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How hotflashes helped cure my insomnia
The Park Avenue Group Banking Blog
Up until 2 weeks ago, I was a chronic insomniac. Every night I would resort to taking some sort of pill after valiantly trying and failing to fall asleep after a good hour or two of staring up at the ceiling. Night after night I’d wake up between 2 and 3 a.m. (like clockwork) and have difficulty getting back to sleep. What is up with that?? I need to sleep! I wake up every day at 5 am to workout. I then put in anywhere from 9 to 11 hours of work a day. What’s the deal? I’m exhausted so why can’t I sleep through the night?
Then I started reading The 4 hour Body by Tim Ferris, specifically the chapter on sleeping or better put, how to get a good night’s sleep. I read with rapt attention but frankly, I’ve heard all this before – don’t exercise too late, don’t eat too late, don’t drink too much or too late, bla bla bla. But then I read about the extremes he went to, as he attempted to actually learn what was keeping him awake. He studied his habits, patterns, etc. In other words, he looked at his “routine” long enough to pick out and dissect his habits, both good and bad. From here, he made some changes that worked for him.
But as for me, I continued to toss and turn, fighting the need for external assistance (drugs) but eventually I would cave in. Then one night, a typical night, I woke up and as I’m realizing I’m gaining consciousness, I get mad. NOT AGAIN??? Really??? I just can’t believe it…. And then the hot flash started. From my core I feel a hot burning sensation, a moving wave of heat that starts in my middle and eventually hits the surface. Within second I single handedly create my own personal swimming pool right there in my bed. Oh brother. How disgusting is that? All night long it happens over and over.
There are many advantages to being older and wiser but honestly, this is not one of them. I think I get anywhere from 5 to 8 hot flashes a night. About once an hour, I wake up, realize I’m awake and then AFTER I’m awake the heat hits. Wait a minute. The hot flash wakes me up BEFORE I start sweating? You mean, my brain gets hit with the wave first and that is what is waking me up? It’s not my obsessing over work, turning every situation in to a dialogue that must be addressed right then and there, in bed? It’s also not the actual sweating part that sets me off? So, why is this important? Because it nullifies my premise of why I am not sleeping. And that was the key that turned things around.
Now, what does this have to do with recruiting? (I bet you can’t wait to hear this segue, can you?) Well, it struck me that I bet in many areas of our lives, we have habits, routines, things we just do as a matter of course and without much thought. We make assumptions about our lives and our careers. We have certain beliefs and prejudices about our friends, our family and our relationships , etc and never really stop to take a good look in the mirror as ask ourselves WHY? Is this the job I want? Really love? Am I actually doing anything to get what I want, be who I want to be, achieve goals, aspirations, etc? Really? Do we really ever challenge our assumptions, beliefs, decisions? Or like me, do you just rail against the injustice and never get out of the rut we’re in?
So, my epiphany came from learning that it was the fact that it was my hot flashes that were waking me up, not my thoughts that I could not quell. Once I realized that, it changed everything. I still wake up, but now I know what is coming. I remove the comforter, cool myself off and roll over. Done. And I do this about 5 to 8 times a night but aside from those 2 to 3 minutes, I’m sleeping. Finally. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
If you are unhappy with something in your life and not quite sure what to do about it, go back and find the root cause. It may not be the most obvious reason. Those are habits. The truth is typically buried but by digging around I’m confident you will find it and once found, you can then make choices. My choice was to sleep. J
