“…To Sleep – To Sleep, Perchance To Dream…” Then Again, Maybe Not… - June 3, 2017
This past week I listened to a Ted Talk by Lisa Genova about Alzheimer disease prevention. https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_genova_what_you_can_do_to_prevent_alzheimer_s/transcript?language=en I really liked this description – Forgetfulness is when you don’t remember where you put your car keys. Alzheimers is when you put them in the freezer.
You may think I am a little obsessed about Alzheimer disease, and I am. It runs in both my hub’s and my family. Lisa went through a list of ten factors which can decrease Alzheimer risk, and I do fairly well on most of them.
And then there are the ones I’m not so great at.
And then there is the one where I get a failing grade.
I really do try to get good sleep, but I have a hard time falling asleep. It takes me an hour of reading a mindless novel and an hour of listening to a boring podcast. A hard time staying asleep - I’m up at least once during the night. Yes, I know that in the seniors age group, that doesn’t make me special.
And I wake up around 4:30 am. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but sometimes I just wait until around 5:45 am to start waking up the household. Lucy the cat doesn’t mind – it means an earlier breakfast. Laurence would mind – but he can sleep like a husband.
And I have lots of super silly nightmares. Here is part of Wednesday night’s – the one I had between 4:10 and 5:40 am. I dreamed Laur and I had moved somewhere in Southern Ontario because I was doing a placement there. When we arrived, it was empty and it was a disaster. Dirty laundry everywhere and the dryer wouldn’t work. And dirty?! Even the pictures on the wall were covered with a film of something.
Things quickly changed. Turns out we were staying with a family and the only reason they let me stay there was because I was taking their baby to the placement with me. And the placement changed everyday for about 14 days.
There was a rack of teaching material that I had to know and take with me, but somehow it had gotten all mixed up. So, I just grabbed the stuff from the top rack in hope… The name of the day care I was going to that day was attached to the rack. Also, the time I needed to be there. OH NO! It was already 7 am and I was supposed to be there are at 5:50 am. Gah!
The baby I was supposed to take with me was still sleeping. He or she had not been changed or fed or anything. I was feeling panicky. Said I, in my dream, to Laurence, “Could you please drive me to my placement. I’m already so late.” And Laur responded, “Jannie, you’ve got to learn to drive in the big city by yourself.” (In all fairness, Laur is really good about being the chauffeur in big city driving. And some small town as well.)
Somehow in my dream, I found the car and accidentally backed it down an embankment and could not get it back on the road. OK… Breathe, Jannie, you can do this! I started walking down the road and waving at vehicles, but no one stopped. I somehow arrived at a gigantic bus station. Phew! Two more problems. I had forgotten my wallet and had no way to pay. Plus, I could not remember the name of the place where I was supposed to go to. Who knows where I left the baby?! I asked the person at the ticket booth if I could please use her phone to phone my husband so he could bring me my wallet and tell me where I was going. And she said, “No! You are not allowed to use this phone.”
I don’t know what happened next, so that must have been when I woke up. And, gah! I had overslept by 10 minutes. On Thursdays, I need to wake up at 5:30 am in order to get my jog-walk in before heading over to volunteer in the breakfast program. (I get very jittery if I don’t get some exercise, first thing in the morning. You likely don’t find this surprising.)
Ah well, the rest of the day went wonderfully. After the breakfast program, I did some fun classes at GoodLife. I talked to my kids by facebook messaging, and I talked to my mommy by phone. Picked up some new library books at the Dr. Huq branch (which I call the Dr. Hug branch because everyone there is so nice) which is only a five-minute walk from us. Hubs and I had a mock “steak” dinner with all the trimmings and a nice walk after supper.
And when I climbed into bed, I gave thanks for a good day. I am very mindful that although I am not a good sleeper, I have a comfy bed and there are no bombs exploding around me.
And if I get Alzheimer disease, I like what Lisa Genova has to say about this:
“And if, despite all of this, you are someday diagnosed with Alzheimer's, there are three lessons I've learned from my grandmother and the dozens of people I've come to know living with this disease. Diagnosis doesn't mean you're dying tomorrow. Keep living. You won't lose your emotional memory. You'll still be able to understand love and joy. You might not remember what I said five minutes ago, but you'll remember how I made you feel. And you are more than what you can remember.”
Besides, if I do start putting the car keys in the freezer, that will be a very good sign that Laur will HAVE to chauffeur me to whatever it is I won’t remember doing. 😊
You may think I am a little obsessed about Alzheimer disease, and I am. It runs in both my hub’s and my family. Lisa went through a list of ten factors which can decrease Alzheimer risk, and I do fairly well on most of them.
- Low blood pressure – check
- Cardio fitness – check
- Mediterranean style diet – check (minus the fish)
- No diabetes – check
- Normal body weight – check
- No smoking – check
- Normal cholesterol – check
And then there are the ones I’m not so great at.
- Learning new things. Well, if trying to re-remember every week how many eggs to scramble for the kids’ breakfast program is learning new things, I’m on it.
- Engage in mentally stimulating activities. Hmm. Only if reading murder mystery books and listening to educational podcasts counts.
And then there is the one where I get a failing grade.
- Getting lots of good sleep. Ooopppsss.
I really do try to get good sleep, but I have a hard time falling asleep. It takes me an hour of reading a mindless novel and an hour of listening to a boring podcast. A hard time staying asleep - I’m up at least once during the night. Yes, I know that in the seniors age group, that doesn’t make me special.
And I wake up around 4:30 am. Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but sometimes I just wait until around 5:45 am to start waking up the household. Lucy the cat doesn’t mind – it means an earlier breakfast. Laurence would mind – but he can sleep like a husband.
And I have lots of super silly nightmares. Here is part of Wednesday night’s – the one I had between 4:10 and 5:40 am. I dreamed Laur and I had moved somewhere in Southern Ontario because I was doing a placement there. When we arrived, it was empty and it was a disaster. Dirty laundry everywhere and the dryer wouldn’t work. And dirty?! Even the pictures on the wall were covered with a film of something.
Things quickly changed. Turns out we were staying with a family and the only reason they let me stay there was because I was taking their baby to the placement with me. And the placement changed everyday for about 14 days.
There was a rack of teaching material that I had to know and take with me, but somehow it had gotten all mixed up. So, I just grabbed the stuff from the top rack in hope… The name of the day care I was going to that day was attached to the rack. Also, the time I needed to be there. OH NO! It was already 7 am and I was supposed to be there are at 5:50 am. Gah!
The baby I was supposed to take with me was still sleeping. He or she had not been changed or fed or anything. I was feeling panicky. Said I, in my dream, to Laurence, “Could you please drive me to my placement. I’m already so late.” And Laur responded, “Jannie, you’ve got to learn to drive in the big city by yourself.” (In all fairness, Laur is really good about being the chauffeur in big city driving. And some small town as well.)
Somehow in my dream, I found the car and accidentally backed it down an embankment and could not get it back on the road. OK… Breathe, Jannie, you can do this! I started walking down the road and waving at vehicles, but no one stopped. I somehow arrived at a gigantic bus station. Phew! Two more problems. I had forgotten my wallet and had no way to pay. Plus, I could not remember the name of the place where I was supposed to go to. Who knows where I left the baby?! I asked the person at the ticket booth if I could please use her phone to phone my husband so he could bring me my wallet and tell me where I was going. And she said, “No! You are not allowed to use this phone.”
I don’t know what happened next, so that must have been when I woke up. And, gah! I had overslept by 10 minutes. On Thursdays, I need to wake up at 5:30 am in order to get my jog-walk in before heading over to volunteer in the breakfast program. (I get very jittery if I don’t get some exercise, first thing in the morning. You likely don’t find this surprising.)
Ah well, the rest of the day went wonderfully. After the breakfast program, I did some fun classes at GoodLife. I talked to my kids by facebook messaging, and I talked to my mommy by phone. Picked up some new library books at the Dr. Huq branch (which I call the Dr. Hug branch because everyone there is so nice) which is only a five-minute walk from us. Hubs and I had a mock “steak” dinner with all the trimmings and a nice walk after supper.
And when I climbed into bed, I gave thanks for a good day. I am very mindful that although I am not a good sleeper, I have a comfy bed and there are no bombs exploding around me.
And if I get Alzheimer disease, I like what Lisa Genova has to say about this:
“And if, despite all of this, you are someday diagnosed with Alzheimer's, there are three lessons I've learned from my grandmother and the dozens of people I've come to know living with this disease. Diagnosis doesn't mean you're dying tomorrow. Keep living. You won't lose your emotional memory. You'll still be able to understand love and joy. You might not remember what I said five minutes ago, but you'll remember how I made you feel. And you are more than what you can remember.”
Besides, if I do start putting the car keys in the freezer, that will be a very good sign that Laur will HAVE to chauffeur me to whatever it is I won’t remember doing. 😊