Making insomnia more fun

Insomnia Hour has been a regular feature of life for me for quite a while now, but last night I tried out my latest weapon against it. When it's under your pillow, you actually have to be lying with your head on the pillow to be able to hear it. I can't even hear it if I turn over in bed and move my ear away from where the speaker is - which means that DH should never be disturbed by it. And it doesn't feel lumpy under the pillow - in fact, I don't really notice it at all, which I suppose proves that I'm not a real princess.

One of the things that makes Insomnia Hour such a nightmare is when I get tense about irritating noises - DH snoring (fortunately, he's recovered from the Man Flu of earlier this week, so the moaning and "oooooh deeee-ar"s seem to have stopped for the moment), the rain cascading off the back roof in a torrent because part of our gutter blew away last week and I haven't fixed it yet, the loose tile on the dormer at the front flapping in the wind...

I also need something to take my mind off the thoughts that intrude in the middle of the night when it's dark and still, especially when I've woken from a disturbing dream. My subconscious seems to be particularly active at the moment, and although as soon as I wake up I know that it was just a dream, the panicky feeling often remains behind.

So being able to turn on my iPod last night and listen to a bit of mindless music to switch off the tenseness and the irritating thoughts without either getting tangled up with my earphones or disturbing DH was wonderful. It didn't cure the insomnia, but it certainly made it a whole lot more enjoyable.