Sleep... Shouldn't it be the easiest thing one does?

Actually, sleep does come easily to me. Most nights I don't notice that my head has hit the pillow because I'm asleep by then. And, if I wake up in the night for one reason or another, I go right back to sleep just as immediately. And, I sleep until the alarm goes off. So, what's the problem?

Nothing except that even with all that sleep, I've been exhausted for the past 4-5 years. I wake up tired in the morning, and spend the day tired. For a while I thought it was just stress, but if that were the cause, then I would have had great rest while hiking, especially after my house sold. But, no, I woke up tired on trail, too. So, finally, this fall I decided to do a sleep study, something I'd been talking about for a couple of years.

Sure enough, I have a moderate case of sleep apnea. On the night of the study, I was asleep for 7.5 hours, and stopped breathing 10 times, almost stopping (called hypopnea) 107 times. That's something like once every four minutes. I was relieved to find a reason for waking up tired--I really am not getting enough quality sleep.

With that diagnosis, the next step was to choose an intervention. The least invasive option is to use a CPAP machine at night. Essentially, it puts a pocket of air in my airway, splinting it open so I can't stop breathing.

I've now been using the machine for 34 nights. I'm still in the getting-used-to process. I'd have thought that I would just need to get used to sleeping with a mask on my face, but that's the easy part. I've tried two different types of masks and had issues with both. But I haven't given up yet. Even though there have been very few nights when I've managed to wear it all night long, the hours I have been able to sleep well have helped me to feel more awake, with more energy than I've had for a long time.

So, I'm still working with it, trying different things each night, in the hope of finding a combination of factors that will work well. Because it will be SO worth it, when I am able to get 6-8 hours of quality sleep every night. I am looking forward to having more energy than I'll know what to do with!