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A Few Questions For My "Insomniac" Friends

OK, I admit, it's a dead horse that has been beaten by internet addicts and it's a tired subject, but it's bothersome to my. As someone who has gone several weeks in a row. with less than 30 hours of sleep, I get a little irritated by those who enjoy the slumber, but feel the need to call themselves an insomniac. I don't care what medical websites say, because the reality is, if you've ever talked to a sleep specialist, a few bad nights in a row, is not insomnia. We all have stress and it keeps them awake, but jumping out of bed, because you hear a bell signaling you that someone who is sick needs you, ten years after they have passed, is not what most of you suffer from. Waking up to use the bathroom after being asleep for 45 minutes, then not sleeping for another 36, is not what most of you endure.

Recently, I've seen my location change and my sleep habits have vastly improved, but they are scattered. I am sleeping about six hours a day, but it is broken into two elongated naps. Yes, there actually have been the seven hour stints, but they are few and far between. I also wonder how many of you self proclaimed insomniacs, have constant dreams about trying to fall asleep. Have you ever woken from a sleep and felt you haven't been asleep? Then you look at the clock and realize that only 20 minutes have gone by, but you lay there so confused, trying to figure out dream from reality, that hours pass by and you never go back?

So here's what makes me question many of you.
1. You are always tired and look like you're about to fall asleep, so why fight it? If you've ever seen me, I never ever look tired. Nobody would ever know, I suffer from this.
2. If during your waking hours, you post, like and comment incessantly on people's pages, why is it that I have not seen one post from you between the hours of midnight and 8AM? Or maybe it's 10am and 6Pm if you're home alone during the day. These large gaps of inactivity from those who are pretty much routine, lead many of us to believe you are full of it.
3. Waking up in the middle of the night isn't insomnia if you're able to get back to sleep, so why do you think you have it? Does it make you feel better than admitting to a weak bladder?
4. If you have something that you need to be up for, that is not insomnia, it is merely responsibility. I don't hear the mothers or fathers of newborns claiming insomnia, because they call it parenting.
5. Stress is a part of life, but if your stresses break your sleep, it's a lot different than those of us who simply don't have the ability to overcome those stressors until they literally knock us out. As anyone who knows me is aware, I will go 60-70 hours without sleep and then crash for eight hours. Those are the times I feel the worst. I feel as if I've slept for eight minutes, not eight hours. So why don't you acknowledge the stress and take something. I've tried and it doesn't work. I find I get more irritable.
6. If you believe caffeine keeps you awake, you're not an insomniac. I drink coffee religiously, both on my good and bad nights of sleep and I've actually been a coffee drinker much longer than I probably should admit.

Listen, we all have issues and this is admittedly a silly pet peeve, but it drives me crazy when I hear people complain about something that isn't really a problem, because for me it's real. I know what was the catalyst and I have no idea why it has stayed with me. I am someone who loves sleep, laying in bed and basically anything that involves being horizontal, but to not be able to fully enjoy a night's rest and it's multiple benefits and to have this plague me for well over a decade is something that has defined me. It is for these reasons, I become bitter when I see posts or listen to people tell me of their sleeping woes. The ones who tell me the sorrow of "only" being able to sleep six hours a night. I don't tell people I am depressed when I am having a bad day and that is how I view it when people use insomnia loosely.

Not much else to say to those people who feel the need to belittle this ailment, but bonne nuit et doux rêves

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