The Dark Side of my Mind

Insomnia

A/n: First off, the song above was just oh so fitting that I couldn't help but add it in. And no, I don't own the copy write to the song nor did I create the lyric video. If I owned anything, I wouldn't be here right now, I can assure you of that.

Let's move on to the main course now. This is a topic that I can fully relate to, seeing as I do suffer from Chronic, Primary Insomnia. Not to the point where I'm awake for weeks on end, but enough that I have an extremely hard time falling asleep at night. (And no, meds don't work for me. I have horrible reactions to them. My body can't handle sleep aids. They either give me severe stomach pains that are counter-productive to me falling asleep or give me the worse migraine headaches I have EVER experienced.)

Now, for those of you who don't know what insomnia is, it's a fairly serious sleep disorder. I won't go into full details about it as that would take way too long to explain. I'll simply leave a link to a website on the topic. I find that the following website covers the topic of insomnia quite well. Just copy and paste it into whatever Internet Explorer Bar that you use. https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/insomnia-symptoms-and-causes#1

There is one thing that a lot of people don't realize about insomnia though because it isn't really talked about, but I'm going to talk about here. When I'm running on only a few hours of sleep, I find that after a while my.... personality goes a little weird, for lack of a better term. Sometimes the littlest of things will set me off into a laughing fit or I'll start to act a little crazy; humming for no reason, "bouncing off the walls" (hyperactivity), severe muscle twitching (especially around the eyes), even full-blown zoning out for hours at a time.

Eventually if you go long enough without enough sleep, it can and most likely will kill you. It's like if you eat too much junk food or don't exercising enough; too little sleep will also severely affect your health. It's the reason why it's one of the three necessities of a health lifestyle - Proper diet (Healthy foods in reasonable portions for your body size and type), at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, and at least 6 hours of sleep at night (for kids it should be at least 8 hours of sleep a night).

I'm serious; the next time someone you know says that they didn't get enough sleep the night before, watch them closely. Try and spot the differences in their personality or behavior. If you don't see it, then there's something wrong with your eyes. That or you just don't pay enough attention. 'Cause even if it's only a slight difference in how they normally act, it will still be there for you to see. After you've done that, imagine just how large those differences would be if they had gone several nights with little to no sleep. Did you come back with a pretty picture?

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Sleep Deprived

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He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. It had been over a decade and he still couldn't sleep soundly. It was starting to drive him crazy.

Almost 11 years ago had been the worst night ever for him.

That night had changed everything for him. His parents murdered right in front of him, his little sister missing but presumed dead, and as for him.... the ugly scar that he carried as a constant reminder would always pull if he moved the wrong way.

It had been a relief when it broke on the news that one of the men responsible for the attack had turned himself in after having killed his two accomplices. Then a few months later it was reported that the bastard had committed suicide after a mental breakdown. While knowing that those men could never hurt anyone ever again was a relief, it still didn't get rid of his paranoia.