Adenosine is a waste product of neurons and it is a potent nervous system depressant which is why if we don’t sleep for a long time we hallucinate, start to feel cold, and feel tired. We feel like we’re drugged because we kind of are. It also increases sleep pressure. Unlike other areas of the body the brain has no way of flushing out the adenosine unless we sleep which activates the glymphatic system. if we don’t sleep the adenosine keeps accumulating and it can kill us in a similar way an od of sleeping pills can.
I spent about a year practicing sleeping. I stay by telling myself that i deserve a good night of sleep. Spend several breaths feeling my bed, pillows, covers, and getting everything as comfortable as possible. Then i spend 3 breaths relaxing each body part, feeling the weight of it sink into the bed, starting with a foot. I focus really hard on this to keep my mind from wandering. I’m usually asleep by the time i get to my knees. It took practice, but now those 4am wakeups are usually brief. The hardest part is convincing myself that i deserve good sleep and can let everything else go.