The WORST part of TBI . . .

Hands down, the worst consequence of a Traumatic Brain Injury (for me at least) is the sleep disorder (yeah it's more than 2 hours since I said I was off to bed and I cannot fall asleep). UGH!
Good thing it's Sunday tomorrow and I have late church.

Over the years, I've learned a lot about how to manage my sleep disorder. I did everything wrong tonight - which is why I can't sleep.

Here is what NOT to do: (things I did)

1. Pick a bedtime and do not deviate from it (my bedtime is 10 pm and I hit the pillow at 12:30 am).
2. Do not eat much late at night (especially dark chocolate which I did).
3. Be diligent about an exercise program (but do it in morning NOT less than 3-4 hours before your established bedtime). i.e I went to the gym at 9 pm - bad move for a restful sleep.

I'm usually really good about practicing good sleep hygiene but tonight was an exception. Darn that dark chocolate (I made a great cookie recipe which I found in The Essential Mormon Cookbook. Surprisingly, the cookies were pretty good! One way I manage my TBI is by making myself into a bit of a health food guru. So I doctored up the recipe to make them more healthy--if that can be said about cookies). I'll post the recipe later. Hopefully now that I've done something else besides unsuccessfully force myself to fall asleep, maybe I really will sleep?

Oh yeah I practice Yoga where I learned some breathing techniques. These help me fall asleep (if I don't eat dark chocolate, that is). Try it!
1. breath in slowly to the count of ten
2. hold/stop your breath for a count of ten
3. slowly breath out for the count of ten

Try this for a few times and next thing you know you'll be fast asleep. Sweet dreams!