Quote Originally Posted by IBrakeforPastry View Post
As long as there isn't a cat walking across my face, insisting that it's play time, I try to take a deep abdominal breath, exhale, and think "sleeeeeep" along with the exhale. I also try to gently roll my eyes upward to give them a little nudge in the right direction. If that doesn't work, I just get up and go to the bathroom By then, the cat knows I'm up, and a whole new battle begins.
Yeah; I've tried some yogic breathing to no avail. Over the past few years, I've had several issues that have just not helped at all in this regardl. First, I had a series of UTIs over the course of about six months that made me want to urinate all the time, especially at night. Second, I developed Graves' Disease, which made it extremely difficult to sleep/fall back asleep. Now, my brain simply refuses to relax when I wake up in the middle of the night unless I go to the bathroom. At least I can fall back asleep most nights. For a while, it was all over the minute I woke up. Last night, I managed to stay asleep all night. I can't remember the last time that happened.