Are any of you finding as this crisis goes on you are staying up later and later at night ?

Bengal

I 've heard from several people who are experiencing this trend and heard a psychologists explanation. When you go to bed the hope is you will quickly go to sleep so what is the next thing that happens? You wake up and it's another day. Subconsciously, we do not want to face that coming day because of all the stress and anxiety attached to it so we put off going to bed to delay that as long as possible. Problem is, we end up not getting enough sleep which just contributes to greater anxiety. I find myself staying up until midnight, 1:00 AM everynight. Anyone else?

BuckeyeShelby

I am on weekends. I'm working from home, so I'm still keeping business hours 8-5, so I've got to get to bed relatively early, although later than usual, because my desk is 3 feet from my bed instead of 12 miles. So I get to sleep in almost an hour.

GregP_WN

We have been going to bed later. Not because of the anxiety but because I am working on the site from home and since I'm not getting up early to go to my office I sit up later each night. Then when morning comes I find that I'm waking up later and later. Once this is over I am going to have a tough time getting back on schedule.

legaljen1969

I am averaging 16-18 hours of sleep per WEEK. I usually crash one day and get about 6 of those at a given time. The rest is just bits and pieces. I don't drive anywhere because I am scared to death that my driving is impaired due to sleep deprivation. I have to get my husband to take me anywhere I am required to go, and that's not easy because he is still working a mostly full schedule.
I have a call in to my doctors to see if I can't get something to help with the anxiety and hopefully let me sleep a little more. I feel like a cat with its claws in the screen door hanging on for dear life.
Unfortunately, this site used to be a huge source of support but has now become one of my greatest sources of tension. Therefore, I am probably going to have to give it up. It's a shame because there are so many good people and helpful hints.

Bengal

I am so sorry you feel that way about WhatNext. Please hang in there. We are all trying to cope and some folks have different ways of doing that, one of which is using WhatNext as an outlet to let off steam, a pressure valve so to speak. If you don't release that pressure somehow, something's gonna blow.

Please, folks, let's not let this support forum turn into another source of stress.

Dawsonsmom

I’ve been staying up later than usual and sleeping a little later in the morning. I am still getting 7-8 hrs/night but find I don’t feel as rested as normal. Also napping more. I hope everyone will continue to use WhatNext as a source of support during this time. If a question/responses are creating stress, go to another question that feels more supportive, but don’t throw out the baby with the bath water during a time when we all need all the support we can get. We have limited control over the virus/limits created by it, but we have control of what we watch, read, listen to.

legaljen1969

Dawsonsmom, I know you know the thread which has caused my stress. I am just going to leave that one alone. It absolutely tore me into pieces the other night and I was so worried over it that I didn't get but about 30 minutes of sleep. I was so angry.
The worst part is that I know anxiety is one of the worst things that inhibits our healing. But it's such a vicious cycle. The more I worry about healing the more anxious I get, and the sicker I get and the more I worry about being sick.
Oh my goodness I am so ready for a face to face with my therapist.

LiveWithCancer

I am staying up later and later - we often go to bed at 3 AM or even later, but it doesn't have anything to do with depression or not wanting to have to face another day of "covid crisis." Time totally gets away from me. I am so involved in a number of Bible studies and other activities that I have no idea that it has gotten really late without my noticing. Because I don't have to get up early to go anywhere, it doesn't really matter if I sleep in a bit ... or take a nap...

@legaljen1969, do you have access to any essential oils? I read just today about a diffuser blend called "Deep, Deep Sleep" If you have access to oils, the recipe calls for 4 drops Cedarwood + 4 drops Neroli/Petitgrain + 2 drops Lavender. I haven't tried it, but am thinking of checking it out ... and maybe even making it into a pillow spray.

Speaking of pillow sprays ... A really relaxing pillow spray that I've actually used is 2 oz water + 15 dr lavender + 3 dr ylang ylang. It is really soothing and calming and, at least to me, smells great. Or 1 oz water + 3 dr lavender + 3 dr sweet orange.

I diffuse essential oils all day and half the night ... I find them very calming and relaxing.

junie1

i , myself have different sleeping habits , i was doing good.. but I've been retired and at home for the past 3-4 years,, so i have lots of time to nap and sleep at night. Here of late, i find myself getting tired about 9pm,, so go to my room,, usually fall asleep right away,, but find myself waking up about midnight, or 1am,, then i have to get back to sleep,, sometimes that takes abit of time,, but then i can stay asleep till around 6am,, when my cat , Gracie, comes in,, letting me know it's her "breakfast " time!! Then my day starts,, I have a craft business,, and have been sewing fo about a year or so,, and have gone to craft markets to sell what i make. But since that they are closed for now,, i'm doing my selling from home. I have started making mask,, which takes up alot of my time,, which is good.. busy work is good. I go out for the doctor appts,, only for infusions,, and that's the day that i go to the grocery and what ever else needs to be done. then back home till the next dr appt day,, its every 3 weeks for me,, so that's good.
Being at home all time wasn't new to me,, But knowing that I shouldn't be out in the Public,, now i wanna go more,, LOL...but i stay home, sew and keep in touch with my sewing friends and family.
None of this COVID 19 stuff has effected me in a depressed way,, i do get tired of hearing about it all day long,, so i watch all the cable channels,, or old reruns of some good Bonanza, or Gunsmoke,, or Little House,, and Walton's. or i binge watch Law and Order.. call me crazy,, but all the Law & Order shows,, I like.. Good Luck to all,,,

PaulineJ

Been having a hard time falling asleep and waking up every 2 -3 hours for a couple of years now.I average 6 broken up hours a night.I use to be dead to the world when I was younger.A bomb would go off and I wouldn't even know it.Don't remember how many hours I had though,because I was up at 5 AM working in the hospital ,with no car.

Horselady46

I too have been going to bed later than usual. I just thought it was the fact I didn't have as much to do outside of home. I do miss meeting friends for lunch and dinner. Also group rides. I am riding my horse but mostly alone now. I do keep busy with all the critters and have started my summer garden. But it is mostly not having friends around. I do talk to them on the phone and Facetime and we do Zoom meeting but it isn't the same.

MarcieB

I have not changed my habits since my treatment. I noticed during treatment I would become tired earlier (about an hour earlier), so I would just go to bed at 10 instead of 11. I have gotten up at 6 am for the past six years and spent an hour or two in the morning with bible study (or sometimes a good novel if I am really engrossed!). Spending some time with study or meditation, or prayer, smooths me out. It 's like I let God in before I let the world in...because the world can sure stress us out! ;-)
When I was doing radiation I would get up at 5am so I could still spend time in study before I had to shower and get to the hospital by 8:15. I had about a twenty minute drive on a wooded river road most of the way, and I looked forward to it. Radiation did not stress me at all.I have mentioned before that I am a woman of faith. I know that is not the case with everyone here, but we all find our strength where we can. For me, right now, I hold on to psalm 91, so I would encourage other believers to read that one.
And I have had some good experience with essential oils. When I was being radiated I would mix frankincense oil with an almond oil carrier and smooth it all over my skin. I never got the radiation burns. My doctor once asked what I was using and when I told her she looked at me as if I had said, "Snake oil...." But, she couldn't deny the results. (I also used lotions, I just made sure my skin was always hydrated with something) So I have a little roller dispenser of lavender oil which I use on the bottom of my feet when I can't settle down to sleep.
I am sorry so many of us are having distress, and I am glad we can be here for each other.

ChildOfGod4570

I too have goofed up my sleep schedule staying up late and then getting out of bed later in the morning. I used to have a routine where I would go to the pool every morning at 9 AM, but without the pool, I am home every day all day. Even with church gone and my family getting my groceries for me, I am pretty much in the house 24/7. The temperatures have been in the 90's here in South Florida, and I am prone to heat rash, so being out in the heat is not the best thing for me. I know why we must stay home, but I do miss church and spending time with my family and friends. I once heard on the news that physical touch will be a thing of the past even when we're all out in public again. This not only presents a problem for me, as I am affectionate by nature, but I am blind and sometimes must hold onto someone to guide me in crowded or unfamiliar situations. If we are all either forbidden to touch each other or afraid to do so, this could present a problem for us. And Let's not forget we can't maintain the 6 feet distance if we expect to get our teeth cleaned or our hair cut. So how do we maintain higene or grooming? This has nibbled at my mind from time to time. As for leaving What Next, please don't. I found a thread that got too political and decided not to follow it. We should just pick and choose the threads we want to follow. HUGS and God bless.

Dawsonsmom

ChildOfGod, I, too, have been concerned about things like getting my teeth cleaned. I’m hoping we have a better handle on all of this before my next appt in July. As for hair, currently, in comparison, my hair is making Albert Einstein look like he’s rockin it.

ChildOfGod4570

Why do I get the feeling that when we come out we'll all know who didn't dare try cutting their own hair at home? I once lamented that I looked too much like the female version of Uncle Fester ... Aunt Festerina ...and now am wondering if I will be able to get a trim before I look like Cousin It! LOL HUGS and God bless.

Dawsonsmom

ChildOfGod, that is funny!! My sister cut her own hair last week and face timed me so I could get a good laugh. We laughed until we were both crying. She has a great sense of humor and provides me w lots of laughs at her own expense. She’s a good egg!

Bengal

You all appear to be handling all this well. That is awesome. I think my own high anxiety is not for myself. I am so concerned for my mother, trapped in her senior care facility and for all the other elderly residents I had become friends with through my frequent visits. How many of them will make it through this and I will see them again on the other side? And how is the isolation affecting their mental health?

MarcieB

Bengal, I am truly sorry to hear you have this angst and I do understand. My mother has passed, but I remember when she was in a care facility and they once had to restrict visitors and keep all of the people in their rooms because of a stomach flu outbreak. It was very hard to imagine how confused and possibly upset my mother was. It turned out she handled it beautifully, but, of course I didn't know that while it was going on. I could talk to her on the phone and that helped some.

Bengal

Thanks, MarcieB. My mother is very deaf and it is difficult, if not impossible, for her to use the phone, unfortunately. I am allowed to visit through her window but that is problematic at best again because of her deafness. At least I get to see her - I go about once a week - but it's been very draining and I do worry about this crude finding it's way inside the building. I know, don't worry until you have something to worry about but with this I can't help but be concerned.

MarcieB

gosh, Bengal,the deafness really complicates things. The phone was difficult for us because my mom's hearing was very bad, but we could manage a short call (before I got completely frustrated!). And, of course, it wasn't as long a period of time as this has been already. I am so sorry you have this going on - it isn't like we don't have enough to deal with. I also hope her care center can remain virus free. Do you have siblings that can help with visiting?

Bengal

One sister lives fairly close but she has underlying medical issues and has been sticking very close to home. She did come over to our mom's last week ( I actually met her there and we exchanged a few items). My other sister lives downstate and has been sticking close also, following governor's order against unnecessary travel. They both e-mail and send cards and photos.

I just learned that a gentleman (and he was a very gentle man) that I had got to know from my mother's facility died on Tuesday. Not from Covid19 but I think from loneliness. Too bad.

po18guy

Live each day as though you would not see its end. Retire for the evening as though you would not see the morning.

- Thomas á Kempis

legaljen1969

Bengal, I fear that is going to be the case for a lot of these elderly people in the assisted and long-term care homes. I fear many of them will die of loneliness and lack of hope. I guess the only good thing is that most of them seldom go "out" anyhow, so they probably don't miss going "out." Unfortunately it restricts the rest of us from moving about freely, so we can't go "in."
Though my grandmother passed away a couple of years ago, I have no doubt she would have passed away from loneliness within days of the lockdown.
My mother had to move her a couple of times within the few months that she passed away. The first place was independent living, and she needed more care. The place she moved to was a place she (my grandmother) had always heard was very nice. Once she got there though, she was miserable. It was out in the country. They prepared nice home cooked meals for the residents. It was not the usual mass produced institutional food (though now I wonder if what I saw was just a big show and they really didn't feed them the yummy stuff I saw them cooking). My grandmother was so sad all the time. Any time I called, she would beg me to come and get her and tell me how she hated living out "in the woods." They called my mother and told her that my grandmother was nearing her last days. She got quite sick and my mother took her to the doctor. Once she was at the doctor's office, she told the nurse she was not eating because she wanted to die fast because she was so sad. Of course that bothered my mother, and they moved her to another place so she would not be so sad. When she got to the new place, it was beautiful and bright. The caregivers were in and out of the room frequently. It was easy for her to have visitors. Her phone never worked quite right so my mother was going to visit every day. They did have one "lockdown" but we could go see her through the window. She was so excited that people could see her through the window.
She died at 101 years old, so she had a good life. She passed away peacefully. I just know that she really did nearly die of loneliness and heartbreak in the second place. It has been my deepest regret that I had helped to move her to the second place. Loneliness can be very hard on some people. It has been very hard on me lately.

Bengal

Legaljen 1969, I have been noticing that the obit. page has been huge lately. And it seems to be mostly the very elderly, folks in their late 80's and 90's, who are passing away. I live alone and this situation is really starting to weigh on me. It must be very difficult for the octa/ nonagenarians. At least residents in senior care have the staff to interact with. Some of these older folks still at home have no one. I hope folks are remembering to phone or text, email, Skype, Zoom or whatever, their parents, grandparents, etc.... Problem is, many elderly people are not up on all the technology.

petieagnor

We all have different life styles, cancers, issues, etc. I don't have a career, but I do work. My sleep is all over the place, but I try to stick to a routine. I mediate which helps the stress. I read my Daily Word from Unity. I'll check the affirmation several times to ease the stress. Keep busy for some type of exercise each day. I don't watch much news. I get the news on my tablet so I can flip through repetitive stuff. NOT good to hear about what you can't control over & over. I can go to any website & get what only pertains to me. Concentrate on your heath that you can control. A Dr. once told me to find something each that you enjoy & do it. This really helped me through my depressed days. I still do it. It doesn't have to be a big thing, just do it. I really hope this helps