Sleep/Insomnia Question...

[usernamenumber]

I remember realizing in... I think it was high school, that this was a pattern. It's always Spring when I get this particular kind of insomnia the worst. It's not just that I don't sleep, I'm wired, at least physically, all night, no matter how much sleep I've gotten and how tired I should be. This week I've had about 14 hours of sleep since Monday morning.

I always have occasional bouts of not being able to sleep when I try to go to bed, but they always seem to become the most chronic during the springtime.

So my question is: has anyone else experienced this? Anyone have insights into what could be the cause? My diet doesn't change much throughout the year, and I've experienced this while living all over the country... the only thing unique to Spring that M and I could think of was the extra sunlight, like some kind of reverse seasonal affective disorder (which I've sometimes thought of myself as having, since eventually the insomnia makes me more prone to depression). Idunno. Thoughts?

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Could it be related to increased sun dose, either during the day or at night/dawn? I know that will harshly disrupt my sleep patterns. And for me it gets ugly around May 1st, when sunrise comes really early...

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

The increased sunlight seems like a possibility. I wonder what would happen if you used a light box during winter. Not that you want to bring on insomnia, but it might give you more data.

It could also be the changes in atmospheric pressure--do you notice any change with rain vs. sun?

And just because it's what I think when people notice spring symptoms, I wonder if there's some way that it's allergies. Or, now that I think of it, hormone fluctuation.

[dot_fennel]

Maybe a dumb question: Have you tried a sleep mask? Increasing light makes me wake up earlier (though it doesn't keep me from getting to sleep in the first place) and sleep masks definitely help.

[sandrylene.livejournal.com]

So I've had pretty much this exact experience for the past three or four days, except I know what's causing it, kind of - my throat has swollen, which means I really particularly can't breathe well when lying down. All my "sleep" pretty much has involved very high energy dreams incorporating real world movement a whole bunch and semi-constant panic and fixation on my breathing. It seems like my body is too panicked to allow itself to go into any sort of deep sleep at all. On Wednesday morning at 5 am after not falling asleep at all the entire night I was definitely mentally fatigued to a point where I was beginning to question if I was hallucinating, but it wasn't until some drugs kicked in that decreased swelling in my throat about an hour later that I was able to get past my body's extreme unwillingness to head for unconsciousness.

So uh. Not sure if allergies have any sort of effect on you that might lead to that sort of thing, or in fact if it should all be irrelevant due to CPAP, but my two cents on how that's looked in my life this week.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Like others my first thoughts were "it probably is the increased sunlight" followed by and/or "maybe allergies." In your current place and all the places you've lived, how much sunlight gets in? I've noticed pretty significantly different sleep patterns in apartments that get a ton of sunlight (my current one) and apartments that didn't.

In my case, since I don't have insomnia, being exposed to more sunlight can be a good thing because it helps me adjust from my natural night-owl schedule to a more normal one. But I need to be in control of it. If I've been up late working, I have to be careful to shield myself from sunlight in the morning or else I'll end up getting a lot less total sleep than I need. If your body's natural impulses (insomniac as they may be) and the sun are at war with each other, I can see how it could create havoc.

I don't use a sleep mask because I'm able to turn the bedroom into a sun-shielded cave, but a sleep mask isn't a bad substitute for that. Maybe you're extra-sensitive to the effects and need, like, light-blocking curtains.

And, yeah, apparently allergies aren't always obvious in how they present. Every time someone mentioned allergies to me I'd say "Gosh I'm glad I don't have to deal with that" until I went to an allergist one spring for food allergies, and he took a look in my nose and diagnosed acute allergic rhinitis.

Lastly, if you tend to be on the computer late at night, I suggest using this software to change your computer's light to a less stimulating yellow glow: http://stereopsis.com/flux/

[laurion]

Plausibly a combination of the lengthening days and the shift of an hour when we entered EDT. I know that hour shift throws me for weeks even if I'm not getting insomnia.

[freetobeme18.livejournal.com]

Yes, I definitely do experience this, and you're probably right about the reverse seasonal affective disorder theory. I'm bipolar, and I know most bipolar folk tend to get depressed in winter and manic (or hypomanic) in spring, which leads to insomnia. Even people without bipolar can experience springtime hypomania and associated insomnia, just as people without bipolar or depression or SAD can still get depressed in the winter (it's just a matter of degrees). If you struggle with insomnia ordinarily, you'd be more sensitive to changes like this that can cause insomnia for some.

[real-green-tea.livejournal.com]

Echo re: differential diagnosis on bipolar if you haven't already.

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it is a mild form of pollen allergy. The increase of pollen in the air interfering with your breathing just enough to interfere with falling asleep?