4 Things to Love About Sleep in Light of Chronic Pain

I love being asleep. That's a truism no matter the situation - napping, accidentally dozing off or proper nighttime sleep. My love of sleep even extends to all things surrounding it. Here are 4 things to love about sleep in light of chronic pain:

1. I love our bed, pillows, blankets and sheets. Getting into bed at night and snuggling into all that softness is such a relief after a long day of fibromyalgia and migraine pains. I'm never quite so aware of just how much stress my chronic pain puts on my body until my bedding surrounds me with soothing comfort.

Gypsy likes to snuggle under blankets too

2. I love it when feeling sleepy and feeling tired converge at a time when I can give into both and just sleep. See, I'm always tired (exhausted would be more accurate) but I don't always feel sleepy. My chronic migraines and fibromyalgia conspire to make sleeping tricky and, at times, quite elusive. I'm happy whenever sleep happens but truly relish the sensation of giving into those tired and sleepy feelings. Drifting off to sleep and stepping away from awareness.

3. I love waking up and seeing I still have time to go back to sleep AND being able to actually go back to sleep. This allows me to enjoy the drifting off again. Okay, okay, this is a rare event. The truth is, waking up in the middle of the night happens to me a lot. Most of the time, I can't get back to sleep. But what a gift when it does happen.

4. Then we have the main event - the sleep. Now, sleep is wonderful for many reasons and has plenty of health benefits but, for me, it all about one simple thing - Escape. When I'm asleep I'm not aware of my pain. I'm not thinking about my pain. I'm glossing over big chunks of time with none of the effort my waking hours require of me. Even though I basically never wake up feeling rested or refreshed, I truly appreciate the respite from the constant struggle of chronic pain.