Sleep

I have trouble with my sleep patterns. This is partially due to a variety of medical issues ranging from my bipolar disorder to low blood sugars in the middle of the night. The problem is that when I have interrupted sleep or can’t fall asleep, the quality of my sleep is greatly lessened. Unfortunately for me that means that my bipolar disorder will probably cause a swing in my mood to a more manic stage. This often happens during the late fall, early winter parts of the year.

It’s been happening this year, again. So, with the advice of my psychiatrist’s office, I’ve been adjusting some of my medicines to try and counteract the trend and return me to getting good, quality sleep instead of interrupted or shortened sleep each night. However, there is a side effect of increasing the sleeping med. I feel groggy in the mornings and don’t get moving toward accomplishing my goals for each day.

In this struggle, I was reminded of Proverbs 3:24 which says, “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” Quite frankly, as bedtime approaches each day, I am afraid. I’m afraid I won’t sleep. I’m afraid I won’t feel awake and rested in the morning. I’m afraid I will have nightmares. I’m afraid I won’t wake up in the middle of the night if I need to in order to eat something to raise low blood sugars. I’m afraid I won’t hear the smoke detector if there was a fire.

How do I get past those fears? I pray. It’s the only possible solution to this problem which seems so out of my control. And it’s the only thing I can do to get my mind off all the things that make me afraid about going to sleep. When I pray, I recognize who God is and how He’s looking over me to protect me from all the things I fear. I don’t think my fears are unfounded or fantastical. But they are things I do not worry about once I place them in God’s hands. And as a result, my sleep is sweeter than it would be without the prayer.

Now if there was such an easy solution to feeling awake when the morning comes, many of my daytime problems would also go away.