Just a Few Sleeps Away

Just a Few Sleeps Away has 23 ratings and 6 reviews. Kathy said: This is a true story of a young woman from Wisconsin who was killed on Sept. 11, making.
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Three-quarters of our snapshot respondents said they worried about sleep at least some of the time and 23 per cent of people often did. Edie Eicas, a year-old poet, artist and editor from Adelaide, often wakes in the middle of the night and finds intrusive thoughts stop her going back to sleep, sometimes for periods up to several hours. She's experienced this for around 20 years. Sometimes it's nearby traffic noise that wakes her up. She believes a traumatic marital separation may have been the initial trigger for her sleep issues.

Ms Eicas was one of the many people who got in touch when we asked you to share your sleep stories as part of Reboot Your Life this month.

Sleep tips for Edie

Try something other than listening to podcasts to help get back to sleep: The fact podcasts sometimes stimulate suggests they are not the ideal activity. She needs to try something more relaxing.

Walking through but they are just sleeping away !

Perhaps books or audio books that are not too arousing in their story lines could be worth a try. Don't stay in bed to do activities to help get back to sleep: If Edie can't readily drop off to sleep again within say 20 minutes, she should get up out of bed to do a relaxing activity, keeping the lights low, and return to bed only when she starts to feel sleepy again. The brain needs to learn to associate being in bed with being asleep. Lying in bed awake and frustrated, or doing a stimulating activity, gives your brain mixed messages that can weaken its 'drive' to send you to sleep.

Accept that sleep isn't perfect for everyone, but especially if you're over Edie needs to understand that waking in the night is a normal part of sleep sometimes. If you're over 65, this may be especially so because the sleep cycle is a bit less robust in older people thought to be linked to weaker rises in the sleep hormone melatonin in the brain, compared to younger people. Believing night waking is a sign of failure or a disastrous problem will only make you more anxious and so make it less likely you'll return to sleep rapidly.

Don't spend too long in bed, hoping to get sleep: When sleep is fragmented, it's tempting to go to bed earlier, and stay in bed later the next day to try to 'catch up'. In fact, this can weaken the drive to sleep. Edie should try limiting her total time in bed to the hours of sleep she actually needs.

So she should avoid staying in bed 9. It might be tough going for a few nights, but done regularly, restricting sleep helps to consolidate it, so awakenings are shorter. Try to reduce noise in the sleep environment: Earplugs are cheap and there are online stores that have a large variety of styles and sizes to try for a comfortable fit. Other options include double glazing on windows, or moving to another room in the house, further away from the street, to sleep.

If the busy mind scenario sounds familiar, Professor Hillman suggests setting aside some deliberate "worry time" earlier in the evening to reflect on the day's activities and how you're going to deal with them. That's the wrong time. The advice is to get some of the processing done in advance of going to sleep. Don't leave thoughts in suspense to be worked on overnight. Some of these techniques are really just more elaborate forms of the ancient counting sheep ploy," he said.

When worries stop sleep and then you worry about not sleeping

You can't invent a one-size-fits-all solution. You can try out a range of relaxation and meditation audio files here. But solving a sleep worry problem often depends on more than changing behaviours, said sleep psychologist Professor Dorothy Bruck of the Sleep Health Foundation. Often it involves changing the way you think about sleep too, to be less perfectionistic about your sleep goals. And then [they're] almost 'over catastrophising' about the consequences of that the next day," she said.

It can be helpful to reframe your anxious thoughts to something like "I might be a bit tired tomorrow, but I'll cope", he said. Changing these thinking patterns can be tricky if they've existed a long time, he concedes. There are some excellent self-help books and online resources that can help.

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The Sleep Health Foundation lists some low-cost online sleep improvement programs you can try. Such online tools can be helpful if you live in a rural or remote location or have a busy schedule that makes appointments with a health professional difficult. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Just a Few Sleeps Away 3. Just a Few Sleeps Away is a true story of devastating heartbreak.

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To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Just a Few Sleeps Away , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about Just a Few Sleeps Away. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Dec 26, Kathy rated it it was ok.

This is a true story of a young woman from Wisconsin who was killed on Sept.

Ho, ho, ho: Carols in the Park just a few sleeps away - Snowy Mountains 2XL - Forever Classic

The local connection made me even more intrigued, thus I really wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Andrea Haberman's story is tragic, as is everything connected to that horrible day -- and as a parent, I cannot imagine what her family went through in the early days, and for years afterword. I felt compassion for them, certainly - but as a This is a true story of a young woman from Wisconsin who was killed on Sept.

I felt compassion for them, certainly - but as a book, I just couldn't get excited about Just a Few Sleeps Away. Andrea's story, while horrible, isn't really compelling reading simply because it has been told, again and again, in the tales of all the other victims. While her life was hers alone, her death was really a national event and this book didn't really add anything new under the sun, despite how awful the circumstances.

Also, I found the writing to be tough to follow -- not difficult to read, but somewhat disjointed in that the author jumped back and forth between people, places and time. Ultimately, it was a laundry list of the people they met in the aftermath of her death, and the role they played in helping I'm glad others came forward to offer help and compassion to this family - but it's not necesssarily the making of a great book. Mar 11, Nicole rated it really liked it. I couldn't put it down. My heart aches for Andrea, Al, her parents, and family Thank you for sharing this story with me. Sep 23, Jorjan Loos rated it really liked it.

This was a book selected by my book club and not one I would have normally chosen. I am very glad that I read it and was moved greatly by it. I am looking forward to the author joing us next Thursday to discuss it. Sep 30, Amy Pinkston rated it liked it. The first half of this book was great, Heartbreaking and devastating.

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The second half seemed to drag - definitely a pacing issue. I'd have preferred a little more of the relationships and a little less of the hunt to understand the inexplicable. Jan 20, Gretchen added it. Pretty funny -- the Mike Nichols who is described in Goodreads' author bio as the person who wrote this book is not the Mike Nichols who actually wrote it. Sep 10, Amanda marked it as to-read. A book written about a friend we lost on September 11th.


  • Just a Few Sleeps Away?
  • Just a Few Sleeps Away by Mike Nichols.
  • Set aside worry time.

Christine Brockman frailing rated it really liked it Sep 10, Jean rated it really liked it Aug 09, Melissa rated it liked it Jan 16, Kim Van Den Berg rated it it was ok Aug 25, Lynn rated it it was amazing Jul 29,