Life Begins at 62

My life has gotten out of control.   Actually from a long time ago, but I really want to (re-)start a concerted effort to make things better.  After all, at 62, there are fewer years ahead than there have passed by and in addition to everything else, my health decline seems to be picking up speed.

So I saw this Facebook ad for a journaling practice from Silk and Sonder, and signed up.  You get a monthly workbook with a theme and various planner calendars, habit trackers, etc.  I'll elaborate on that as time goes on.  There is also an app and discussion groups, which I have found to be most supportive and helpful.

My first workbook is for March, but it came today.  The older I get the more impatient I become, and it's going to be a long half-month.  Luckily I can get in on everything on the app, and the discussions and the socials and trainings.

In face this blog came about as a way to record my thoughts as I go through the various practices and as my journal.  It's safer because our house has a way of turning new things old and distressed very quickly, so I really have no place to safely store a hard copy.

I signed up for 7 days of journaling prompts via email and the first one arrived earlier this evening:

"What is one thing you (I) could do to take better care of your- (my)self? How can you (I) add it to my daily routine?"

Well, my sleep has no pattern whatsoever.  I have had one night of good sleep that lasted more than 4 hours last week - and that has been once in at least a year.  Usually I sleep a couple of hours, then cannot sleep at all for a couple of hours, and the cycle repeats itself.

I need to get a regular sleep habit.  I would like to have a 'bedtime' (2nd childhood, maybe *LOL*)  of around 9 or 10 pm and get up at 5 or 6am.  Chris usually leaves around 9 to help his Dad, and usually only one of the kids is up (maybe before)then so it would give me some good solo time to work on self-care.  I don't know if I can get to a 7+ hour stretch of sleep per night but just getting to some kind of schedule would be an improvement, and would help moods, energy and general health.

Due to the addition of arthritis and lupus diagnoses I have recently added 3 or four new medications to my daily regimen.  Several I was already taking have a side effect of dizziness or drowsiness.  It was embarrassing not to be able to stop yawning during Sunday morning and Tuesday evening meetings.  But a new side effect has been causing me more trouble than ever: nightmares or night terrors.  At least 2-3 times per week, my family have to wake me up because I become very agitated during my sleep and speak out loudly (with no memory of it after I wake).  Worse still, a couple of nights ago, I woke up screaming 'help me!', 'help me!'.  The whole family ran to the room, very concerned.  

Yes, I have an appointment with my PC a week from tomorrow to discuss these interactions, side effects, and how to manage them, because I really cannot continue as this.

I'm not going to push for one big change to optimal sleep, but start with just recording when I do sleep to see if there are any patterns.  Then I can decide (with the doctor's partnership) how best to change the quality and quantity of sleep I get each day.

Any constructive suggestions or tips you may have found useful in this regard would be greatly appreciated.