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moominmollyI had trouble falling asleep as a kid, so I suppose it should be no surprise that my kid has trouble falling asleep, too. There's just so much THINKING to do, you know?
My mom's trick for getting me to fall asleep was to get me to recite all of the phone numbers I knew in my head, in numerical order. It was sufficiently engaging to keep me doing it, but dull enough to bore me to sleep. But now, I am faced with the task of inventing things for Natalie to do in her head that will help relax her and keep her from popping up every few minutes saying "I CAN'T SLEEEEP".
Sometimes numbers work on her, sometimes stories in her head, sometimes reading to herself with a flashlight, and sometimes nothing. But often, like her mama: numbers.
Two nights ago, I told her to count to 200 by 10s, and then 9s, and then 8s, and so on. She dutifully trudged back up the stairs, only to come down again a few minutes later, clearly frustrated: "Mommy, I CAN'T count to 200 by 9s. I can only count to 207."
My mom's trick for getting me to fall asleep was to get me to recite all of the phone numbers I knew in my head, in numerical order. It was sufficiently engaging to keep me doing it, but dull enough to bore me to sleep. But now, I am faced with the task of inventing things for Natalie to do in her head that will help relax her and keep her from popping up every few minutes saying "I CAN'T SLEEEEP".
Sometimes numbers work on her, sometimes stories in her head, sometimes reading to herself with a flashlight, and sometimes nothing. But often, like her mama: numbers.
Two nights ago, I told her to count to 200 by 10s, and then 9s, and then 8s, and so on. She dutifully trudged back up the stairs, only to come down again a few minutes later, clearly frustrated: "Mommy, I CAN'T count to 200 by 9s. I can only count to 207."
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Date: 2012-06-21 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 05:35 pm (UTC)I told her the thing about adding together the numbers in products of 9, and how I knew without even doing any division that she had counted correctly all the way to 207, and told her to try again and then try checking her work at each step using that trick. It seemed to work...
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:18 pm (UTC)I love the whole Nim-as-introduction-to-modulo thing. I wonder if she's made the connection to the "207 problem" yet. I wouldn't be surprised if she had.
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:33 pm (UTC)She's made the modulo connection before, but didn't that night. I love that kid's brain.
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:23 pm (UTC)I haven't had a lot of trouble with insomnia, but my trick as a kid (which still works), is to get very comfortable, then count to 100 breaths, imagining ornate pictures of each number as I reach it. If I move in the slightest bit or think about anything else, I have to start at 1 again. I believe I have only once in my life reached 100, and that time I wasn't very comfortable and it wasn't night time at all, I just wanted to sleep through something.
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 05:32 pm (UTC)I first did this when I was coming up the Thruway into Albany and saw that Buffalo was 280 miles while Montreal was 220. Thus I thought, what would be the distance from Buffalo to Montreal by water?
First I reduced to a simpler Pythagorean state: (20*11)² + (20*14)² = (20x)²
Next I would solve for x: 121+196=x²
Then I would extrapolate a square root of 317 using closest squares. I would usually start by thinking about 256 and moving upward.
Oh sure, this is a simple task when you can use a calculator. It's more engaging when driving.
To fall asleep when my brain is too on, I start with meditative tricks. That's also kinda tricky for a kid.
Okay, I'm no help today.
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:38 pm (UTC)Meditative tricks - actually more useful for kids than you might think!
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 09:50 pm (UTC)1) I tried using it when I first worked third shift. I was cutting 3 mg pills into quarters because even 1.5 mg was overwhelming me. I'm not a small person -- I can't imagine what 1 mg would do to a child.
2) how was I overwhelmed? I'd sleep. I'd sleep well, yeah. However I'd dream intensely and wake up disoriented. The withdrawal can also be rough.
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Date: 2012-06-21 09:59 pm (UTC)There's also nights that she says she's tired enough that she doesn't need the help, and on those nights we don't give it to her. I don't want her to be utterly dependent on it -- I want it to be an aid, not a crutch.
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Date: 2012-06-24 04:27 am (UTC)I decided to try it when I began taking it again and found it helped me stay asleep. Stephen, like me, is a crappy sleeper. I figured maybe his body would work similarly to mine. His preschool teacher recently told us that he said he was always tired, and that he goes to bed at 8 every night, but can't sleep: he just lies there and thinks. Of course, that's complicated by the giving up naps year-long process.
I might try melatonin at some point, but it seems a bit riskier than B6 to me. I'd try either with no qualms on an adult, but I'm real cautious with my kid's developing mind. OTOH, I sometimes think that if we could break the cycle early, he'd be in better shape for the rest of his life.
As for the meditation tricks, I never really got meditation until I read the beginning of _Full Catastrophe Living_, which pretty much stripped mediation of everything but focusing on the sensation of your breathing in your belly.
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Date: 2012-06-21 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 05:36 pm (UTC)Me: "..."
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Date: 2012-06-21 06:02 pm (UTC)That's amazing! I was going to joke, "How old is she again?", but being older doesn't help with that kind of acute observation. Wow!
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Date: 2012-06-21 06:06 pm (UTC)Then I got too good at that, so I would prime factorise digital clocks, find the two factors that were closest in value to each other, subtract the one from the other, and prime factorise the result....
Usually by the time I'd run that to 0 there was a new number on the digital clock. At least before 1am.
... now I take melatonin to deal with my circadian rhythm disorder instead. :P
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Date: 2012-06-21 06:12 pm (UTC)I don't think doing math tricks would have helped me fall asleep but it's lovely that they work for her. And the story about counting by nines is so perfect.
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Date: 2012-06-21 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 06:44 pm (UTC)When I was learning how to do prana breathing, I couldn't do the initial prescribed form (in 10 slow counts, hold 5 slow counts, out 10 slow counts) from a standing start, so I would work my way up starting at something like 3-2-3. Because I tend to tense my body when I'm holding my breath, I also got the tense-then-release all your muscles side effect which usually makes me sleepy in addition to the increasing levels of oxygen.
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Date: 2012-06-22 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 11:31 pm (UTC)My insomniac problem is that my brain won't turn off - too many thoughts racing around. The typical suggestion is to write them down but that didn't work for me. After various other options I settled on the radio as the best option for me. It has to be talk or unfamiliar quiet music that I don't like *too* much, and no ads because the ads are too noisy relative to the radio. So: NPR for the win. With a timer-radio so it turns itself off after 15 or 30 min.
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Date: 2012-06-22 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-22 01:57 am (UTC)This gets kids focused on their body and relaxing, which often stops the brain churning thinking that keeps them awake. It's pretty meditative and I actually still do it when I'm having trouble falling asleep.
Extra bonus points - it also helps with growing pains when going through growth spurts.
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Date: 2012-06-22 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-22 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-22 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-22 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-22 08:20 pm (UTC)there are the bedtime routine habits (same time daily, make a bedtime routine of brush teeth, wash face, pajamas, etc, avoid caffeine, avoid tv/internet at least an hour before bed, no naps, blah blah, the superawesome helpful hints you see in woman's day magazine). my guess is you've probably implemented at least some of this.
what was majorly important to me: realizing that some nights i just won't sleep. AND THAT'S OKAY. yeah, i'll be a bit grumpy, but it's happened before, it'll happen again. lying there and doing the meditation exercises, letting my body rest, it'll be okay.
being worried about the socially expected need to sleep at night was overwhelming. hell, it still is. maybe she just needs to know that sometimes it's okay not to sleep sometimes.
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Date: 2012-06-24 04:34 am (UTC)Have you guys seen the book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past (http://www.amazon.com/At-Days-Close-Night-Times/dp/0393329011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340512326&sr=8-1&keywords=history+of+sleep)?
One of the more unfortunate things about my insomnia these days is that I don't have enough concentration to read this sort of thing when I'm lying awake at night. I've had it since Christmas, but haven't had the time to do more than dip in here and there. Best thing from it is learning that sleeping eight hours straight is historically abnormal.
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Date: 2012-06-25 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-24 04:31 am (UTC)