Emilie McMeekan tells us how LYMA helped her fix her sleep issues.
I used to wake up at 11, 1 and 3 at night.
Picture the scene. The alarm goes off at 6am. You have been lying there since 5:05am with your anxiety gremlin sitting on your chest, interrogating you about how on earth you think you are getting to get through the day/week/month.
In between interrogations, the gremlin is also reminding you of all the embarrassing things you said at dinner last night/in that meeting in 2014/at Chris Barnes’* party when you were 15.
So, when the alarm actually does go off, you are not exactly tumbling out of bed and pouring yourself a cup of ambition. More like crawling out of bed, hooking yourself up to an IV caffeine drip and praying that everything gets cancelled or that you get hit by a bus – whichever happens first.
Is this any way to live? But this was me. And some of you might be reading this and saying ‘5??? That’s a lie-in! If only I could sleep until 5!’ so I have to add, competitively, that I was also awake at 11, 1 and 3. Where’s my medal?
As we age, we pop out of the break between those sleep cycles like a cork.
For a while, this sort of stuttery sleep - followed by early wake-up - was ok. But earlier this year, odd things started to happen. I fell asleep fully-clothed on my bed before my Pilates class at 6pm. I fell asleep on the sofa fully-clothed waiting for the children to come downstairs so we could go out for lunch.
I developed social anxiety about going out and seeing my friends because I was worried about being too tired to function like a normal human woman the following day. I felt broadly confused. Confused?! I am 47 FFS. All that wisdom, all that hard won experience reduced to confusion! So someone (Annabel Rivkin) told me about LYMA.
And the LYMA experts told me that the sleep cycle (here’s the science-y bit) is an oscillation between the slow-wave and REM phases of sleep. The cycle takes between 70-110 mins and, as we age, we become more vulnerable to popping out of the break between those sleep cycles like a cork. Unable to sink back under, we lie there, awake and panicking.
But in the LYMA Supplement, there’s an ingredient called Ashwagandha, which is a member of the species somnifera (in Latin that means ‘sleep-inducing.’ Told you…wisdom). It can gently help you stay under the surface during those sleep cycle transitions.
I am sleeping better than I have in years. I am positively bedevilled with sleep. So now if you meet me, I may dazzle you with my Rest is Politics podcast repartee and in-depth knowledge of the Netflix back catalogue. I may no longer be hiding in the loo, at a dinner, wondering if it’s too early to leave.
At last, sleep. The nutritious kind. Not the desperately light and restless kind. And, it, turns out, sleep is everything.
*not his real name. As if I could remember his real name. I can hardly remember mine.
Always consult your medical professional if you have a medical condition, or existing health protocol, before beginning any new supplementation regime.
