Renee Zellweger and The On-Call Effect

Last week I read about Renee Zellweger's insomnia, but just finally got around to blogging about it.  Zellweger is quoted as saying "I wake up in the night, thinking about the role and the scenes. I can't seem to break the spell."

The inability to turn one's mind off is one of the chief complaints of insomniacs.  Zellweger is probably also suffering from something called "on-call effect" -- when you can't get to sleep because you're anxiously awaiting the next day's events. 

This is not surprising to hear about within the entertaininment industry, when crew and performers have to travel often and report for "call times" as early as 5 or 6 a.m.  On-call effect is also very common with new parents, who can't sleep because they're waiting for the baby to start crying.

If you're like Renee and you can't shut your body and mind off at bedtime, you may need to initiate some sleep rituals to help you unwind.  Here are a few things you can try:

1. Take a hot bath or shower before bed.
2. Try some stretching exercises to let the tension out.
3. Write your concerns in a worry journal.

Worry Journals, which I describe in detail in my book, can be surprisingly effective.  Oftentimes what keeps us up at night is thinking about all our "To Do"s.  If you write them down before you go to sleep, and convert your concerns into action items for the next day, you free yourself of the obligation to keep thinking about them.

Here are some links to other resources that you may find helpful if you can't shut your mind off at night:

• Insomnia Action Plan
• SoundSleep Article:  What to Do About Insomnia
• SoundSleep Article:  Sleep Do's and Don'ts
• SoundSleep Article:  Better Sleep on Business Trips
  

If you have any personal tips or tricks you've learned over the years, I invite you to list them in the Comments below.  If it works for you, chances are it will work for others!

Comments

[sarah]

How long can a person take ambien without it becoming addictive or ineffective? I have been given 10 mg ambien to take 2 times in the past 90 days for 10 days each prescription. It works wonderfully but my doctor is very reluctant to prescribe more of this. I have tried trazadone but it makes me very hung over feeling the next day and I have nightmares when I take it. I am sleeping OK now, but, I worry that I will have problems again in the future. I think exercise--I am training to run a marathon in March--is helping and also getting up by 5:30 every morning helps too. Ambien is like a wonder drug for me because when I am on it I fall asleep almost instantly and have no side effects. I did have hallucinations with it once though.

[Michael Breus, PhD]

There is no data currently to suggest that Ambien is physically addictive; however, if someone does not sleep well, and they take a pill that helps them sleep, they are going to want that pill the next night! Since I am not an MD I cannot give advice on medications, but I can tell you that in my clinical experience we had many people who were comfortable taking Ambien every night for YEARS, and others who were not comfortable taking for more than a week.

In truth the current data suggests that if you can change your sleep habits, this will last longer than any medication. Without sounding too promotional, have you had a chance to look at my book? It is a 28 night program that should really help with sleep. I also have a meditation CD that can also be quite useful.

I hope this helps,

Dr. Mike PhD

[Amanda MacMillan]

Thanks for this interesting post ... it's always fascinating to read about the stars and their sleep problems. They're so busy with jet setting and movie premiers and late-night partying, it's no wonder they can't always get the shut-eye they need. You can read more about Renee's insomnia and other famous people's sleep issues at this Health.com slideshow: http://slideshows.health.com/slide_shows/10278/slides/10908