I am a terrible sleeper and I can remember my mother bitterly complaining to me about it when she was in her sixties. I retorted (probably quite smugly) that one needs less sleep as one ages and it is entirely natural, blah blah. Oh, how those words have come back to haunt me!
I know not to have electronic devices in the bedroom or to use them for 30-60 minutes before retiring. I know about sleep hygiene (being in daylight for enough hours/don't nap during the day/have good bed-routines etc., and cut out caffeine after 7.00pm for a midnight bedtime) and practice it all but nothing works.
Well, drugs do - sometimes! Like Marmight, an antihistamine does make me sleepy and this sometimes helps me nod off but not always.
I decided some years ago not to let define my sleep and that I would not worry about it but daily (nightly?) being awake for many hours does define me as I drag myself around for some of the day!
My DH tells me that I am probably asleep when I think I am awake, so I have asked for a 'Fitbit' thingy which tracks sleep (based on heartbeats, apparently) from Santa - just to see who is correct!
Perhaps I should do as grandMattie does, and take a nap midway through the day. Although problem here is that it takes me hours to drop off to sleep (I can still remember all the little beds being put out in infant school and all the children trailing in for their afternoon nap. I lay there looking around as everyone else slept, only to be rudely woken up just as I nodded off!).
Oh, I do read before turning the light off but this doesn't help much either. I shall just go off and shoot myself!
