A Sleep Journal

I've been looking forward to my sleep every day as a result of my new business endeavors and occasional volunteering at church and my son's school. However, because I've been unwell for two weeks and my medications have taken their toll on me, I've been unable to sleep well. Furthermore, I have a persistent desire to use the restroom at night, and I end up sleeping well after midnight. Nonetheless, after my normal afternoon exercises, which have been decreased due to my illness, the little sleep I get relaxes me and allows me to wake up refreshed. All through the last ten days, I managed to log my eating habits, the times I went to bed, and the times I woke up both during the day and night. When I woke up during the day, I tried to record the dreams I had as much as I could remember. It became evident that my sleeping patterns were not steady and I knew that it was because of my sickness. The issue also had a substantial role to play in the dreams I had. Most of the things that I dreamt about were connected with my daily thoughts and activities. My dreams were being based on the cognitive approach to dreaming, which emphasizes a person's current concerns (Duggan, Friedman, McDevitt, & Mednick, 2014).

I started to record my journal on November 10th, 2017 I had similar dreams during the first three days, and they were disheartening since I dreamt that my new business was failing hence I could not support my husband's earnings. The dream also presented instances where my age was catching up with me, and I could no longer be as active as I used to be. It means I had to cut down on my volunteering activities which mean a lot to me.

The dreams came in different ways, but they all had the same point. Most times when I woke up and went back to bed, the dreams would continue. It was as if I was not able to escape this terrifying nightmare. I later realized that I was frequently having this dream because I was feeling susceptible. It is something I have been struggling with since I retired and hence it makes sense. I was feeling down during the three days, and as a result, I was not eating like I always do and even stopped my daily workout routine. While I was already feeling down, these dreams were worsening the situation as I began to look down on myself. After understanding the meaning behind my dreams, I thought I should introduce some changes to my eating habits as I try to increase my self-esteem by expanding my social circle to include people I view as my role models.

After the first three days, I started to get better since the medicines began to kick in. Luckily November 13th, 2017 was the last day I dreamt of my demise. On that fateful night, I dreamt that I was on vacation with my son, though I cannot remember where my husband was. I think that was the first time I logged that I did not have sleep interruptions. During the next four days, I continued having dreams of beautiful moments with my son, either vacationing or helping him with school work. Nevertheless, there were two nights where I woke up for about 2 hours before getting back to sleep. I had no recollection of my dreams for the two nights, and I believe that it was because I never had a deep night slumber.

On the last two days, I remember having numerous dreams, but I also could not remember them. I recall that as I began dreaming about beautiful moments with my kid, I woke up better and my husband even noticed my change of moods. My journal ended on November 20th, 2017 when I was to present a speech on humanitarian missions at my son's class.

In connection to daytime naps, I discovered that most of the dreams were lucid. In lucid dreams, the dreamer knows that s/he is dreaming, and s/he usually has a sense of consciousness (Fullagar, Skorski, Duffield, Hammes, Coutts, & Meyer, 2015). I had two instances of these daytime dreams on 17th and 19th of November, and I logged them in my journal. In the first dream, I was late for my doctor's appointment, and in the second dream, I was attending a seminar. The dreams were realistic and straightforward since I felt that I could control them.

In conclusion, I discovered that despite my sickness, a good sleep gave me energy during the day. One consequence of lack of sleep that I experienced had a bad mood. The brain is an essential part of a human's body, and it needs enough rest so that it can rejuvenate for people to avoid stress, maintain normal body functioning, and be happy (Duggan, Friedman, McDevitt, & Mednick, 2014). Thus, I have come to appreciate the importance of getting a good night sleep every day.

References

Duggan, K. A., Friedman, H. S., McDevitt, E. A., & Mednick, S. C. (2014). Personality and healthy sleep: the importance of conscientiousness and neuroticism. PloS one, 9(3), e90628.

Fullagar, H. H., Skorski, S., Duffield, R., Hammes, D., Coutts, A. J., & Meyer, T. (2015). Sleep and athletic performance: the effects of sleep loss on exercise performance, and physiological and cognitive responses to exercise. Sports medicine, 45(2), 161-186.