Parenting 101 (Post CAO) : Sleep

[MagicJ]

A tough nut to crack.

Any disruption to your usual routine, environment, or generally stress and anxiety can impact a humans ability to sleep properly.

Adults can force themselves, sometimes with difficulty, back into proper sleeping routines but children will find this significantly harder without a parents firm yet gentle guidance.

What are your experiences post CAO?

 

[Ash]

I had insomnia badly during my main court case until after final hearing. Didn't have a problem sleeping after that.

 

[bujanin]

I have to be clear if i get up for the toilet I keep my mind clear and don't get tugged into thinking about the nonsense otherwise it'll take me ages to get back to sleep. The whole process has aged me.

 

[Ash]

Temporarily. You'll bounce back when it's over.

 

[MagicJ]

I have to be clear if i get up for the toilet I keep my mind clear and don't get tugged into thinking about the nonsense otherwise it'll take me ages to get back to sleep. The whole process has aged me.

During my CAO journey, through the hardest times I found focussing on managing my sleep a challenging & rewarding experience.
Learning to listen to your body, when to rest, when not to push yourself past limits as I used to do was a skill that is honed by trial & error.

I did exactly as you have done @bujanin , meditation & breathing exercise at bedtime, regulating my eating & tweaking my sleep times.
After several weeks of constantly practice, a number of failures, you can eventually train your body get the rest it needs.

The sacrifice you make are the hours you usually eek out to spend burning the midnight oil working on case related tasks.
Having said that, I did do that as well but compensated afterwards with slightly longer regulated sleep.

It will come, as you are already doing, through awareness of your own thoughts & body and slowly building discipline into them - keep at it!

 

[Resolute]

MagicJ gives excellent advice above. A solution through sleep hygiene and healthy routines is always the best way out of a bad sleep cycle. At two points in the last 4 years I got into such a negative cycle I could not manage things myself. Both times I was prescribed zopiclone for a few weeks, just a half dose. It worked miracles. You still have to do the stuff Mj describes, medication is not a long term solution. Zopiclone got me to the start line when I felt ready to break.

 

[Rachel997]

I hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread but this stuff is my bread and butter.
sleep hygiene is personal to you and can take a bit of trial and error but its worth finding out what's right for you.
I would recommend the following sleep hygiene advice

Sleeping well | Royal College of Psychiatrists

If you have trouble sleeping - or know someone who has - this information may be helpful.

www.rcpsych.ac.uk

over the counter (pharmacy only) medication that can help is promethazine - its an antihistamine but can be really helpful with short term sleep problems.
if you are finding your head full of everything - white noise can be helpful. Spotify has 8 hour audio of rain fall or waves and that can be really good to relax to. have a look at a tinnitus pillow - this will play audio through a speaker in the pillow and can be helpful when trying to fall asleep.
meditation is great and the breathing techniques are brilliant. look for something called diaphragmatic breathing - this will help your body enter a more relaxed state when feeling stressed.
But as Resolute says the GP can be a great source of help and can prescribe meds that will help reset.

 

[Resolute]

Thank you for jumping on Rachel, more great info.

You reminded me of Sleepio, free online cbt based sleep help.

I haven't used it yet, but its nhs endorsed so probably worth a shot.

 

[bujanin]

It's a little off topic but having being allowed my child back in my life - even though it's not much or often - the total joy of falling asleep with them in my arm having read a story is indescribable. Then waking up with a dead arm a few hours later

 

[MagicJ]

This is all great info, the thread is open to all and was designed to stimulate exactly the conversation above for both parents and their children.

I wasn't aware at the medical options for short term sleep hygiene issues, that's good information!

I've found the spotify playlists and a few other sleep apps helpful as well.

I'd note that I used the data generated by my fitbit incredibly useful alto incrementally fine tune my sleep patterns - what you feel doesn't always match the data but you get to see the various components of your sleep and can pickup patterns that lead to a consistency between the data and your restfulness! 🖥 ️

@bujanin , so glad youre getting those opportunities!

children are highly adaptable and also sensitive to a parents reaction, so your warmth and love in those situations will immensely strengthen your joint bond!

Watch out for the drool!

 

[Bill]

It's a little off topic but having being allowed my child back in my life - even though it's not much or often - the total joy of falling asleep with them in my arm having read a story is indescribable. Then waking up with a dead arm a few hours later

So nice to hear, I miss this so much even with the dead arms