Sleep Study: The Results

The sleep study results are in. For a little background information, I have had trouble sleeping for the past 15 years. It started in highschool. I would wake up often in one night's sleep. This has continued through the years. Some nights I wake up 4-5 times, other nights its double that. This leaves my body feeling fatigued, my emotions are snappy and easily set off. The everyday pace of life can seem daunting. Now to the results. I do NOT have sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, low oxygen levels, or snoring problems. That is the good part according to the clinic. However, they see horrible sleep architecture. Everyone while asleep goes through several phases of sleep. This starts off in a light sleep phase, progresses to a deep sleep phase (the most important), and then moves into the REM sleep or dream phase. A person will cycle through this many times in one night. According to the doctor the normal person will spend around 50 % of their total sleep time in the deep and REM stages of sleep. My total was less than 15 % and the majority of that 15 % was spent in REM not the deep sleep stage which is so crucial to restorative sleep for ones body. According to the doctor I am somehow skipping the deep phase of sleep and moving from the lighter stages into the REM stage where I then wake up. This is not good!!Its why I feel like a mac truck has hit me everyday. Now for my reactions to the study. One the positive side I feel validated. There is a reason I feel like I do and it is not in my head. I havn't somehow mentally convinced myself I am sleeping bad..I really am. There is relief in knowing you are not crazy. THe downside is that the doctor told me on the phone that they are baffled. Usually someone that has such poor sleep architecture will have one of the above mentioned problems that I don't have.

Where to go from here. I have an appointment with the neurologist at the end of the month. I know they want to run some more tests to rule out other health issues that could be causing this. After that I am not sure what the treatment options will be.

I don't want to pop a pill. And I am making small steps to better my nutrition, cut out sugar, caffeine has obviousley been cut out and to increase my exercise. (This is on hold due to an injury but will hopefully be going full force soon. I am going to seek my chiropractor's advice as well as look into a really good vitamin supplement. With that said if I can take some type of medication Temporarily! to help me until the above mentioned things start helping I will. And I'm going to pray.

Sleep affects everything. It affects your attitude, your ability to function well, it affects your memory, your performance, your mood. Lack of sleep makes everything more overwhelming than it really is. Lack of sleep makes it dangerous to drive, kills another kind of "drive", and makes one more prone to temptation and sin. Lack of sleep can even lead to major health problems. Lack of sleep is dangerous.

I know that God is aware of my sleep problems. I know that He has forgiven the sins that I give into so easily with little to no sleep. I need to believe more that He cares enough about me to help me.
I wish I had some great words of wisdom that related to this. This sweet lady named Ali in GA writes so well about life and somehow manages to see God's gentle reminders in all of it. Right now I guess I'm all out of wisdom. I have no answers and at this point I don't really know why God has allowed this to go on the way it has. I pray God gives me a spirit of obedience, a spirit of perserverance, and a spirit of hope. I need all of these things to get through this.

I know this post has little to do with school so thanks for bearing with me.

Sheryl