Posts Tagged ‘sleep’

When I dream, I don’t sleep well

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
10 December 2015
0

Every now and then I’ll remember a dream. It’s a pretty rare occurrence that I do not try to encourage.

Whereas many people seem to enjoy remembering a dream, or at least find my wacky ones interesting, I always hope that I can wake up with no memory of my mind’s nighttime escapades. It’s not that I don’t like remembering the dreams (though sometimes they are a bit nightmarish) – it’s just that it always seems to happen when I’m not sleeping well. So whether I dreamt because I didn’t sleep well or I didn’t feel like I slept well because I dreamt, it’s just not a good combo.

It started in my first year of college, when I decided to start writing down my dreams. I rarely remembered them, so it was pretty cool when I could. Not surprising, the more I wrote about them, the more I remembered them. It went pretty much as I expected. What I did not expect was the sheer exhaustion and lack of energy I felt from those endeavors. I was completely drained when I woke up and it only got worse. I had never noticed it because of the infrequency, but once I started to consistently wake up remembering my dreams, I quickly noticed that it was not good for my sleep.

So I stopped.

Now I’ve gone back to remembering perhaps a dream or two a year, and I like to keep it that way. For all the fantastical things that are happening in my mind at night, none of that is worth waking up unable to stay awake and function throughout the day. I’ll keep my dreams in lala land, thank you very much.

Do you have this problem too? Or do you recall your dreams with no effect of your awake life?

Off-kilter

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , ,
05 May 2014
0

What do you do when you drive home with an insane headache? Why, crash in bed as soon as possible, of course.

Somewhere between being tired and having a mild headache, I found myself with a pain in my head that is rather inexplicable. It’s not your normal headache. It was a pain in my head that hurt without feeling like a headache. I think the pain starts near my eyes and radiates out my temples. I’m not really sure, but I drove home pretty much like a zombie (and the freakin’ traffic took a 25-30 min drive and made it an hour, oh joy). When I got home, Panda was still in bed since he’s working the night shift. I joined him and before I knew it, I crashed into oblivion.

It was just what I needed, that nap. The thunder started rumbling right before I drifted off and the gentle pitter patter of the rain sang me to sleep. Two hours later, Panda was getting ready to leave for work and I woke up far more clear-headed than when I arrived home. I’ve had some dinner and I’m ready to see if I can get right back to sleep again after that. I’ve been having trouble focusing and I get bouts of exhaustion that I can’t explain. I mean, I spent the whole weekend recouping! Why am I still strangely out of it?

Here’s to hoping extra rest is the answer.

Good Friday

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , ,
18 April 2014
0

Last night was the first time in a long while that I actually fell asleep unintentionally. I woke up at 2 something in the morning to find the lights still on, my laptop running, and the cat dozing away. I thought about getting in a blog post, but that required too much effort to wake up from a fog, so I turned off the lights and settled back to sleep. I’m pretty sure I had a dream in a world that I’d dreamed of before. It was like a hybrid of SF and Georgetown and (much like last time) parts of it were flooded. I even recall a house that I’d admired last time. This time I decided to sneak in with Panda and another friend (I think it might have been Ninja) to check it out.

Such was my exhausted state of mind last night, so I’m very glad that we get today off. I’ve got to say, I’ve never had Good Friday off (nor have I had Earth Day, which I also get this year). It’s quite nice and I hadn’t realized how much I was trying to cram in before my long weekend (I’m taking Monday since Earth Day is Tuesday, so I get 5 days!). I guess it all caught up to me last night as I finally got a chance to decompress from it all. It’s also the perfect time for me to be able to go pick up my volunteer badge for the Smithsonian. Their security office is only open weekdays so I haven’t had time to go all the way out to DC to get my badge.

I’m also looking forward to swinging by a macaroon shop that closed before Panda and I could go buy anything last time. I might just get some Georgetown Cupcakes or Sprinkles too.

365great Day 337: Sleep Cycle

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: , , ,
14 February 2014
0

365great day 337: sleep cycleI came across this app years ago and used it to wake up easier. Then it fell to the wayside and I forgot about it. More recently, I found myself struggling to wake up refreshed, so I decided to give it a try again. I find it to be quite effective! You basically leave it on your bed so it can use your phone’s gyroscope to determine how much you’re moving around. That’s a general indicator of the type of sleep you’re getting (the deeper the sleep, the less you move). Come morning, you give it a time frame that you want to wake up in, usually a 20-minute period. Within that time, it will start the alarm at a time when you’re most receptive to waking up, which is when you’re coming out of deep sleep and in lighter sleep. Since I started using it again a few weeks ago, I’ve actually begun to wake up before the alarm and I don’t have such a miserable time dragging myself out of bed. What a useful app this is! And it’s super interesting to see my sleep pattern over time. Best of all, waking up refreshed? That’s great.

Sleep-doing

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
06 November 2013
0

I’m often amazed at how functional I can manage to be even when my mind has practically shut down. I can drive, write, and have conversations… and then I don’t remember what happened later. Have you had that happen to you? Last night I was in quite a bit of pain from my back and Panda was massaging me when I drifted off. I was so warm and I was relaxing enough to fall asleep without realizing it. Panda even had a conversation with me before noticing I was asleep. I then woke up a few hours later and finished off my blogging for the night, but I barely recall what happened. How I managed to write about sailing coherently is a mystery to me.

Similarly, there have been times that I’ve driven home when utterly exhausted only to find myself pulling into the driveway with no recollection of how I drove there. Maybe I used all my brain power to do the driving so I had no room to store the memory? Whatever the case, I’m glad I haven’t had that happen to me lately. I’m sure my reaction time would be awful if anything were to get in my way, so it’s a total recipe for disaster. When it gets to that point, I think a quick 10-minute nap can be a useful refresher. Of course in our world of go, go, go, it’s hard to take that time to take care of yourself. I was meeting with someone once and he hadn’t gotten enough rest, so I could see him zoning out and even dozing off as we spoke. Poor guy really needed to just catch a few minutes of rest!

So are you like that too, pushing forward until your body and mind just give out on you? Or do you ensure to get breaks when you need them?

365great Day 215: sleep

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: , , , , , ,
15 October 2013
0

365great day 215: sleepI haven’t been getting the best rest lately and I really treasure my sleep. I keep trying to get to bed early (midnight) but somehow an hour slips by without me noticing. It’s been harder and harder to get up in the morning and I don’t know if it’s because I need more sleep or if I might even be getting too much? It might also be that my timing is off, since I tend to wake up about an hour to half an hour before I get up, so waking up again makes me feel worse. Whatever the case, sleep is one of those things that most people don’t get enough of and something I’d certainly like more of. If only we could all sleep like cats, whenever, wherever, however… just look at Missy, who doesn’t mind if she’s all twisted, if it’s super hot/stifling, if the lights are on or noise is blaring. She can sleep no matter the situation. When I was self-employed, I got a ton of rest at just the times I needed. I think sleeping 1-7 is a lot less restful for me than sleeping 4-10, even if time-wise it’s identical. Too bad getting up at 10 means I won’t arrive at work until 11, which is rather late. So here’s to sleep, which is great when you can get it!

September Favorites 2013

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
12 October 2013
2

collage of september 2013 favorites including kia optima car, kashi hummus crisps, mascara and eyelash curler, edinburgh castle, teavana perfectea tea brewer, sherpa blanket, dunkin donuts iced tea, bathtub with bath salts, biba purse clutch purse, walking trail, and sugar scrub

1. Kia Optima – I love my new car. Every time I go to drive it, I smile a little. The dual moonroof, the heated steering wheel and seats, the keyless entry, and the maneuverability are just some of the features that make it a pleasure to drive. I love the little touches too, like when the lights turn on inside when I get close to it at night. It’s like a nice little greeting, welcoming me back to the car and making me feel safer by showing me the inside is a-okay. I’m having a lot of fun with my car and I know I’ll be enjoying it for many years to come.

2. Kashi hummus crisps – This bag shown was sent to me for free by BzzAgent. I also got smaller ones of a different flavor from Goodies and I’ve gobbled all of them up. I like how they’re so crisp and light – none of that greasiness from normal chips, but still the same kind of crunchy satisfaction. I enjoy the flavor a lot too, which is mild and makes me keep eating more. It also feels like a healthier snack in general, so there’s less of a guilt component to chomping on them.

3. mascara & eyelash curler – I started to use a bit of mascara when I started to work since I want to look presentable and not like I just rolled out of bed. It’s been fun to do a little more than wash my face and put on lotion or BB cream. At first I was trying the Pixi mascara from the August Ipsy bag, but it’d leave me with darker under-eyes by the end of the day. I needed something that could withstand the heavy rubbing I tend to do without realizing. I’m used to touching my face and not worrying about stuff coming off or getting things dirty, so using makeup is not my forte. It’ll usually end up smeared all over the place over the course of the day, which is no bueno. Then came the September Ipsy bag, which had an It’s So Big mascara that I tested and found to be much better! It stuck to my eyelashes like it grew there naturally so now I don’t have to remember to not touch my eyes.

4. UK trip – Our trip abroad was so much fun! Pictured here is Edinburgh Castle, one of the many places we checked out in the four cities we visited on our 10-day vacation. Panda and I both liked various aspects of what we saw, experienced, tasted, and bought. I’m so glad we were able to do that trip and I look forward to all the places we’ll go in the future. For me, it was great to go back to the UK after 5 or 6 years, and for Panda, it was fascinating to leave the country for the first time. I’m glad we got to do it together and I know we’ll be returning.

5. Perfectea brewer – At the office are these two PerfecTea brewers from Teavana. They really do brew a perfect cup/mug of tea and I love using them! It’s always so cold in the office that I am constantly drinking tea – something like 8 mugs a day. That excludes any soda or water I might have around lunch time, so you can imagine how much I’m chugging all the time. It’s so easy to brew my tea with this contraption and I never have to worry about tea leaves getting in the way. Amazing.

6. sherpa blanket – I’ve snuggled up in this blanket every night and enjoyed the coziness oh so much. It’s instantly warm and soothing. In fact, it’s so good at putting me to sleep that I must beware if I crawl in the covers after a shower – I’m sure to fall right to sleep! I really wish I could bring this to work to curl up in, but would be a bit too much. Plus, if I was that snug I might not get much work done. I’m trying to convince Panda to get one more for us (me) to use. Maybe when we move to the new place.

7. Dunkin Donuts free drink Mondays – Starting 9/9 through 10/14, Dunkin Donuts in the metro DC area are offering a free iced tea or coffee drink! I’ve taken advantage of this every Monday that I’ve been working so far and I’m sad that there’s only one more left. I always get the peach iced tea, no ice, half sweet. Yum. Sometimes if they still have powered Munchkins or chocolate glazed ones, I’ll get some, but lately I’ve gone after work and by 7 pm they’re out of most Munchkins.

8. baths – It’s been years since I took a bath, but since I’ve gotten so much bath stuff in boxes over the past couple of months, I decided I would start using them. I liked it so much that I’m doing one bath a week now. It’s such a wonderful way to relax, clear your mind, take care of your body, and enjoy some peace. Each time I try a different bath salt, bubble bath, or bath soak. It’s been a ton of fun and my skin is loving the extra attention!

9. Biba purse – I got this cool purse in the UK on our trip and it’s been my daily bag ever since. I love the design and the quality of it. I do wish it had hooks for a shoulder strap, so I might try modifying it since I happen to have a strap that matches it pretty well. I don’t want to ruin it though, so we’ll have to see. For now I just hold it between my arm and body and for the most part it’s not inconvenient.

10. walking to lunch – The majority of lunches at work have involved us walking to the Reston Town Center and choosing whatever sounded good at the time. I like that it gets us moving and out in the fresh air for at least half an hour a day. Certainly better than driving somewhere, though I am going to start wanting some more options after a few weeks of that selection. Whenever someone wants to go get Starbucks or a dessert, I try to go so I can stretch my legs and catch up with them. Now that the weather’s cooling, it might not happen as much.

11. sugar scrub – Related to the bath thing, I’ve been using the sugar scrub that I made with Brandy of MommySplurge and it’s fabulous. After soaking in a bath, I rub it in until the sugar granules melt and I’m left with super-soft skin enveloped in a layer of coconut oil. I don’t even need to lotion after drying off! I’m all about keeping my routine as simple as possible – while I love trying products I generally am too rushed to go through a 273521-step skincare routine. So one product that will exfoliate and hydrate my skin in one fell swoop gets an A+ in my books.

The nightmares

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , ,
08 August 2013
3

I must be sleeping too deeply these days. Or, maybe it’s just that I’m waking up during that deep sleep, filled with dreams. Throw in the stress of worrying about everything that comes with getting a job and buying a home and you’ve got a recipe for nightmares. For the past two nights, I’ve had some pretty vivid and unpleasant dreams. The first I would definitely call a nightmare, but the second might just be a bad dream. I don’t usually remember my dreams, but when I do, my restful sleep declines. This might even have been triggered by that scary knocking on the door a few nights ago.

bottle of dream water nighttime nectar sleepstat shot

Could this be the culprit?

So it started Tuesday night. I had an interview scheduled for the next morning and it is THE job I want, so you can imagine I was a little nervous. I knew my stuff and prepared really well, plus I’d done quite well on the phone interview. That wasn’t the issue; I was anxious because I’m really counting on getting this job. In an effort to ensure I got enough sleep and would fall asleep at a reasonable hour, I took some of that Dream Water I’ve been getting in subscription boxes. The entire bottle seemed like overkill so I went with about 2/3. I fell asleep relatively easily (I’ve been known to toss and turn for hours).
sketch map showing layout of things in nightmare

A visual to help you navigate my nightmare.


Wednesday morning, 5:50 am, I jolted awake. In my dream, I was on a bus, maybe a school bus. I was headed into town or something, but decided to get off at a stop where my house was. Apparently my orange tabby from childhood, Jerriey, was playing in the bushes and I figured he probably got stuck again. I was going to retrieve him and continue on my way. Once I got off and the bus left, I paused to look for Jerriey. A car passed by and the bus neared the next turn. Then, a truck pulled over and a man got out. I started taking a few steps towards the bushes where Jerriey was, but took a quick glance at this stranger stopping here when there was no reason to. He and I looked each other in the eyes and somehow I knew: he was there to abduct and assault me. I started to run towards the house, but everything was painfully slow – apparently I had been to swim or track practice and I was sore beyond belief. I hoped that someone on the bus might notice, but it was rounding the bend. Somehow I thought that if I could run fast enough towards the fence, I could float over it (which made sense at the time because there was a hill sloping down to it so if I could just run fast enough to run straight out at the same height as the hill, I could clear the fence). Meanwhile, the man calmly pulled out his cell phone to call his brother for backup (don’t ask me how I knew – it’s a dream!). His confidence that he would catch me anyway was even more frightening than if he were chasing me.

That’s when I abruptly woke up. The terror of running from a possible kidnapper left me with a pounding heartbeat. When I checked the time, I found that I had another hour and a half before I was set to get up, so I tried to get back to sleep. For awhile, all I could do was think of what I would have done had I gotten over the fence into my backyard. Would I run through the backdoor, lock it, and hide? If I did that, would there be a way I could text 911 so I wouldn’t alert him to my whereabouts by speaking? I figured he’d be able to shatter the glass of the door and walk right in the house. As he looked around, how could I get help without betraying my hiding spot? Or would I not hide but run out the front door to a neighbor’s? Would I pretend this wasn’t even my house and run through the yard to the street in front and find help? I didn’t want this guy to know for sure that I lived here so he could come back to find me. After running through some of these scenarios, I fell asleep and luckily had no more dreams.

Then last night I went to sleep earlier than usual again and when I awoke this morning, I had dreamt that I was being exceptionally rude to my relatives. I believe my grandpa, cousin, and mom were involved? That one is more hazy now, but I just remember I had said something really mean to one of them (grandpa, I think) and the others were defending him. I eventually realized I was wrong, but I kept being horrible anyway because of my pride. At the point where I was getting disgusted with myself, I was awoken. It might not be a nightmare quite like the night before, but it certainly was a bad dream. I hope I never actually let pride turn me into a mean person!

I hope this isn’t some new trend and I’m not sure what about my sleeping situation or mental state might be causing it. I’m hoping that with the stress of the last few weeks melting away, so too will the nightmares. Is it possible it’s related to me sleeping earlier and waking earlier? If that’s the case, I’m in trouble since my job will require me to sleep on that new schedule. I guess I’ll just have to see how tonight goes!

Goodies Co. June Taster’s Boxes

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
22 June 2013
0

The June Goodies box just arrived and I am loving it! It’s full of crunchy delights.

goodies co june taster's box contents

The box came with Pringles Baked Crispy Cheese Stix, Lay’s Stax Que Rico Adobadas potato crisps, gimMe Honey Dijon Roasted Seaweed Snacks Crumbles, Duchy Originals from Waitrose Highland All Butter Shortbread biscuits, Dream Water SleepStat Nighttime Nectar Sleep & Relaxation Shot, and Pastitas Black Pepper Onion Pasta Chips.

The Pringles Stix are a very strong cheese flavor and I think they’d be great with something else, but on their own they are overwhelming for me. The Lay’s Stax are delicious and a wonderful texture – definitely something I would eat again in the future! I love the taste that is salty with a hint of sweet and some fragrant herbs. I’m pretty sure they’re baked since they’re not greasy at all. The gimMe seaweed crumble smells fabulous and tastes good, though the dijon flavor is a bit strong. This would be perfect with a bowl of rice or something a bit bland. I’d love to try their other flavors! As for the only sweet thing in the bunch, the Duchy shortbread cookies are lighter than I expected and less crumbly than most shortbread I’ve had. There’s a rich butter flavor and I would love to make a cup of tea to pair these with. I am saving the Dream Water to try when I need help sleeping, but I expect it to be mildly sweet and hopefully effective. Finally, the Pastitas pasta chips are such an intriguing crunchy-ending-in-chewy texture with a lovely pepper and onion taste. They’re light and not greasy, flavorful but not too salty. A great replacement for your current fried potato chips!

Goodies Co. included a lovely assortment of crispy, crunchy items this month and it very well could have been their theme. Now the June box has become my favorite from them thus far, since I was interested in each and every item included! Some hit home more than others, but I am glad I got each to try. Bravo!

Night owl syndrome

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
19 March 2013
0

Oh how my mind races at night. When the darkness surrounds me, my head is filled with ideas. There are fewer distractions from the outside world, so I can really focus on all the research, writing, learning, brainstorming, planning, organizing, and doing. For whatever reason, my energy levels and alertness start to pick up around 10. It doesn’t matter if I’ve eaten or not, had any sort of caffeine all day (usually not), gotten enough sleep the night before, or what I was doing leading up to that time. Naturally, I start to work better, even think better (and certainly focus better). I can write my blog posts and clean out my email and read those articles and prepare my eBay listings so much better.

Why? I have no idea. All I do know is that if I try to sleeping around 11 or midnight, I’m doomed. Doomed to lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to shut off the river of thoughts flowing in my head. Eventually, I’d have to give up and get up so I could write down all those ideas before I had to come up with them again. When I was young, I never understood how people could just fall asleep. It took me a minimum of an hour of laying there, staring into the darkness, trying to calm down my mind before I could drift off. Then I went to college and learned what some intense sleep deprivation can do! Suddenly I was packing my life with so much activity that I could finally sleep soon after laying down. But then again, that pretty much only happened after midnight anyway.

Nowadays, I don’t have a strict sleeping schedule and I’ve found myself on a shifted schedule from the norm. I still get 6-8 hours of sleep a night, but umm… well, my “nights” are actually days. I don’t know how it started to shift so drastically, but I found myself sleeping around 4 or 5 am, then 6 or 7, and even a couple of days past 8. I tried to deprive myself of sleep so I would be tired earlier in the day, but that didn’t work out. Apparently 4 hours of sleep is still plenty enough to sustain me. Alas, the only thing that really worked was going to China. Whether it was being on the opposite side of the world or in a completely different cultural atmosphere, I was able to wake up naturally around 7 or 8 in the morning and become tired around 10 or 11 at night. Unfortunately the same doesn’t hold true when I shift from PST to EST and back (which I do every 2-3 months).

This week, I was miraculously feeling somewhat tired around 2:30 one night, so I turned off my computer and settled in with a book. I probably read for half an hour before starting to drift off to sleep – amazing! It worked a second time but then I fell off the wagon… I’m going to try that again tonight. Wish me luck!

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