My night of sleep… yes, I said sleep

Emerging data suggests that extending a nightly sleep duration of people who habitually get insufficient sleep is associated with health benefits. My doctor has changed the dosage of Trazodone that I take to help me sleep at night because I told her the previous amount wasn’t helping as it did at first. Amazingly enough the higher dosage did help me get better sleep last night.

I was so deep in sleep that I had a dream a friend was over at my house. We were talking and I told her I needed to excuse myself because I had to go to the bathroom. Keep in mind I’m still asleep. In my dream I was on the toilet and attempting to empty my bowels.

That’s normally not an easy task when I’m awake even with a daily intake of stool softeners. I was using my abs to attempt to push hard… while asleep. That’s the only muscle group that works for me to empty my bowels. I even told my doctor I have washboard abs now all because of it.

Thankfully,  I woke up realizing I wasn’t on the toilet and hadn’t push hard enough to get anything out yet. I transferred to my power chair, made my way to the bathroom and barely got there in enough time to do my business without making a mess. Phew…

That was a close call. We’ll see how things go in the days ahead and if the higher dose works without any further dream issues. I sure hope it does. I really need all the rest I can get. I much prefer sleep to chronic insomnia.

Healthy sleep is important for cognitive function, emotion regulation, physical development, and a better quality of life. Considering I’m a person living with multiple sclerosis, it’s imperative to have a good developing immune system.

Sleep is incredibly effective at helping repair the day-to-day cellular injury that happens, but most people don’t get the amount of high-quality sleep needed to do so. Its impact on the nervous system works best when we’re asleep doing the vital work needed to keep our cells thriving, but you can also get tremendous benefits from other types of rest as well.

If you’ve ever found yourself feeling blissfully calm during a massage, drifting in and out of consciousness while meditating or praying, breathing slowly and rhythmically while reading a book, or pleasantly lost in thought while on a walk in nature, you’ve experienced a sense of deep rest.

The process of sweeping away and recycling old or damaged cellular material truly helps rebuild new cells and minimizes inflammation levels throughout the body. I like the thought of that. So if a medication will help me to get that rest, I’m all in for it. I’ll let you know how things go in the days to come.