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Adjusting To My Sleeping Disorder

12.16.13
Adjusting To My Sleeping Disorder

I only sleep a couple hours a night, but I’m never tired. I am what you would call a high-functioning insomniac.

I’ve tried everything to help me get to sleep: doctor visits, a sleep study in the hospital and even hypnotherapy. I was prescribed medicine even though nothing was medically wrong with me. I simply cannot sleep. I remember my parents staring at me in disbelief after a prescription sleeping pill had absolutely no effect.

Since then I’ve created rituals for myself before going to bed. I make a cup of Sleepytime tea and then proceed to lay in bed  for as long as it takes, sometimes doing breathing and relaxation exercises. I still feel like I benefit from this nightly form of restoration even though it  isn’t sleep.

I fear that when I go to college next year my irregular sleeping habits will bother the people around me. More importantly though, I’m concerned  that a lifetime of sleepless nights will cause serious health consequences. But with my hectic schedule and college applications due, my sleeping problem is the least of my worries.

And at 3 am while my peers are sleeping, I’m getting work done.

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