Insomnia

I’ve been dealing with a bout of insomnia for the past month or so. I just can’t get myself to sleep until around 4-5 am every single night. On occassion I’ve been up until 6 am. On weekends I can at least sleep in and get a bit more sleep but on weekdays I obviously have to get up and work. This is making me really tired during the day and I can notice black areas under my eyes. My glasses kind of mask it but without glasses it’s kind of noticeable. Just not really a healthy look.

Thing is a lot of people get by okay with 4-5 hours of sleep but I need 8-10 hours (preferably 10 hours) of sleep to feel 100%. That’s just how it’s always been for me. Over the years my body has made it clear that it wants 10 hours of sleep a night. So sleeping so little over a long period like this is getting pretty draining. And it’s hard to concentrate or feel motivated to do work when you feel sluggish.

I’ve been trying to get myself to bed earlier every night on a gradual scale (5am, 4am, 3am, etc.) but then I’ll either have trouble falling asleep or the next day I’ll jump right back to 5am. I don’t know a lot about the causes of insomnia but I do get periodic bouts of it 3 to 4 times a year. I think it’s mostly psychological. It’s cold now but I’m thinking about keeping up with jogging at the park; maybe if I tire out my body more it’ll be easier to fall asleep at night.