Early morning thoughts

[andrewducker]

So I'm sitting here wondering what I've done to myself to still be awake at quarter past one in the morning.

We both went to bed at 10:00, and were asleep by 10:30.  Sadly, I then mysteriously awoke at 10:45 and found myself lying in bed unable to sleep.  As my main problem for the last few days has been being awake too early, and I was yawning my head off through half the day this is inconvenient to say the least.

My brain, which was resolutely refusing to make itself useful computer-wise during the day is now buzzing with ideas for how to solve programming problems.  It's turning itself in circles like I'd had three cups of tea this evening, rather than a couple of glasses of water.  The only thing I can think of is the chinese meal we had - I know that the sauces tend to be sugary, which is why I mostly dishes that are low on sauce.  The chicken with spring onion and ginger may have been a mistake. 

A tasty, tasty mistake.

A quick google shows that blood sugar levels can cause insomnia, which will do as an explanation for now.  Although I could do with a swarm of monitoring nanobots linked to an EMH to confirm my suspicions.

Anyway, I got up from 11 - 12:45, then went back to bed, and then got back up again at 1:15.

I think I'll give it until 2:00 and try again.

*sigh*

Comments

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

It was probably the high blood sugar that kept me awake last week after the chocolate shop visit.

Could stress about the flat be compounding it?

[jarkman.livejournal.com]

MSG causes insomnia in some people - could be that.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Aaargh insomnia. I find if I try and sit upright in bed I instantly feel tired and want to lie down. The other thing that works is a train journey, but you can never get one of them in the middle of the night. Sympathies ...

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

I could wish for something short of industrial-grade pharmaceuticals in large quantity that would keep me awake like that (only when required of course). Not that I have actually tried those on a sustained basis. I suspect, that like coffee, regular use would render them useless.

On the other hand sleeping pills don't seem to send me to sleep or keep me asleep....

Train/car/bus/boat journeys probably work because sleepiness is the first, mild stage of motion sickness.

[ami-bender.livejournal.com]

Also depends on when you had dinner. Here is a nice graph that should indicate how long a sugar high should last

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sugar

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

That was my thought, although many restaurants/takeaways are moving away from the days when everything was saturated in MSG. (Good thing: on at least one occasion, I found myself with the early symptoms of a panic attack and then realised it was heavy doses of MSG causing my pulse to race.)

[andrewducker]

My problem tends not to be a sugar high, but the crash that follows it. From other suggestions it looks like it's MSG I should be concerned about though.

[andrewducker]

That's possible. I'll keep an eye on that one.

[andrewducker]

Hmm. It works on newborns, to it's probably innate in some form.

[andrewducker]

Yeah work/flat stress probably isn't helping.

[ami-bender.livejournal.com]

Not sure about MSG. As far as I am aware there isnt much in the way of scientific evidence to back it up. Here is a good article about it from the Gaurdian. You might want to skip halfway down as that's when he begins talking about the science.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.features3

[andrewducker]

Thank you.

I'm not convinced about MSG either, just yet another thing to keep an eye on :->

[ami-bender.livejournal.com]

Showed the same thing to Sarah. She pointed out that MSG also has a lot of sodium, so that might also have an effect.

[andrewducker]

And, as a friend of mine pointed out, it is implicated in migraines.