What Sophie Said

Dreams. I’ve been thinking more about them since an episode of The Odd Pear podcast a good few months ago (listen if you don’t, it always leaves me in a good mood!) They were chatting about the point of dreams, the meaning of dreams and the fact they’d love to understand more. Dreams regularly leave me completely baffled and maybe I should start recording them… although I think I’d start reading too much into them. I only remember my dreams for a short time after I’ve woken up, but in that time they're all I think about. Nightmares are the worst. I don’t remember having them too often when I was little, apart from a recurring one where I was having a picnic with my pet rabbit in a forest and a fox appeared (don’t ask!) However, in the last few years I’ve had them much more regularly. I guess you could put it down to pressure and stress, probably in some ways related to my anxiety and just being busy. The very worst are the teeth nightmares. I’m ...

Sleep. Everyone loves it, and the health and wellbeing benefits are well-documented. But I’m just a bit rubbish at it. I’ve never been a big sleeper. For as long as I can remember I’ve been an early-riser. Even if I’d had a late night, I’d be up bright and early. That in itself isn’t a problem; I’m a real morning person, and find my mornings to be so productive. However, as the years carried on, and as times became a bit tougher and my anxiety began to make itself known, any chance of a good sleep BEFORE the early wake-up went out the window. That’s when being an early riser becomes a problem. Because even if I hadn’t calmed my thoughts enough to fall asleep until 3am, I’d be wide awake at 6am. Once or twice, that’s ok. But when you’re going night after night after night of between three and five hours of sleep, it starts to take its toll. I know some people can barely function without a full eight hours of sleep, and that’s definitely not me. I sometimes...