How Insomnia Affects Life – Personal Experience On Insomnia

If you are looking for answers on how to deal with your Insomnia or your loved ones, Megan McCarthy, a freshman student at the Mount Saint Mary College, comes forward with her story of how Insomnia affected her life and how she eventually managed to get a grip on it to use it to her benefit. Let us hear what she has to say.

Every night, my mother used to come upstairs to my room to tell me "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" with that silly, sly grin on her face. Ironically, I never could listen to her daily advice. That's because I have had issues sleeping for as long as I can remember. I remember my childhood friends thinking I was so cool for staying up really late at night, or even going nights without sleeping. Sure, at a young age that would seem like a great accomplishment, but for me it was a constant struggle. Even if I did get a little sleep, I always got a fit full rest, where I would wake up multiple times and never really got into a deep sleep.

I went through my classes in elementary school in a groggy, sleepless state. Despite the sleepless nights, I overcame it in order to achieve good grades and attend school. Once I reached middle school, my grades became effected by my lack of sleep. Assignments became harder, classes needed more attention, and homework became more challenging. My exhaustion started to really effect my motivation, my social life and my grade point average. My mother thought it was a phase, so i struggled through those years. I picked up my slack and suffered through the sleepless nights.

Once I reached high school, I decided it was time I needed to make a change. I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted going through the same routine of attempting to sleep and failing miserably. My mother brought me to a doctor who diagnosed me with insomnia. At this point, I had already guessed I had insomnia, but I was finally ready to do something about it.

I was tired of wasting all of my effort in the day and never being able to refuel my energy at night. I was sick of never being able to get a normal night's rest. And I was done having to struggle to focus on my schoolwork. To try to combat this, I started taking sleeping pills, which helped me sleep through the night, but I was so used to my normal sleeping habits that I still didn't get a normal amount of sleep at night, around three to five hours a night typically.

Now, as I am in my freshman year of college, I have learned to use this former weakness in my education and turn it into a strength. I made my classes start no earlier than ten in the morning so I could attempt to get a little bit more sleep if possible, and then I use my time awake at night to study and ensure I get my work done. This new routine, along with the fact I can get a good night's sleep, allows me to efficiently learn to control my time management, problem solve and become overall a more healthy person as the years go on. I am a strong believer in overcoming obstacles and never giving up.

This experience with my sleeping issues helped me realize the career path I wanted to pursue in my future, Nursing. I want to be able to use my own experiences struggling to motivate others to overcome their own obstacles. It is a beautiful thing to be able to effect someones life and help them for the better. I feel that being a Nurse will optimize my opportunity to pursue this goal. Being in the Nursing program at my dream school, Mount Saint Mary College, was a huge goal I accomplished. My next goal will be graduating, then finding a hospital to work at. Hopefully, I will be able to assist someone in achieving their accomplishments sooner rather than later.

Megan pointed out that sometimes you cannot beat a disease. The best way to deal with it is to find a way around it. One easy way to tackle your Insomnia is to understand it better, find your routine, and have proper time management.