Do you ever wake up at night and wonder why in the heck you woke up? I sure do. Quite often. A couple of nights ago, my eyes were closed, it was dark, I thought I was asleep but it dawned on me that I was thinking random weird thoughts and wondering why in the world a certain odd song was playing over and over in my head, followed by “and why in the heck am I even awake?”
I don’t remember hearing a noise. I didn’t have to go to the bathroom. I wasn’t too cold or too hot. I wasn’t in pain. I was just awake for God knows how long listening to a never-ending loop of music in my head. I listened to my surroundings. No birds chirping so it must not be close to morning. No footsteps over my head so the guests in Room 6 aren’t up and wandering around upstairs. No thunder. No rain. No train whistle. Why had I woken up? And why that particular Godawful song? (Interestingly enough, I cannot remember that song now.)
I hadn’t gone to bed worrying about anything. I hadn’t switched up my routine. I hadn’t had a bad day. I hadn’t watched a scary movie before bed. Nothing of any great interest on the near horizon. I wasn’t even laying there worrying about anything. When it finally dawned on me that I was even awake, I was pissed off because I should be asleep.
According to a Google search under: Is it normal to wake up during the night?, I am “normal.”
It’s common to wake up during sleep. In fact, most people wake two or three times during the night. We can all remember a time, when as teenagers or young children, sleep was a continuous period of unawareness or oblivion that lasted between eight or nine hours, or even longer. However, that is not normal adult sleep.
Weird right?
Some medical professionals attribute these nighttime periods of wakefulness to sleep apnea, which can cause all kinds of health problems. Other sleep problems have labels like insomnia, night sweats, night terrors – and don’t those sound fun – and indigestion, all of which carry remedies and problems ranging from meditation to surgery. People, this is why we should NEVER Google our symptoms. If WedMD doesn’t cause night terrors I don’t know what will.
Anyway, that’s where my mind traveled this week for my blog. I’ve blogged about sleep problems before, but usually my problem lies in going to sleep, not waking up for no reason at all in the middle of the night.
Tell me good citizens who dare to venture to the Edge of Eternity with me, what weird symptoms have you Googled? Were you pleased with your results or did you run screaming in terror? What usually wakes you up in the middle of the night? How do you get rid of those horrible earworm ditties?
Word of the Day: Animadvert
Fun fact about me: I have a great love of peanut butter. I especially like it with crunchy tart apple slices.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, August 2019. Images by Pexels and Google Images.
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jansenschmidt 
Call any time between midnight and 6:00 am, I’ll be up. We’ll chat about weird songs and unfinished novels.
10-4 on the peanut butter. Peanut butter and mayonaisse with sliced banana….awesome!
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Goodness, sounds like you’re a regular night owl. I’m not quite that bad. At least not yet anyway. I do got quite a few nights when I sleep the entire night through. It’s just weird that I wake up for no reason.
Next time I’m awake perhaps I’ll try one of your peanut butter, mayonnaise and banana sandwiches.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of the week.
Patricia
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As much as I hate to admit it, my cats wake me up often. They walk over my face or poke their paws in my eyes or nose, decide to attack each other on top of me. When they’re in a snuggly mood, they’re great, but you never know how long that will last. Then there’s the husband, who rarely sleeps through the night. And I’m grumpy when I get woken up – I’m always longing for that 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep!
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Well I can’t blame cats. At least can identify the reason you woke up. I cannot and that drives me bonkers. I usually manage to go back to sleep, but not always. Sometimes I just lay there – annoyed – wondering why I can’t go back to sleep. I am grumpy if I don’t get enough sleep.
Here’s to some restful night ahead!! (I’m lifting a glass.) Thanks for visiting today. Have a wonderful rest of the week.
Patricia
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I would like to animadvert my inability to stay asleep, as well as get songs out of my head. Seems there’s always one! If you have one you don’t like, only way I’ve found to get rid of it is to listen to something you like, and replace it. I wake up several times a night, and it’s annoying. But usually I can go back to sleep. My husband, OTOH, wakes up around 3 every morning, and is up for a good couple hours watching TV (which probably doesn’t help). Let us know if your Google searches reveal any help for this random crap – and good luck!
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You see, that is why I absolutely forbid my husband from having a TV in our bedroom. I CANNOT sleep unless it’s dark and quiet. If he woke up and turned on the TV, I’d have to punch him in the face.
I have considered getting up and reading if I can’t go back to sleep but I’d have to go into the basement to do that and that requires more energy than I’m willing to expend. So . . . I just lay there and wait for my body to decide it’s time to go back to sleep.
And, I will certainly let you know if I find a Google cure for this problem.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week.
Patricia
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