Sleep
October 01, 2006
Sleep is my hardest area to be compliant. I've ALWAYS had sleep issues.
Some are genetic/environmental. My father's family has not been good sleepers, and my mother says I've always had problems with sleep. Part of the problem, I believe is that it was considered a treat to be able to stay up with my father.
Other item that leads to that was my choice of profession -- I became a maintenance programmer, and I was on call literally 24/7. The only way I got off call was to go out of town -- and even then I would often get calls. It was not unheard of for me to get a call at 2:00 in the morning, go in and then stay at work until quitting time the next day.
My medical team has conjected that my sleep apnea was caused by an automobile accident when I was 20. If so, I went over 15 years without being treated for sleep apnea. I would often wake up in worse shape than I went to bed, so I often decided to not sleep, as what was the point. Before being treated for my sleep apnea, I would typically sleep 2-4 hours a night.
That has changed since I got my CPAP machine. I checked this morning, and I have logged an average of over 8 hours a night on my machine over the past 30 days. I still have trouble going to sleep, often have trouble getting to sleep, and even worse, have touble staying asleep. Then when it is time to get up, it's hard to wake up.
This is something I would really like to fix. The Requip helps, the CPAP machine helps, and eating sugar before I got to bed helps. Few other things help significantly.
I do know the better my sleep, the better my blood sugar, and the better my eating habits.
I do try to keep my sleep as stable as possible.