STORY BYFinal segment of the three-part series, “Sleepless”
Chocolate was my obsession before I had kids. Now long, languid naps and uninterrupted slumbers fill my fantasies. But like many parents of young children, my sleep reality is far from peaceful. Nights in my bed often include a snoring husband, restless baby and thrashing 4-year-old, all jockeying for space. And judging from talk around preschool and recent sleep polls, I know we are not the only family struggling to get a good night’s sleep—or any sleep at all.
Lack of sleep is a growing problem for individuals and society, says pulmonologist and sleep expert Richard Castriotta, MD, director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Memorial Hermann Hospital -Texas Medical Center.
Dr. Castriotta provides insight into the environmental and physical factors causing us to lose sleep, and offers some proven alternatives to counting sheep.
Recent Stories:» A Cry for Sleep- Story by Anissa Anderson Orr
» School Dazed- Story by Rob Cahill
» Planting Teeth- Story by Natalie Wong Camarata
» YUCK! Poolside Parasites- Story by Imelda Gott
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Make an appointment
with your stress—
and keep it!
Set aside a specified time of day, say 3:00 to 3:20 P.M. Keep this appointment with yourself—make it as important as a client or a child’s reading time.
Now, let the stress pour out of you, all the worry, guilt, what-ifs, if-onlys. Hold nothing back. Imagine every possible scenario that intrudes on you, day and night. Funnel it into that 20-minute period.
When the bell goes off, you are done, finished, until your next appointment with yourself.
When you’re tempted to let stressful thoughts crawl across your mind, remind yourself that you have 20 minutes to address them—tomorrow.
