A New Sleeping Pill....

The past ten days (nights) or so have been a little tiring. I'm temporarily taking a drug that can cause sleeplessness....and for me it does, big time. I can usually go to sleep about the normal time, 10:00 pm but I wake about 2:00 am and that's it for the night. I've tried deep breathing, I've tried turning on the light to read for about 30 minutes, I've changed position, I've tried to shut off my brain. But yawn!

Dragging through the day with about four to six hours per night has left me feeling absolutely exhausted. But two nights ago I came up with another idea. I've been reading Professor Heather Cox Richardson's "Letters from an American, a nightly newsletter that chronicles current events in the larger context of American History," on Facebook. Writing about our current political/American situation from the point of view of someone who is a recognized expert on American history, she puts what's happening today into a context that helps me see that, yes we've gone through something similar in our Country's history....or not.

And she does two weekly one-hour videos on the same Facebook page. On Tuesday she spends her time answering questions sent in by readers. (At this point she has more than one million readers/listeners from around the world.) On Thursdays she does an hour "course" on a segment of American history. These classes can run for six weeks or so to cover the topic. I feel like I'm sitting in her classroom at Boston College and have learned so much of the American history that I sort of skimmed when I was in high school and college. And I've also read two of her many books about US history.

The other night I realized that sometimes, if I am listening to her lecture while in a reclined position on the couch or the bed, I fall asleep and miss the last half. So in the middle of the night I went to her Facebook page, turned the sound down to low and re-started a recent lecture....and was lulled back to sleep! Two nights in a row Professor Heather Cox Richardson has helped with this stupid insomnia. What a relief!

I know she did not plan her presentations to be sleep-inducing, and I do listen to each episode when I am awake....but the repeats are comforting me back into a place where I can grab another hour or so before getting up in the morning.

The first thing I do is put my cell phone in the recharging platform....as I sleep the phone goes to zero. It's worth it.

Thank you Professor Richardson! Zzzzzzzzz......