A way that I like to describe insomnia is that it is like your body forgot how to sleep. One night you go to bed and all of sudden you can’t fall asleep. It is like you are all prepared to go for a swim and suddenly you are standing in front of the pool and you have forgotten how to swim. You have prepared everything but why can’t you do it? Well, insomnia is just that irrational. A whole day’s of toil should exchange for a well-rested night, but instead all you get is restlessness.
Or sometimes, you are drifting into sleep but for some reason your body decides to twitch or feel the need to wake you up. Waves of sleepiness keep coming and going; for a while you are excited, “This is it! I think I’ll fall asleep”, but after while that wave disappears and you feel restless again. You toss and turn but you can’t seem to stay in one position for too long— no position seems to feels right. It is like the whole world is trying to stop you from falling asleep; neither your bed nor your body seems to want you to have your well-deserved rest. Well, no wonder you feel restless— I mean, this is so frustrating!
If you are lucky, you usually end up falling asleep without knowing how or when you did it. Regarding this I have an interesting story to share. One time when I had insomnia, I fell asleep and woke up a few hours later. As I am a light sleeper, I have the habit of sleeping with ear plugs on. I didn’t know when and how I fell asleep but when I woke up I realized that my ear plugs have fallen off. I searched frantically for them— under my pillow, around me, under my blankets. When I found them they were placed neatly on the side of my bed, which is where I usually have them when I don’t wear them. I don’t know what happened but I must have taken them off subconsciously. I have already fallen asleep but I can still take off my ear plugs. Sleep is weird in the sense that some part of your brain needs it but the rest can still function. I guess that is why we have dreams.
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