The Importance Of Sleep

Readers who have been following me for a while know by now that I’m rather fascinated by dreams.

One evening this week, I watched a documentary on TV about sleep, dreams and sleep deprivation.

In the program, they followed a healthy young man who had volunteered for experiments involving sleep deprivation. Sleeping in a lab, with electrodes attached, scientists could follow exactly which stage of sleep he was in during different periods in the night, and decide when he should be disturbed or woken up.

For five nights in a row he was not allowed more than three hours of total sleep per night. After that, a series of tests were carried out. They showed clearly that sleep deprivation seriously affects physical health as well as the ability to concentrate mentally.

Sleep deprivation affects the levels of hormones which in turn affect things like appetite, insulin production, the cardiovascular system and the immune system. Had this young man gone on in the same way for some time longer, he would soon have been in the risk zone for diabetes, stroke and heart problems. He also showed very poor results in memory tests, and in driving tests.

In the driving tests, he was exposed to sudden events like a (mechanical) dog suddenly rushing out in front of the car. He hit it every time, unable to avoid it. In these tests too, the scientists were able to follow his brain activity, and lots of “micro sleeps” were registered. If I remember facts right, the driving test lasted for two or three hours, and during that time, this sleep deprived young man’s brain had actually been ‘asleep’ for a total of about 25 minutes.

Tests such as these prove that driving when not having had enough sleep is as dangerous as driving after taking drugs or alcohol. Lots of unexplained road accidents are likely to have been caused by tired drivers.

The good news is, when the young man was allowed normal sleep again, all of his hormone levels etc were also restored back to normal. This in turn proves that when the cause of tiredness is sleep deprivation, the answer is not to keep going with the help of drugs, but to find a way to get the proper amount of sleep.

Dreams were also mentioned. Scientists now believe that the function of dreams (or at least one of the functions) is to help the brain to store memories. Experiments showed that when people are woken up from their first round of dream sleep, in the late evening, the dreams are often not too difficult to relate directly to things that have happened during the day. Dreams that you dream towards morning are often a lot more complicated to sort out. The scientists interpret this as the brain then being further along in its sorting process, connecting the new memories with old ones.

Breakfast Contemplations

My favourite summer breakfast! 

This perhaps should not really need any more comment. But one thing in this picture may not be what you presuppose it to be. The strawberries are strawberries, and the cornflakes are cornflakes; but the milk is soy milk, since I’m lactose intolerant.

So the “contemplation” is about how, since the early 90’s, when this began for me, it has become so much easier to find alternatives for ordinary dairy products – not in every little corner shop, but at least in  bigger grocery stores and supermarkets. Soy milk, oats milk, rice milk, ordinary milk that has been made lactose free...  And ice cream too! :) There is a whole range of choices now.

Hard cheese, luckily, I can usually eat without problems (most of the lactose disappears in the cheese ripening process).

Back in the mid 90’s there was very little (if anything) to choose from in any shops if you were looking for milk-free. During the first years I used to make my own ‘milk’ from sesame seeds with the help of the food processor and a sieve! It was not so tasty to drink “raw” (a little bitter) but it worked well enough for pancakes and some other things.

By the way, did you know (I didn’t until just a few moments ago) that ‘Open sesame’, the famous phrase from One Thousand and One Nights (also called Arabian Nights), “reflects the distinguishing feature of the sesame seed pod, which bursts open when it reaches maturity.”

 
Picture found on the internet of sesame pods.

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After a week of cooler (but still sunny) weather we are having another heat wave this weekend. Over 30°C (86°F) in the shadow again yesterday. It is also the more humid kind of heat this time…

One problem with this kind of day is that I try desperately to get all kinds of things done in the morning, because I know it will be too hot later. My study, for example, will feel like an oven in the afternoon. Not to mention the balcony. But the best time to go outside for a walk is also in the morning... Not to mention shopping, and… Well, you get the picture.

So far I’ve had my breakfast, washed my dishes, and removed the now very sad-looking pansies from a flowerbox on the balcony. In a few minutes I will have finished this blog post (the first half of which I started on days ago). I think I might attempt a walk next – to a garden centre to get something new for that flowerbox. If I go now… I should get there just as they open… (Hoping they are giving the correct opening time on their website and have not made any unannounced changes for July. You really never know, in July, in Sweden…)

A Day of Waiting

This morning I got a phone call that my father was being taken to the hospital. Not the kind of emergency that made it seem like the wisest choice for me to just rush over there head-over-heels though; so instead it has been a day of phone calls and waiting by the phone. In the late afternoon I learned that he was to be admitted to a ward. Remains to be seen for how long, and what might follow. My presence in the Blog World might be a bit more sparse over the next few days; but thankful for your thoughts and prayers. 

Fears and Relief

Ever since the biopsy (of my thyroid gland) three weeks ago I've been jumpy every time the phone rang, and especially with the display showing the word Unknown.

I have to confess though that it's already been a bit like that for me for about 1-1½ years. Before that, I can remember a time when the phone display showing Unknown usually meant a welcome call from a friend with an unlisted phone number... Then my friend got back to work full time; and weekdays in the daytime it was no longer likely to be her calling. Instead I suddenly had constant reason to fear Unknown to mean some emergency or problem connected to my parents (because that did happen on a number of occasions).

Last week kept me on the edge again with some daytime Unknown calls that I half expected to be the hospital abut my test results, but that turned out to be just wrong number calls, or someone hanging up before I had a chance to answer (leaving me wondering...) 

Yesterday, as late in the day as at 6.15 PM I did not expect the Unknown caller to be the doctor - but it was. Luckily, it was good news. She said the result of the biopsy gave no indication of malignancy, and considering that I have not really had any problems from the enlarged gland so far, she saw no reason for surgery or further examination right now. The downside is that she also said things like "contact us if you get difficulties swallowing or breathing"... Yeah. Also having pollen allergy and asthma, and entering the worst pollen season, just what I needed to keep hypochondria going...

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Hypochondria(sis):  a disorder characterized by a preoccupation with body functions and the interpretation of normal body sensations (such as sweating) or minor abnormalities (such as minor aches and pains) as portending problems of major medical moment. - Hypochondrium is Greek for the anatomic area of the upper abdomen just below the ribs. Hypochondriasis was thought by the ancients to be due to disturbed function of the spleen and other organs in the upper abdomen.

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... Seriously, though, of course I'm relieved! Four years ago I spent the heat of summer in a hospital ward because of needing other kind of surgery (no hypochondria); and I assure you I've not been longing to repeat the experience.

I should have my blood tested again in about six months; which I should be able to combine with other yearly medical check-ups. So I hope I'll be able to put it aside until then (not getting too obsessed with checking my image in the mirror).

The vampire bite marks (=bruises from the biopsy) by the way had just about faded away for Friday last week, when I was going to a friend's 50th birthday party. Another relief, because that meant I could dress like a normal person without evoking curious looks or questions. (The goitre is not all that obvious in itself, unless you already know about it. I think...)

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Thinking of phone calls made me remember the photo of the old phone booth. It was one of the first I successfully experimented with in Paint Shop Pro last year, playing around with some artistic effects. I thought I had lost the edited copy in the computer crash back in the autumn; but remembered I had published it before, on the Soaring Through the World blog. So I was able to retrieve it from my Picasa album on the web. It's an old type phone booth placed outside a museum. I think it is still in use, but not sure. Phone booths of all kinds are getting rather rare these days, with almost everyone always carrying their own mobile (cell phone).

Vampire Week

 My new look for this summer?

Rae commented on the picture of my dilated pupil in my Tuesday post, that for some reason it made her think of vampires. (You really should follow that last link.) I couldn't help thinking about that comment when I came home from yesterday's hospital appointment of different kind, and looked at myself in the mirror again. This time, instead of a picture of "the real thing", I'll offer you one I found on the internet:

a crochet (!) "vampire bite cotton cashmere necklace"

Sorry, but on occasion a bit of sick humour really seems to be the only way to cope with scary things. The test I had done yesterday was a biopsy of my thyreoid gland. (I came home with two adhesive bandages on my throat; removing them revealed bruises reminding of a vampire bite.) The gland is enlarged even though the hormone production is still normal. This was discovered by my GP who referred me to a surgeon at the hospital. I may have to wait another month for the result of the biopsy, and to learn whether I'll need an operation or not. Since the not-knowing state of mind might tend to make me a bit snappish, I decided I'd better give you fair warning...

It has not been the best of weeks!

Good News and Bad

As I told you in yesterday's post, I've been having trouble with an eye for a few weeks, and yesterday I got an appointment with an eye doctor to check it out. It was a tiring afternoon at the hospital, with a lot of waiting. The answer I got was pretty much what I expected (already having sort of diagnosed myself with the help of the internet). Which in turn includes a mix of good and bad news...

With the help of Wikipedia (going from the Swedish article to the English one), I learn that in English the condition is called posterior vitreous detachment or PVD. It means that the vitreous humour  which fills the eye behind the lens (humour to me has so far meant having fun!), shrinks and detatches from the retina. This is apparently a common thing in the ageing process, and especially if you are nearsighted - which I am, and have been since childhood. One of the symptoms of PVD can be a dramatic increase in the number and concentration of "floaters" in the eye. Floaters are deposits of various size, shape, motility etc within the eye. These are visible because of the shadows they cast on the retina or their refraction of the light that passes through them. They may appear as spots, threads or  "clouds" which float slowly before the sufferer's eyes. Since these objects exist within the eye itself, they are not optical illusions but so called entoptic phenomena. (That is: You're not imagining them. They are there, within the eye.) And that is what's happening to me. I have this very irritating, dark grey "cloud" floating about in my right eye. It is especially noticable in reading, both on paper and on the screen.

The good news is that the condition in itself is not really "dangerous". There is some hope (but no promise) that the floaters might by themselves eventually drop to somewhere within the eye where they are less disturbing. Part of the bad news is that there is no treatment, and nothing anyone can do to prevent it. By the examination yesterday they were also able to determine that I have PVD on both eyes even though I've only been having this visual problem on one eye. There is also always a risk of damage to the retina in the PVD process; but I have not had any symptoms of that - flashes of light, or restriction of the visual field. (If one does, one should contact the hospital immediately. Damage to the retina can be treated with laser; untreated it can cause blindness.) The only advice the doctor could give me was - not to lift heavy things! [sigh] Well, since I'm already restricted when it comes to that (because of neck-shoulder-arm problems), I guess that little piece of advice should not be too hard to follow.

For the examination, I was given some eyedrops to dilate the pupil. This made my vision blurry for a few hours afterwards. They told me about this in advance because it means one shouldn't drive back from the doctor's. Well, I don't have a car anyway. Already being nearsighted, I had expected worse. I found myself perfectly able to take the bus again downtown and then walk the rest of the way home from there. I was glad I had thought of bringing my prescription sunglasses, though. Not only did I see better with those on (less disturbed by the light), it probably also spared the fellow human beings I met from being scared to death by the sight of my dilated pupils. Which I myself wasn't confronted with until I came home and faced the bathroom mirror:



Yikes!

I was also very tired from all the uncomfortable sitting upright in the waiting room all afternoon. (I was told to be there at two, and I arrived in good time. Had to wait until three before I got to see a nurse, and then another hour before I got to see the doctor. Seemed to be a lot of emergencies that day.) So I ended up going to bed at 7 p.m. (eyes closed and Venetian blinds drawn) to listen to an audio book for a couple of hours before I went to sleep.

This morning, my eye size was back to normal. (First picture.) But the cloud is still floating about... And it does make me tired. So I guess I will have to include this too "in the picture" when trying to adjust (again) my daily schedule. Taking breaks to rest my eyes as well as my neck etc.

Should add that I have less trouble watching TV than reading, because then I usually don't have to move my eyes over the screen so much, but can sort of park the cloud at the right corner of my eye.

Wait and See?

Contemplating the quotation in my previous post today... Do you ever wonder... Well, silly question, really - I guess all bloggers do, from time to time:  Shall I put this or that on the blog or not...?

This, I would normally wait with, until I knew a bit more. But since I might not feel up to blogging directly afterwards, there might be a point in telling you before. I've been having "a spot of" trouble with an eye for a couple of weeks, a sort of irritating shadow floating about... Thought it was just a temporary irritation, but it's not getting better (nor worse, really), so this morning I got on the phone to the eye clinic at the hospital. And they gave me an "emergency" appointment at 2 p.m. today. If nothing else they'll be giving me some eyedrops for the examination that will make my vision blurry for a while. They told me this to point out that I shouldn't drive. But I don't drive anyway, so I'll take the bus there and maybe a taxi back home afterwards. But perhaps I'd better stay off the computer tonight...

The Sacred Diary

This is a blog post without a point (that remark directed at a certain reader who wondered if there always has to be one). So I'll make three.

1/ I seem to be in an every-other-day mode at the moment. Every other day (or so) I get inspired to "do things", and the next day I find myself totally exhausted and not wanting to do anything at all. On Sunday I went to that scrapbooking event, which was costly but interesting. Yesterday I can't even remember what I did, all I know is that I had intended to go out in the afternoon, but ended up sleeping instead (in spite of sunshine outside). So I'm writing this down mainly to remind myself tomorrow of what I did today...

2/ It's still a cold and dangerous world out there. Normally (a word that does not really apply to this winter) I prefer to go shopping etc in the morning; but when it's -12° in the morning and +5° in the afternoon, it seems better from that aspect to reverse things. Some spots are also still really icy, so I decided to take the bus half way to the supermarket. For safety! But for some reason, although I had pressed the bell in good time, the driver did not stop at the bus stop; I had to shout "hey", and then he brought the bus to a very sudden halt, way past the platform. Getting off, the step was really too high for me, and I was "this" close to falling (making a gesture you can't see). As a result I now have pain in a hip and knee which are otherwise usually among the less painful parts of my body. By the time I got home (walking now in spite of all seemed safer than getting on another bus), I again felt exhausted, so I can only guess that tomorrow will be another sleeping-day. (And laundry. Mustn't forget...)

3/ After writing the post entitled Church(es) the other day, I decided to reread The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (aged 37 3/4). I found that this book still has me ROTFLOL (web abbreviaton for "rolling on the floor laughing out loud"); except that I try staying on the bed, because that's more comfortable than the floor. Anyway, I think I shall have to try and get hold of it in English, too, because I only have the Swedish translation, and there are some puns and anagrams in it that I'd really like to know the original versions of...

I'm tired, and aching. Think I'd better get back to my bed and my book!

Waterhole

Most of the year, twice a week, I go to the hospital for individual physiotherapy exercises in the Rehab pool (which keeps a temperature of +33°C). This because of my neck/shoulder problems. After six months though (unless there are very special medical reasons) we have to take a break for three months, because there is a queue of patients waiting for their chance.

So far, since they introduced the three-months-break-every-six-months rule, I have been lucky: My first break fell in the early autumn and just after I had moved from one flat to another (so I really had a lot of things to keep me busy). And then last year the break was over the summer months.

After that I've had another six months training period lasting from late August until today. In the winter especially, although it is an extra effort with all the extra clothes etc, I really really appreciate the opportunity for exercises in wam water. I also find it serves as a kind of 'light therapy' because of the large windows and lamps and the reflections in the water. And even if I don't usually chat a whole lot with my fellow penguins on these occasions, it still also means getting out "among people" and seeing some familiar faces.

Today was my last appointment before the next long break. Yesterday, looking at the snow situation and weather forecast, I thought: No, I'll have to cancel. I did however set my alarm clock for the usual time this morning. I got up, and I looked at the thermometer outside my window: -16°C. That really is cold! But there had been no more snow to speak of falling over the night. The roads were ploughed yesterday. The busses would probably be running again. There did not seem to be much of a wind - yet. And it was my last opportunity for a very long while... So I plucked up my courage and determination, packed my gear, and got dressed (layer upon layer). I then as usual kept a lookout through the window for the bus, because this time of the year (trees bare) I can see it as it passes by (on a road some distance away) in this direction. And then at least I know it has not got stuck in some heap of snow (there is a tricky hill it has to get over on its way), and I have just enough time to put on my outdoor clothes and go catch it as it returns...

Then the phone rang, just a couple of minutes before I would have to leave. The call was from staff at the pool: No caved in roof (see yesterday's post), but they are having problems with frozen pipes! So they had to cancel! 

I'm so glad the call came before I left! (And that I answered!) It would have felt like such a waste of energy to get there just to find the place closed.

I'm now trying to pluck up that courage and determination again, to go out for a bit of a walk instead. (Without having to drag a heavy bag along.) At least I'm already half dressed for it... Maybe!  

Another Day

I'm still really tired after the adventures of the day before yesterday (see The Troubles of Today 6 Oct) - and this whole tomorrow-today-yesterday thing is getting really confusing now! I will have to think of some other kind of heading soon...

I was made aware by comments from concerned friends on the last two posts, that it might perhaps be a good idea to repeat the facts that I myself suffer from chronic pain in neck-shoulder-arm, and that my dad has problems walking (among other things - it is a neurological problem). It was too far for him to walk within the hospital, and I can't push a wheelchair, and these facts combined caused A LOT of problems - which I really should have foreseen more clearly than I did (and protested more loudly than I did about the arrangements, or lack of, in this case). I probably would have, if I had had a bit more time to think than just finding out about the appointment half a day in advance... Hence I also had not seen the letter which said quite clearly that blood samples should be taken a week before the doctor's appointment. Home care staff missed that line, which made the whole extremely tiresome day quite meaningless, because without the test results the doctor of course could say nothing. This is what I had in mind in the last post when I argued that "worrying" a bit more beforehand, in this particular case, might actually have helped...

Yesterday, I tried to call home care to discuss how to avoid this kind of thing next time, but of course the Right Someone was on holiday for the rest of the week. (Aren't they always...) I did talk to Someone Else, but had better try again next week to get hold of Ms. More-Directly-In-Charge to make sure. So it's still hanging over me.

Today I was still feeling strangely extraordinarily stressed... It kept getting worse until in the late afternoon it dawned on me that I had forgotten to take my blood pressure pills in the morning.  (The fact that I forgot to take them still indicates stress...)

This was another depressing post to write and probably to read. I don't want to write stuff like this. I want to write fun-to-read stuff. I hope I'll be able to get back to that soon. Thanks for listening.