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Post by scotbrit on Oct 29, 2006 17:01:47 GMT -5
The doctor advises us
Does this lower my blood pressure and calm my nerves or the cats?
But I like your bedside manner.
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Post by scotbrit on Oct 29, 2006 17:19:34 GMT -5
These 8 glasses of water Doctor...
Can I mix the water with something a little stronger?
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Post by doctork on Oct 29, 2006 18:04:04 GMT -5
I'll bet it's your blood pressure that is lowered - because it would take a really really small blood pressure cuff to measure the cats' blood pressure!
As for the 8 glasses of water - I never believed in that anyway; who wants to spend all that time in the bathroom? But if you are going to drink 8 glasses of liquids, well you might as well make it something stronger. Lemonade? Tea? Or were you thinking of that single malt scotch you mentioned?
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Post by doctork on Oct 29, 2006 18:06:22 GMT -5
And Brit, I just realized that I should have purchased that bargain $438 roundtrip airfare to London. I could have made a housecall to evaluate your despair!
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Post by Trusty on Oct 29, 2006 18:53:58 GMT -5
I'm not sleeping much. Hopefully further tests this week will provide some direction in how to deal with it. Anj, go to your last post, look on the left side right under "hartlikeawheel" and above the stars next to the blue-faced dwarf. There you go. Now that you know what you are, just wait for it to happen. The jet lag is almost over.
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Post by joew on Oct 29, 2006 19:54:39 GMT -5
Definitely the water can be part of something else: soup, coffee, tea, milk, whisky, whiskey, beer, wine, cola, orange juice, oatmeal, etc.
For years I regularly got no more than 6 hours of sleep per night and functioned well, though I say it myself. Now, if I get less than six, I definitely feel tired. Who can explain it; who can tell you why?
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Post by hartlikeawheel on Oct 29, 2006 22:29:29 GMT -5
'lion! Brainwashed?
I listen to my body and it says nine hrs, Girl, if you want to be at your optimum best. I can do a six or sevener a night or two a week, but to be primo this bus that drives me around likes a good stay in the garage as often as possible.
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Post by doctork on Oct 29, 2006 23:18:11 GMT -5
Each of us has different sleep needs, and I suspect they vary over a lifetime, changing with age; and by season, as we may be inclined to sleep more during the winter when there is less light, as our ancestors did.
I spent many years being sleep deprived "back in the day" when I routinely worked 80 - 120+ hours per week. I was under the impression that I was one of those people who needed only 4 - 5 hours per night, because that is how much sleep I got. There are people like that whose sleep needs are minimal - but it is not the average.
Then I noticed that when there were no limits on how much I slept, I would sleep 7 - 8 hours a night and wake up refreshed, naturally - no alarm clock, no forcing myself out of bed when I'd rather roll over and go back to sleep.
And then various conditions caused me to quit working so much and take a more "normal" job with regular Monday - Friday hours. On occasion, a business trip with early morning meetings will cause me to get much less sleep for a few days. I feel way underpar, though I manage, and I am appalled to think that I spent years working in that condition.
Now if I feel tired, I rest - resulting in major improvements in my health. And if I feel sleepy and don't wake up in time for some non-critical meeting, I figure I needed the sleep.
As we survey the increasing prevalence of mental health disorders, I wonder if increasing sleep deprivation is a contributing factor. And if brain chemistry abnormalities derange normal sleep patterns, does that lead to escalating symptoms?
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Post by slb2 on Oct 30, 2006 1:14:37 GMT -5
I was under the impression that even lying in one's bed can be beneficial. That's not in response to you, anja, but to the idea that if one is not sleeping after 15 minutes, one should get up and try again later.
I very often lie in bed for one or two hours before sleeping. Sometimes, when I've got a really hot fantasy going--say I've just won the Pulitzer Prize or have been named the Poet Laureate--I'll stay in DizmoLand for many, many hours. Not quite sleeping, still directing my psuedo-dreams, but not up and active, either.
There's value in the prone state.
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Post by Trusty on Oct 30, 2006 12:31:35 GMT -5
Okay - back. Thought I was timing out and didn't want to lose another post! Before I got a new super-duper power supply/surge protector, I would compose my posts in Word during storms and C&P them to the thread. And, yes, I learned to do that the hard way after I lost a very long post!
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Post by doctork on Oct 30, 2006 15:37:08 GMT -5
slb2 - I agree with you that lying in bed can be beneficial, especially if one is fatigued or tired, but not sleepy. I think the recommendation to get up after 15 minutes is for those people who are trying to fall asleep, and are getting frustrated because they are not falling asleep.
Then they watch the clock and think how soon they have to get up, how bad it is they are not sleeping - and they become even more anxious and insomniac about their "failure" to fall asleep.
Once when I was an intern, I read a medical article asserting that lying quietly in bed was 80% as restful as sleep. I found it mildly reassuring, because when I was an intern on call in the hospital, I could never fall asleep, knowing that the next emergency call could come any minute, and I didn't want to be too sleepy to answer appropriately. (Silly me - interns don't know anything yet, so they are just going to ask the nurse what to do anyway!)
Now I think "real sleep" is much better than lying quietly in bed awake, at least when I am sleepy. I have some ailments that cause me fatigue, best treated with rest. If I lie down and feel better without falling asleep, then I know I was fatigued, not sleepy.
My obsession with sleep is a sign of the severe damage caused by prolonged sleep deprivation!
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Post by doctork on Oct 30, 2006 15:39:56 GMT -5
I am also paranoid about losing my electronic work. Not only do I "save" frequently, but I will often copy to my thumb drive too, just to be sure.
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Post by scotbrit on Oct 30, 2006 15:46:43 GMT -5
What's a thumb-drive?
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Post by sisterbeer on Oct 30, 2006 16:13:35 GMT -5
My obsession with sleep is a sign of the severe damage caused by prolonged sleep deprivation! Please elaborate. I suffered severe sleep apnea for years, undiagnosed. Sleep and dream deprivation to the point my regular waking conciousness merged with dream states. Now with treatment I feel in control of my faculties. What is the severe damage I may have suffered? What signs might I look out for?
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Post by sisterbeer on Oct 30, 2006 16:18:34 GMT -5
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Post by scotbrit on Oct 30, 2006 16:34:55 GMT -5
Ah!
We just call them USB thingies.
I got two for a birthday present and still can't be bothered to use them. Never had any reason to actually.
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Post by slb2 on Oct 31, 2006 0:27:25 GMT -5
I like those memory sticks for swapping my work from my pc to my laptop. Not that I'm trying to derail this thread. cough, cough
really, I'm not.
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Post by carolion on Oct 31, 2006 12:06:04 GMT -5
There are so many other states besides sleep. SLB was referring to one or several there, light trance vision-projecting/self- and life-healing states. We all use 'em.
My guage for whether or not I should get up in the middle of the night when called is, basically, is it cold? If it's cold, how long can I resist the call before surrendering to the work.....Knowing that when I do surrender I'll be in some altered state anyway and won't notice the cold.
My guage for morning wakenings is rarely an external alarm clock. Thursdays I must use one, so I set my internal "rest monitor suggestion faculty" to suggest to myself that I'll wake with plenty of energy to get to work and do a good job. That works well unless I've done a chocolate thing too late at night - it takes too long to recover equilibrium, doing that stuff in the middle of the night. But..... Anyway, in the morning if I HAVE to use an alarm, then I lie there and push the snoozalarm a couple of times or so until I can feel my soul parts that were out traveling have mostly returned. It's not safe for me to drive when I'm not present, though I hate to tell you how often I end up doing it anyway - bouts of road trance narcolepsy. Thank God for guardian angels and power animals!
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Post by Trusty on Oct 31, 2006 13:18:06 GMT -5
Not that I'm trying to derail this thread. cough, cough really, I'm not. I think this thread will survive whether asleep or awake. Did you ever eat a meal right before bedtime and notice when you woke up that your body started to digest it - and the process wasn't very comfortable? (No gas shortage here. No Sir!) Seems the body would "shut down" when asleep. The mind would be active, but the body would need the rest.
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Post by booklady on Oct 31, 2006 17:20:03 GMT -5
There are so many other states besides sleep. SLB was referring to one or several there, light trance vision-projecting/self- and life-healing states. We all use 'em. My guage for whether or not I should get up in the middle of the night when called is, basically, is it cold? If it's cold, how long can I resist the call before surrendering to the work.....Knowing that when I do surrender I'll be in some altered state anyway and won't notice the cold. My guage for morning wakenings is rarely an external alarm clock. Thursdays I must use one, so I set my internal "rest monitor suggestion faculty" to suggest to myself that I'll wake with plenty of energy to get to work and do a good job. That works well unless I've done a chocolate thing too late at night - it takes too long to recover equilibrium, doing that stuff in the middle of the night. But..... Anyway, in the morning if I HAVE to use an alarm, then I lie there and push the snoozalarm a couple of times or so until I can feel my soul parts that were out traveling have mostly returned. It's not safe for me to drive when I'm not present, though I hate to tell you how often I end up doing it anyway - bouts of road trance narcolepsy. Thank God for guardian angels and power animals! I woke up just before 4 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Thought about this thread and got up, read my mail, and then corrected papers until 6. That's exactly why I bring them home. I generally can't force myself to correct papers at night, but always have something from school to do in case I can't sleep. I miss the days when I could sleep like a teenager like I miss the days before tinitus took over my ears. Over the weekend, though, I managed to tune back in to the ability to turn over and go back to sleep, and Saturday morning I didn't get up for good until 11:30! Heaven! The weekend that Daylight Savings Time ends is always extra restful.
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Post by carolion on Oct 31, 2006 21:31:51 GMT -5
They call it tinnitis, but often what it really is, is that your telepathic abilities are being awakened, increased, adjusted. Or maybe it's tinnitis.
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Post by sisterbeer on Nov 1, 2006 5:15:07 GMT -5
Good one, 'lion.
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Post by booklady on Nov 1, 2006 5:55:19 GMT -5
They call it tinnitis, but often what it really is, is that your telepathic abilities are being awakened, increased, adjusted. Or maybe it's tinnitis. I may need telepathic abilities today to reach the kids after their night with candy.
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Post by brutus on Nov 1, 2006 6:01:54 GMT -5
Naaa, Just turn 'em loose on the playground and make 'em run around. Then, when they're good and pooped, a few laps around the gym. ~B~
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Post by booklady on Nov 1, 2006 17:38:31 GMT -5
Like I'm going to trust a red guy holding a pitchfork.
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Post by carolion on Nov 1, 2006 23:14:42 GMT -5
Oh, he's totally trustworthy, all right.
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Post by hartlikeawheel on Nov 2, 2006 1:39:38 GMT -5
Hypnagogic. That's what "they" call that dreaming-while-awake period. I love it. Suddenly the mind is freed from it's daily tether and zings around in the most absurd and delightful fashion.
I also like it because I recognize that the next stop is snoozeville.
Yet it never lasts long enough.
On the other side of the fence, coming out of a sleep, I find that state to be the best problem-solving time for me. It's not a conscious nor linear process. I just wake up with my solution. Maybe for some people that saying, "I need to sleep on it" has some truth.
Monday I slept through my very loud radio alarm for an hour and a half and was late to my Dr.s appt. Well. How could they get angry? That's why I'm going there in the first place. But there were some frowns.
Had an MRI yesterday. One of us warned me that all the pounding sounds were very unpleasant and that it was claustrophobia-producing.
But for me it was almost like white noise and I nearly fell asleep. The technician told me that some people actually begin to snore in there!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quite a tangent here. How are things with your friend and, especially you, now Suz?
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Post by slb2 on Nov 2, 2006 1:44:42 GMT -5
At the moment, I'm feeling fat from not biking today and eating Halloween candy. At least I don't eat chocolate anymore, so there's not much candy around for me to mooch.
I'm busy with writing. I've got three interviews and three articles this week. One down on each account, two more for tomorrow.
Dunno about Diane. She seemed a bit more manic last I spoke with her. It's so sad when a dear friend suddenly takes energy from me rather than gives energy to me, as she used to.
thanks for asking
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Post by liriodendron on Nov 2, 2006 9:57:30 GMT -5
I can go to bed, turn out the light and stare into the dark or I can sit here and fool around on the computer and pet the kitties. Well now, anja, there's your problem. We are far too fascinating to put you to sleep! ;D Might I suggest t.v.? Do you get the golf channel? THAT oughta do it. Seriously, I hope you are back to sleeping like a baby very soon.
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Post by liriodendron on Nov 2, 2006 10:04:40 GMT -5
Sometimes, when I've got a really hot fantasy going--say I've just won the Pulitzer Prize or have been named the Poet Laureate--I'll stay in DizmoLand for many, many hours. slb, this has to be the first time I've ever seen the phrases "hot fantasy" and "Poet Laureate" in the same sentence. However, that combination fits you perfectly.
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