[Inga]

I contracted covid 19 mid April this year and despite being triple vaccinated, the brain fog that I assume is long covid related had finally beginning to lift.

However, despite never having sleep problems before, I now find my self suffering from insomnia.

It does not help that in Australia, it is currently very cold, days are short and I find myself house bound but looking forward to warmer weather and sunshine which my body is yearning.

Any insight into this among forum members ? Any helpful tips on being able to fall into deep sleep rather than just getting 2 to 2.5 hrs of light sleep.

[Scott]

Welcome, @Inga!

How are you determining you’re not getting “deep sleep”? It’s my understanding that’s determined by participating in a sleep study where they monitor brain activity. What’s your current challenges with your sleep – can you describe a typical night?

Scott J

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[hiker]

Hi Inga, sorry to hear it has been a rough time this year for you.

I am not a long Covid researcher, and I have to think even they would concede there is much still to learn about it. But fortunately the brain fog is starting to diminish for you.

I can speak to insomnia, and I know that a stressful event (e.g. getting Covid, especially long Covid) can trigger insomnia, which can hang around long after the stressful event has subsided. It can take on a life of its own. How does this happen?

For me, I found that the more I thought about it, the more entrenched it became. This would lead to another thought, along the lines of: “Great, so I am supposed to just not think about it?” and I would resent people’s simplistic, “positive,” i.e. relentlessly upbeat false cheer.

What I found over time was that thoughts just pop into our heads wherever, whenever, pretty much out of nowhere. And I eventually learned to just watch them come and go, sometimes saying to myself, “I am having some pretty lousy thoughts right now,” and simply acknowledging that “I haven’t slept well for quite a while and I am really tired.” This might sound like wallowing in misery, but what I’m trying to get at it is just observing what’s happening. And if you can let the thoughts drift, I think you will find that they do not last indefinitely, unless you decide to hold onto them.

I wanted to solve insomnia, the way you try to figure out how to assemble a piece of furniture or whatever. You can’t just let go and the piece of furniture will assemble itself, but letting go of anxiety about insomnia is the answer.

But this gets right back to sounding simplistic: how in the hell are you supposed to “let go”—- but this is getting back into the mode of trying to think your way to a solution.

Mindfulness is sort of a fad right now, but if you can sweep aside the hype, at least I found there is a reason it has been around for 3,000 years. It can take some searching to find something that resonates for you, but you might want to check out the likes of mindfulness northwest.com or palousemindfulness.com

And try to give yourself a break. It is really hard to think straight when you’re exhausted, and like I say, if you can just observe your thoughts drifting by like branches or leaves on a stream…

Take care, you are not alone in this.

[Author]

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