Doctors Orders

So lately, Ive been having trouble falling asleep. Actually, its been a problem for a long time now. Ive never been one to "hit the pillow and be out." Which is not always fun. Sometimes, people like that quiet time to reflect on the day and the events around them. I am not one of those people. I would much rather fall asleep. But my brain continues running, even though my legs are staying put. And it stresses me out. I try to think of nice things, but somehow I will hit a dead-end.
I tried the sheep-over-the-fence thing. As I was counting, I began wondering where these sheep kept coming from. And how could one by-pass my count, but still get on the other side of the fence. I tried making up names for every letter of the alphabet. But I would think of a name of a friend and start wondering how they were doing. Honestly, Im a hopeless case sometimes.
Thursday I visited my doctor about this problem. This summer it has gotten much worse. There has only been a handful of times where it takes me less than an hour and a half or two hours to fall asleep. Basically, she said I have insomnia. Which I actually thought only applied to people who couldnt sleep, period.... So I learned something new for the day. She gave me several recommendations: dont lie in bed and watch tv before falling asleep - sit in a chair (which is much more difficult than I had anticipated), dont drink any caffinated beverages, ie. soda, after noon (today is the first day that has been successful), try to do relaxing things before going to bed (no intense movies and such, which is normally fine for me to follow), exercise more often - but not right before bed (dang it! That was the only time I would exercise!), keep my room as dark as possible (if you know me, you know my room is as close to the room in The Holiday as youre gonna get, so Im set there), etc. etc.. You get the idea. She also said if Im lying in bed for 25 or 30 minutes and still havent fallen asleep, I should get up and do something - read a book, have some decaffinated tea, yada yada. Apparently studies have shown if you lie in bed for 30 minutes awake, it will take you longer to fall asleep. I informed her my body is well into sleep before my mind gets there so getting up will not be the easiest thing. She completely understood but encouraged me to do so anyways.
I have been trying to follow these orders. Some successful, some I still need to work on. Hey, Rome wasnt built in a day... Neither was Paris, America, or any other place. Not even a house can be built in a single day. But here I am. Its passed 10 oclock. Im tired. I have to get up early. I had a hard night at work, wanting to quit and never look back. I have to go to work early tomorrow morning. I want to go to bed. But here I am. Awake. Sitting up. Blogging. Following orders. Because I have been lying in bed for 30 minutes now and I forced myself to get up. Actually, I literally rolled off my bed. And right now, Im wishing I was still lying in bed trying to fall asleep. Who the heck did those studies?! If I get in bed and fall asleep within 10 minutes, Ill write a retraction, thanking those studiers, or as most folk call them - researchers. But right now, I think they made up their "findings." But who knows. All I know is Im looking at a computer screen and my eyes arent even beginning to shut or squint from the brightness. Goodness gracious.
Well. I guess I should try to fall asleep again. I need to sleep. I want to sleep. You probably wouldnt believe me if I told you sleeping is one of my very favorite things to do. You probably wouldnt believe me because you just read a whole thing about how difficult falling asleep is for me. But it is one of my favorite things. It makes me happy. Rested. Ive been dreaming a lot lately. I dont know what that means, but theyve all been pretty good, for the most part. Which also means, I would like to go to sleep to dream.
Here we go. I shall return to my humble abode. What the heck does that even mean? I just looked it up. I still dont know. But I think my beds calling. My body wants to answer.... We shall see if my head will be stubborn and turn away or also answer.
Pleasant dreams, dear readers. Hopefully, youre sleeping soundly at this point in time and not awake like me.

[Afternote: I did not fall asleep 10 minutes after hoping into bed. I lied awake for another 30 or so minutes, but refused to try the whole getting up thing again. Needless to say, writing a retraction to the post titled, "Doctors Orders," will not be on my to-do list.]