. People may also cycle through all three types.
The first category is usually called delayed sleep phase disorder and is considered a little bit different than the others (this category might be similar to an individual who is a “night owl.”)
This type of insomnia may be caused by a circadian rhythm disorder and may benefit from light therapy; in addition to the recommendations listed below.
In terms of the other two categories of sleep disorders, there are a host of ideas about what one can do to improve their sleep.
Some Tips
For episodic insomnia usually people are encouraged to follow good sleep hygiene. I would also recommend avoiding sleeping pills, except for short term use.
Some good sleep hygiene recommendations are:
-Creating a bedtime routine consisting of a wind down period. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time, even on weekends.
-Make sure your bedroom is comfortable (eg, dark enough, quiet enough, the right temperature) for a good night’s sleep.
-Have a white noise machine in your bedroom or a machine that mimics relaxing sounds. A constant sound like the hum of a fan can really help to drown out both extraneous sound and any internal chatter that may be keeping you awake at night.
-Don’t exercise before bedtime, also try to stop eating about three hours before bedtime.
-Explore taking a hot bath about an hour and a half before bedtime. Changes in body temperature can help to trigger sleep.
-Use your bed only for sleep and sex. The room(s) we live in tend to become associated with the events that occur within them. So if you are on a diet and don’t want to snack between meals, get out of that kitchen. If you want to sleep better try to only associate your bed with restful sleep and sex. These associations happen quickly, tossing and turning in bed for even an hour can create this negative association so if you can’t sleep for twenty minutes or so get out of bed and engage in a relaxing or routine activity. When you become sleepy get back in bed and try again to fall asleep.
-Do not expose yourself to bright light before bedtime, this stimulates your brain into thinking it’s morning time. Most tablets and phones have a blue light option which can help to filter out the light that stimulates your brain.
-Turn your bedroom alarm clock around so it’s not facing you.
-Limit products with caffeine in them after lunch time. And remember most “brown” sodas have caffeine in them.
Additional Suggestions
Some people have found taking a therapeutic dosage of melatonin helpful for initiating sleep. Melatonin is an over the counter product which is a hormone that is secreted by the body naturally when you are sleepy.
I also recommend journaling to my clients. Write down the events of the day and how you felt on that day. On the nights that you can’t sleep are you noticing some themes in your journal? Ideally, it’s better to partner with a psychotherapist that you’ve developed a trusting relationship with to help you figure out how any of these themes might be interfering with your sleep.
Take a yoga class. Anxiety can be felt physiologically and yoga can help to stretch out your body and relieve some of the physical symptoms of stress.
The techniques of Progressive Relaxation and Meditation
If you find that it’s 4:00 am in the morning and you are still staring at that alarm clock try to:
Turn that alarm clock around.
Get out of bed.
And try progressive relaxation, deep breathing and meditation exercises. Progressive relaxation is a generic term for using guided imagery to relax yourself. For example, you might listen to a recording of a comforting, relaxing voice listing each part of your body; feeling the tension, for example, in your hands and fingers by clenching your hands into a fist and than relaxing them and noticing the difference in these two feelings. The guided imagery would than list all the parts of your body that usually experience tension, emphasizing relaxing each separate part of your body. And finally as your whole body feels more relaxed it can be easier to slip into sleep. People sometimes incorporate these recordings into their sleep routines.
Practicing meditation can also be helpful in managing your daily level of stress. Here’s how I think of meditation. When you’re anxious your mind can go skittering off in many directions. One tenant of meditation is mindfulness, being present in the here and now. Mindfulness discourages skittering off into the past and future. And meditation teaches you various techniques to lasso those thoughts and herd them together down the particular path you want them to follow. Deep breathing techniques help to make sure your body is oxygenated, which is naturally relaxing.
So now armed with your new techniques get back in bed and practice them. Take a deep breath in and watch as your diaphragm expands (place your hand on your stomach, if your hand raises your diaphragm is expanding,) slowly breathe out of your nose while simultaneously counting up from one slowly. If you find yourself doing anything besides focusing on your breathing and your counting, bring your mind back to taking deep breaths in, breathing out through your nose, and start counting again. Develop your own relaxation techniques and teach that pesky mind of yours that when you do your deep breathing exercises the only activity that you want to follow is a long, restful nights sleep.
CBT-I and Sleep Restriction
A current trend in the treatment of insomnia is to see a technician or ideally a clinician that incorporates the techniques of CBT-I into their treatment regime. CBT-I stands for Cognitive Behavior Therapy and the “I” stands for Insomnia. CBT therapy may or may not include medication in the treatment, depending on whether the treating clinician views this as indicated. CBT encourages the client to examine how their thoughts affect their mood and tends to include assignments and homework. Also, these clinicians may incorporate sleep restriction interventions along with assignments into their treatment for insomnia.
Insomnia can become something we manage for life but as I’ve become better acquainted with my particular type of insomnia I’ve developed insight into my relationship with sleep and I have become better at identifying what triggers my insomnia and have developed strategies for managing my sleep. All of these techniques have not lead to a happily ever after finale to my story but they have certainly helped in my finding a better than usual ending to my sleep disorder.
