I'm sure just about everyone has experienced insomnia at some point in their lives. Yes, it's pretty miserable if you ask me. Typically I have no trouble sleeping, just ask my wife, but this morning I started to believe that the clock is my nemesis this morning! However in reality it's that thing between my ears that just won't seem to shut off. The good news is that there are a lot of powerful strategies out there that may help us avoid becoming a zombie. Since I'm not officially a sleep expert I won't get into the nitty-gritty research on this stuff, instead I'll try and keep it simple.
One idea that has gained some pretty good traction over the past several years is that as a society for the most part we are mentally exhausted, physically however...yeah not so much exhaustion going on it that department! This simply attests to all that physical activity the average American isn't getting. We see this example all the time- An individual with a mentally high stress job/life who at the same time has a low stress life physically. They get home at the end of a long and stressful day and feel exhausted. They feel as though there's no possible way they could get some physical activity in with how tired they are. However, when they try and go to sleep what happens? That's right...they don't sleep. Instead they lay awake watching the paint peeling from the ceiling.
So why the heck can't I sleep when normally I could probably sleep through a bomb going off? This isn't an official diagnosis, but I think it probably has a lot to do with it. Here's a little insight...over the past 2 weeks my workouts have gone from consistent to zilch. While at the same time the mental stress has probably gone up a little (I'm getting the feeling that trying to sell a house in the current times has a way of doing that to people). There you have it...the recipe for nice helping of insomnia- a body and mind that are out of sync.
So the key is to get my butt in gear and come up with some activity that's not limited by a knee that's not 100%- cycling and walking seems to be a good fit. Another key is to practice being mindful, something most of us could always use a little more of I think. If you need a little help in doing so, here's a little excerpt from the "Recover" section of this months Pro-Activity Newsletter "Thrive".
Enough insomnia already...time to get out for a walk and to practice being mindful. I'll let you know how it goes.
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