Why is everything so much more concerning if one wakes up in the middle of the night?
I usually wake in the night these days but it's momentary and I'm back asleep before I have time to think about it.
A couple of nights ago I woke up at 1am (ish) having only been asleep a few hours. I went back to sleep but it wasn't 'good' sleep. I was awake again before 3am. This time I couldn't get back to sleep - I was properly awake. At least I felt fully awake.
"Why?" I wondered. In the past if I woke properly there was a discernible reason: usually I would have had rigors which indicated the onset of sepsis to which I am exceptionally prone because of my uretic stent. However it's several years since I had an 'attack' and, so far as I could tell, I felt fine.
But the mind plays silly-beggars at 3am. What if I wasn't okay? I have been known to wake up and been delirious. It's difficult on the phone to the emergency services when one is delirious. Fortunately the emergency services can see my phone number and therefore my history on their screen. They even know the code for my front door. There is usually an ambulance here quickly. The magic word that scares medics (and me!!) is 'sepsis'.
I've only had full blown sepsis once and I happened to be in hospital at the time. I came around from my operation and by the afternoon I was delirious. About three days later I came around. Of course I just thought I'd been asleep for an hour or two but I was puzzled as to why I had so may tubes all over the place . I felt washed out and woozy but I was fully conscious.
The nurse who happened to be taking readings when I woke said "Well, Graham, good to see you. You've been a bit of a worry." Apparently, according to the doctor, that was a masterful understatement.
Had I gone to sleep in the middle of the night at home I might not have wakened up at all.
Anyway after worrying for a short while I went back to sleep and, as you can tell from this post, I woke up again full of life.
It's good you woke up, you never know what your body is trying to tell you but I'm happy to hear you are doing well. The only time I get woke up is usually by 1 of our 4 cats.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy......4 cats!!
DeleteThat must be very disconcerting, always there in the back of your mind.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, am very pleased that you did wake up again!
JayCee, thanks. I don't consciously think about it but it's obviously there lurking!
DeleteIt's natural that you worry - anyone would. It seems you are well known in the locality and they have your best interests at heart.Wishing you peaceful sleep tonight.
ReplyDeleteThanks Janice. It's an Island and I live in a very small community. It used to be very much more close knit 50 years ago but now with so many youngsters leaving and so many seniors with no connection to the Island retiring here the whole dynamic has changed.
DeletePrayers you sleep better and have no health issues
ReplyDeleteThe planetary alignment, 7 planets in our solar system align in an arc in the night sky 25 January, might be at play disturbing Earth's electromagnetic field or whatever it is that goes on. Each hemisphere has a best time to view it. It began on 10 January. It happens about every 100 years.
Thank you Maywyn. I didn't know about the planetary alignment. However I've not seen the sky for days and days and, indeed, this morning I can hardly see the headland on the opposite side of the bay because of the rain and heavy mist. I shall bear it in mind though if we get a clear night.
DeleteWhatever time I go to bed, I seem to wake up every few hours during the night nowadays - usually either pain or toilet related (in familiar ways, so just irritating rather than worrying). For some reason, at this point in my life I seem to get my best sleep in the morning hours. Sometimes my breakfast almost collides with lunch... (When awake in the night, I listen to audio books (set on timer). It makes the time feel less "wasted".)
ReplyDeleteMonica, I was never used to waking in the night but I'm getting more accustomed to it now. It's not the casual brief wake-up that's concerning, it's when I can't get back to sleep.
DeleteI wake up every night now. My fear is a daytime one, of having a seizure, from which I don't wake up. I would know little about it, but goodness me Graham, sepsis is terrifying too.
ReplyDeleteTasker, one of the things I constantly remind myself about is that there are always so many people, like you, who have real daily things to worry about and get through. My night worries are just unpleasant mind-play.
DeleteYou are right that troubles and anxieties tend to be much enlarged in the middle of the night. With sunrise, the demons shrink or scurry off into the shadows like silverfish. This pattern is emphasised by living alone.
ReplyDeleteThanks YP. I suppose we always associate darkness with anxiety even subconsciously. I was going to say 'and lonliness'. However I'm not lonely at all I just 'alone'.
DeleteSepsis is of great concern. It is probably fortunate you were in hospital. I need to apply some thought as to how paramedics would get to my front door after the security system upgrade.
ReplyDeleteAndrew that is very important. When my former wife had a fall in the night when she had just moved into in her sheltered accommodation flat our son could get into the building to get to her flat. The police couldn't even gain access at first. I've forgotten how they eventually got in.
DeleteIt's good that they got on top of things with the sepsis and it's controlled.
ReplyDeleteThank's Red.
DeleteI wonder why Sepsis has suddenly become so prevalent? It seems to be a bigger, and more constant, killer than Covid.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, Cro. I do know that the hospitals are paranoid about it.
DeleteAnd I'm very relieved that you did! Those middle of the night hours can be very disconcerting at the best of times. I hope you've slept more soundly since. X
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jules. It seemed to be a one-off. It's not a common occurrence for me at all and I hope it remains that way.
DeleteLike the others here, I am glad you woke up again full of life!
ReplyDeleteMy sleep pattern has shifted some years ago to a roughly 2-hourly rhythm, meaning I wake up more or less every two hours. Usually, I get back to sleep again rather quickly, but when there are noises in the house (such as my upstairs neighbour getting up very early and trampling down the stairs to get to work) or I know I have to catch an early morning train and the alarm will go off well before six, I do not sleep properly until it's time to get up.
That developed mainly (but not exclusively) out of worry for my parents, when my Dad was still alive but needed constant attention, and it was really hard on my Mum.
Night thoughts (not necessarily worries) can be very different from what our mind settles on during the day.
Meike, one of the things I've found about sleep and age is that now I'm in my late 70s I no longer wake up automatically at a particular time as I did for most of my life. I've never lived in proximity any external noise. I suppose that you get used to it even if it disturbs you.
DeleteLiving alone makes all these kind of worries worse. I am so glad you woke up this morning and were alright.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rachel, you will understand. Hopefully both of us will wake up for many daybreaks to come.
DeleteWhen we were children, waking up in the night made us worry about what we couldn't see, about the monster under the bed, about what was lurking in that dark corner over there. Now we are adults, and waking up in the night still has us casting about for bogeymen, but the bogeymen of our childhood and the bogeymen of our maturity are two different bogeymen all together.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous ? Yes I was terrified of the dark as a very small child. I feel a post coming on.
DeleteThat's Debby
DeleteThanks Debby. I had a feeling it wasn't my 'usual' Anonymous (who is only Anonymous when using one of her computers).
DeleteGlad you woke up and felt full of life, Graham. I often wake in the night if I know I have to be somewhere in the morning. My mind keeps wondering if it is time to get up. If I can't sleep, I just keep telling myself that I am "resting" and I relax each part - relax my feet, relax my legs, relax my arms, shoulders, etc. until I fall back to sleep... Sometimes, it works! ;)
ReplyDeleteEllen, fortunately I don't wake for very long very often unless I have cramp and then I have to get up to get rid of it.
DeleteI am glad you woke up feeling your usual self. I had a remarkably bad night last night and still don't understand why I was so tense and upset. I put it down to the fact that "sometimes things just seem to happen for no reason". ! It is the only explanation I really trust ! :)
ReplyDeleteJenny, your thesis that "sometimes things just happen for no reason" sounds to me as good an explanation as any although I might take some convincing if I was involved.
DeleteIf I was prone to sepsis I'd probably never sleep!
ReplyDeleteIn general I'm not a super anxious person but at 3am all bets are off.
I don't think sepsis is more prevalent now, I think it used to be a death sentence but these days we can fix some cases if we catch it early so we put a lot of effort into catching it
Kylie, I think you are correct about sepsis awareness and care.
DeleteWhen I wake up during the night, it’s generally my bladder calling! Glad to hear that your interrupted sleep was nothing untoward, Graham.
ReplyDeleteDavid, one of the advantages of having 'external plumbing' is that I don't have to get up in the night.
DeleteG'day, Graham. I wake up often through the night. Trips to the bathroom are safer when I'm awake! :) I have no idea when I last slept the whole night through. One of the joys of growing older, I guess...the frequent trips to check that my bathroom is there, I mean!!
ReplyDeleteTake good care. :)
Lee, I can always rely on you for a good smile. Perfect for waking up to on a miserable Sunday morning.
DeleteRecently, I sometimes have trouble getting off to sleep, A very new trouble for me. It seems to happen when I've been socialising past my usual bedtime and I must get over stimulated. What has my world come to? I have no intention of abandoning the little social life I have, so will just have to deal with it. After all, it's not something that puts waking up the next morning at risk. I'm so glad you continue to wake daily!!
ReplyDeletePauline, like you I usually go to sleep very quickly. My social life is almost all during the day these days particulatly in the winter. Apart from the occasional function or social event almost everything happens during the day now and I rather like it that way. Which reminds me it's Monday, bowls night and I've forgotten again. Ah well.
DeleteIt can be scary after having a medical problem and you fear that it might be happening again. I get the heeby jeebies when I get bowel pain worrying that it is another blockage. Luckily I sleep well due to all the pain killers that I'm on. Happy New Year and I hope you can sleep well again.
ReplyDeleteDiane, I can well understand you getting the heeby jeebies for that.
ReplyDeleteGraham, while I have had some sleepless nights myself, thankfully a concern about sepsis has never been a factor. Glad to read it was not the case with you. Usually, my sleeplessness is cause by my thinking about things rather than trying to clear my mind of all thoughts. lately, I have taken to reading before bedtime, unfortunately, I fall asleep and then have to re-read parts I apparently missed. It's even worse with an audiobook. Glad to read that your sleeplessness was a non-medical cause.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice, thinking too much is definitely bad for sleep! In fact I find thinking too much isn't good for me at all! 🤣
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