You’ve had a busy day so it should be easy to go to sleep. A good dinner has left you relaxed. You get comfortable and your eyelids feel heavy. Voices become murmurs in the background, pleasant music lulls you into blissful sleep.
Yes, the easiest place to fall asleep is in the dark womblike embrace of the theatre, concert hall or cinema. Only a sharp dig in the ribs will disturb your deep slumber.
At home in bed you are wide awake and alert. Writers are not the only people to suffer from insomnia, they are just the most likely to ignore the advice of sleep gurus.
No coffee after two o’clock in the afternoon.
No food after 5.30pm.
Turn off all screens by 8pm. – In winter it will be dark by then and your body clock will be telling you to go to bed.
Writers often eat late because they are too busy writing to get to the kitchen and cook. They then take a nice strong cup of coffee to their computer to catch up with social media, where everyone else in the world has either just got up or is enjoying a relaxing afternoon. Your brain is more alert than it has been all day, you feel a blog buzz coming on; you can do it; you schedule tomorrow’s blog and finish the last chapter of your novel.
You look up from the computer and realise everyone else in the house is fast asleep and creep around hoping no one catches you up. But you are a writer and a grown up, you’re allowed to stay up late…
At 4.55am you are awake again and daren’t even think how long or short you have been asleep. You read your Kindle to relax, good thing the sleep guru can’t see you. Sleep eludes you for a simple scientific reason, your brain won’t stop working. It will not stop working till you are at work or in the shop trying to remember what was on the shopping list you left behind.
And the next time you get a good sleep? When you sit down to watch your favourite television programme.
Are you a somniac or an insomniac?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
I read recently that caffeine after [we’ll have to use guesswork here because I don’t remember how many hours] before bed turns out not to keep a person awake. With that certainty behind me, I’ve gotten a couple of good nights’ sleep after a cup of tea that might otherwise–the power of suggestion–have kept me up.
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That’s good news – I know people who drink only hot water during the evening!
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A friend of mine does that sometimes and I’ve tried it. It’s not bad, surprisingly.
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It’s mostly eczema, these days that keeps me awake at night. I can get off to sleep fine then wake [2 or 3 times for the loo] & itching sets in. A horrible business!!
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That would be worse than the insomnia.
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Try St. Ives hand cream, Grace. It doesn’t burn and eases the itch. You need to apply it regularly at first, but it heals the area within days. I swear by it!
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Thanks for the suggestion. I’d give anything a try [& I’ve tried a lot of things!]
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I sleep almost too well, lol. Easily 9-10 hours most nights.
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Well done, the health experts would be pleased with you.
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Hah! Hail fellow well met. 🙂
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Thanks
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I know exactly what you mean with weird patterns! I can drink coffee all day and get to sleep easily by 10:30pm. It’s my creative processes in the afternoon hours that mess with my eating schedule…suddenly on a roll and bam! it’s dinnertime!
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Hello TerrI, yes it’s best not to listen to the experts. Even if Cyberspouse is cooking dinner and I can get on with writing, I’m always at a point I don’t want to leave just when he yells it’s ready!
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You are echoing my dilemma. No sleep for the weary writer.
I don’t have caffeine after 9 in the morning. With gastroparesis, I can’t eat anything 3 hours before sleeping — and still the body refuses to sink into sleep. If it does decide to sleep, it’s up at 3 in the morning and won’t return to bed until 4. Yes, I do go to sleep easily, at 2 in the afternoon for 3 hours (if I’m not at work). Power naps help, but the 3 hour nap keeps me awake until 2 in the morning.
It’s probably Karma. I used to laugh at all those ads about people who couldn’t sleep. Now, I get to live with it. 🙂
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It’s so easy to lose track of time while writing and even then the need for sleep and food can be so distracting
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And the next thing you know – it’s breakfast time!
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What is the answer… I’m thankful no sleep guru sees me between the hours of 2- 5 AM. But they are sleeping then, aren’t they.
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Yes I bet those sleep gurus are dead to the world from 10pm to 8am!
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If I walk a few miles at dinner time I have no problems falling asleep.
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That’s good, a day of activity certainly leads to getting to sleep quickly and earlier, but I still often wake up.
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I can’t drink caffeine after about 1 otherwise I have difficult sleeping or wake up. It does effect me.
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Very wise, coffee in the morning is much better – what my mother used to call elevenses.
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Interesting!! Sleep eludes you for a simple scientific reason, your brain won’t stop working.
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