Not that long ago I was speaking to a friend of mine who had been looking somewhat haggard and sleepy lately. I asked my friend if there was something the matter. He explained that he had been dealing with a lot of stress at work, and that as a result, he hadn’t been able to sleep as well at night. I’m no stranger to insomnia, and I could tell that my friend seemed to be a bit shy to open up and talk about his symptoms and what he had been experiencing.
There are a variety of myths and misconceptions that revolve around insomnia that I’d really like to put to rest, pun intended. Here are two of my favorite:
1) Younger people don’t need much sleep.
This is ridiculous. My friend isn’t THAT old, and it’s obvious that he’s not getting as much sleep as he should be. The results are as clear a day. He looks haggard. He has trouble concentrating. I even seemed to notice him stumble on his own feet while trying to get up from the sofa we were sitting on. Anyone who tells you younger people don’t need much sleep don’t know what they’re talking about, specially if the person suffers of obstructive sleep apnea
2) You can make up for lost sleep by sleeping longer the next night.
Your body needs rest every night. You can’t simply decide to stay in bed for 5 days in a row, and then stay away for 5 days. It doesn’t work like that. Likewise, you can’t really make up for lost sleep by staying in bed longer the following night. Think about it this way. You can’t purchase more gasoline than can be put into your gas tank. So if you run out of fuel, you just need to fill up the tank again. You can’t make up for the fact you ran out of fuel the previous day by trying to stuff twice as much gas into the gas tank.
I told my friend that he should try doing some deep breathing exercises before going to sleep, and to clear his mind of all thoughts. No worrying about the future, no regrets about the past. Since we last spoke, my friend told me that he’s feeling a lot better and getting more sleep, which is good!
Disclaimer: This is not a medical advise… so if you need any medical information, please visit your doctor.
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