Insomnia

I was bragging to a friend the other day on how easy it is for me to sleep at night. (She was telling me that she's battling some unexplained insomnia.) It's one of the things I do best, in fact. My body seems to be highly calibrated to excellent sleep rhythms. Rarely do I turn off my bedside lamp and lay awake for more than a minute. In fact, I'm usually asleep within seconds. Honest! (I'll offer up witnesses if need be.)

The past few nights, however, I've suffered some horribly restless evenings. Falling asleep isn't usually the problem; staying asleep is another story. I'm usually waking about 30 minutes after the initial fall into slumber, and struggle to get comfortable again to enter back into blissful sleep. And then I'll wake several times during the night, including early in the morning. (Normally I love to awake early, but not when I've been tossing and turning for much of the evening.) Since I'm not accustomed to this insomniac state, I'm not always sure what I should do. For example, do I pull out a book and read? Do I just lie there and do my best to fall back asleep (by counting sheep or some other method)? Do I get up and watch tv? It's an unusual thing for me to encounter.

More important, is there a reason for this period of sort-of insomnia? (I'll admit that this is minor insomnia, compared to some of the horror stories I've heard from others.) After all, I'm still in a good state of mind. I continue to be positive and upbeat. Sure, I'm a mite lonely, but it's hardly abject or crippling by any stretch. (I've even started to sleep with my second pillow in a "hug" position, to approximate where a woman might be - hey, I'll try anything!) I'm not experiencing heavy stress. 'Tis confusing.

Anyway off to bed and (hopefully) a full night of uninterrupted sleep.