Insomnia

"Бессоница. Гомер. Тугие паруса,
Я список кораблей прочел до середины.
Сей длинный выводок, сей поезд журавлиный,
Что над Элладаю когда-то поднялся."
Осип Мандельштам

"Insomnia. Homer. Taut sails.
I've read through half the list of ships :
The spun-out brood, this train of cranes,
That once ascended over Hellas."
Osip Mandelstam

It sounds so much more romantic in poetry.

Let me introduce you to an old friend of mine - Insomnia. (Insomnia - Insomnia (latin origins) = in- (expressing negation)  + somnus  (sleep). 

I am pretty sure it is familiar to many people and in the mayhem caused by COVID -19 it probably  had an opportunity to introduce itself to many others.

Our acquaintance goes back, way back. By now we establish a certain decorum, it comes and stays whenever it likes and I, for the most part, treat it with patience, making sure nevertheless that it will not become too comfortable. There is no an open hostility between us. When it makes its appearance I just get out of bed, and occupy myself with something until it bids its adieu. 

 But for  the past three weeks though I have been waking up in the middle of the night somewhere between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning and not able to fall back to sleep  until  five or five thirty  (which is very fatiguing and slightly ironic - since five thirty used to be my favourite time to greet a new day). Needless to say that such broken pattern makes one tired and devoid of energy. There has been an occasional night here and there where I slept from the moment of going to bed until four, which compare to the above, suits me just fine, but it has been a rare occurrence.

 In order to prolong the sleeping time I tried:

• Cutting back on caffeine and sweets
• Taking supplements and sleeping aid
• Stop screen time at least an hour and a half before going to bed
• Going to bed early
• Going to bed late
• Eating dinner earlier
• Meditation/Qigong/breathing/Self-massage/Reiki - those are in  my regular routine, but listed  here as a middle of the night additions

Nothing helped. 

 So, here is a new plan. Next time I will wake up at my "regular hour" I will pretend that it is my normal waking time.  I will get up, do my morning ablutions, do my exercises, and then do the activities that can be done without disturbing my husband or my neighbors.  Activities that require a lot of brain power like memorizing Italian verbs conjugation or doing grammar exercises are not to be done as well.

 The list of insomnia approved activities looks like that:

• Drawing
• Writing
• Reading (on Kindle or paper)
• Audio Books
• Listening to Music
• Scrabble
• Sudoku
• Duolingo
• Masks/Skin care/Manicure, etc.

Wish me luck and we will see how it will go.