Anyone with insomnia bemused at how people are reacting to having to go to work after watching the England match?

[Whiski]

I know it’s not the norm for many people, but if you suffer with insomnia, going to work and pushing through the day is something we have to do on an almost daily basis and there is very little sympathy from employers.

Watching breakfast TV people are acting OTT at the one day they didn’t get a full nights rest.

Absolutely everything in life is relative.

I have insomnia, and agree that I do think the football watchers can just get on with it.

But ... there is a difference between at least lying quietly in bed/trying to do something relaxing and being in a highly adrenaline charged environment with lots of noise for many hours last night (which is the case for a lot of people I know that watched the football).

I hear you. There was a time when dropping off at 4am to awake at 8am was a good nights sleep for me. As a student I often do all nighters now because it’s honestly when I work best. But it’s far from optimal and I’m much better when I get 8 hours (thanks to mirtazapine!). It’s all relative. Many people fast all day for weeks on end, I definitely couldn’t cope with that. So if people who usually sleep well are struggling on a few hours sleep, who am I to judge?

I love sleep and having been woken at 4.30 by some idiots yelling “England!!!” on repeat as they walked home has definitely made me wake up more tired. I wont dare mention it as everyone else in my team stayed up to watch and can’t comprehend that I simply do not care.

I don't think it's the insomnia, it's hyping up that the England men's football team have won a game and so yet another excuse to cover it. There was not the same coverage about the Scotland game in the middle of the night UK time.

Not really a competition is it. My three year old still doesn’t sleep well. I don’t compare my tiredness to people who aren’t parents and don’t sleep well. We all have different circumstances.

The lack of sleep for such a big game is just part of the hype, don’t be so miserable about it all.

Plus I assume that you’re not usually in the pub until 5am each night with your insomnia.

I get mine from Amazon. My son put me on to it and I find it genuinely makes a difference.

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It probably has more to do with the alcohol consumed than lack of sleep.

I developed severe tinnitus over a year ok and haven't slept properly since. Life is a slog.

I wish I only had a single night of less sleep than normal!

Are you really wondering why people are talking about it? It’s part of the biggest news story / talking point of the day.

Yes! I was thinking this. I can get by on very little sleep so a day of only a few hours sleep before work wouldn’t really bother me.

Yep. I did wake up deliberately to watch the game and have definitely felt worse with actual insomnia. Or having a toddler and a 5 year old and just being generally exhausted.

Fellow insomniac here. One bonus... I woke (as normal) turned telly on, saw one goal, turned telly off within minutes. Rinse and repeat for another goal and the penalty. And I don't even like football !

I honestly think people who sleep well have no idea how draining it is to be an insomniac. Very occasionally, maybe once every few years, I have a sleep that is the same as my bestie friend... 9 hours and it is a revelation because I feel I could conquer the world and I think to myself, so THIS is what it is like to sleep well, you do not know how lucky you are.

I was like this from a young child, I remember being at primary school and being awake in the night.

I can't have early nights because I wake at 2 or 3am then. I'm old and it has got worse the older I've got, but luckily I am retired now so can cope. But I do get sick of dragging myself around through tiredness.

I hate when people tell you that you’re fine because you’re used to it, you NEVER get used to it!

⬆️ This with knobs on! My friend says to me "you just don't need so much sleep".
I do I do, because I know how wonderful I feel when I get 8 hours (rare as hens teeth).

My thoughts are that it’s probably mostly men going on about it as all over the world, women are routinely going to work on fuck all sleep after being up all night with sick babies/kids or just bad sleepers Just another day for many of us! (Although you do get rapidly unaccustomed it, DD2 was a terrible sleeper for the first 9 months and I carried on with very little sleep, but now on the very odd occasion I get woken up, it feels way harder!)

And the alcohol.
My morning commuter train was empty this morning, it was bliss.

No insomnia but really severe sleep apnea undiagnosed for years overlapping with a child in and out of hospital for 18 months (you can imagine my sleep quality sleeping next to him!) then twins. It's only now they all sleep through and I'm having my sleep apnea treated that I fully understand how exhausted I was for so long. It amazes me I functioned so well, even when I didn't function that well it was still impressive under the circs. One random night of no sleep won't kill anyone will a good usual sleep but it is hard. Just like being in pain one day is still shit even though others live with chronic pain.

I think it's this - in some way it's all part of the experience!

I don't have insomnia exactly, but I do have a nearly 6 year old who has only started sleeping through the night consistently in the past 6 months, likewise only recently started reliably sleeping past 5am. So I did not stay up for the match because I cannot imagine ever voluntarily putting myself in that position again now we finally have relatively un-disturbed nights at last. DH slept for a couple of hours, got up for the match, and then slept maybe another hour after - to be fair that's not hugely unusual for him as he's a terrible sleeper anyway, it's definitely his genes I blame for DD's awful sleep!

This, both of mine woke 8-10 times a night until each was 2 (except the rare occasion they’d only wake once but that wake would be from 1-4am). I went back to work at 6 months with each of them, so a cumulative 3 years of working on a couple of hours broken sleep max. I just internally rolled my eyes when colleagues said they’d be in late because they wouldn’t be able to cope on such little sleep!

My insomnia does not involve "lying quietly in bed, trying to do something relaxing..." I cannot relax. I cannot - because It's so tortuous - turn my brain to anything at all.

God YES! You describe exactly what it feels like and how amazing that one-off, astonishingly rare good night feels.

Fellow insomniac here. All moaning they're tired. But it was a choice to stay up!

Lots of bitter insomniacs on this thread.

Not the slightest bit bitter. I just live with insomnia and as with anything that affects my life, it is encouraging to talk with others who struggle with the same problem.
Not sure why that is bitter

You're simply noticing that people take something you don't have for granted. I'm effectively housebound and live with a health condition that means I've got constant health uncertainty. I found the pandemic and lockdown basically the same as my real life. Easier in many ways as more was 'open' to me. But, understandably, for many people it was a huge deviation. It's hard to imagine someone else's lived experience, although people can try. I'm sorry you've got insomnia. That must be tough.