Ever since I was a kid, I've had trouble sleeping. Not trouble falling asleep. I can fall sleep anywhere, anytime. I've dozed off at the computer, in school at
my desk, on trains, waiting in parking lots for children to get out of
practices, and in the dentist chair while having teeth drilled. I have even napped at stop lights (this is
highly dangerous - I do not condone this practice … but sometimes … it just
happens). Nope, no problem whatsoever
nodding off.
My problem is staying asleep.
I used to get up in the middle of the night, wide awake, and
stay awake for long periods of time before dozing back off. This started around age ten, and I thought
there was something wrong with me. Turns
out this is just my sleep pattern. Some
nights are more active than others. But
Thursday night into Friday is the worst it has been in a very long time.
After all, I should be flipping exhausted.
I shovel the heavy snow in my driveway for two and a half
hours straight. Snow showers turn to
sleet then turn to rain, and I am soaked and utterly fried when I finish. I should be out cold by 9:00 p.m. Instead, I am tossing at midnight, and
later. The last time I remember seeing
on the digital clock is 12:48. Then I
awaken at 1:30. Toss toss toss
toss. Finally doze back off to awaken at
2:30. Toss toss toss toss. Then again at 3:30. Toss and repeat. Then again at 4:30. Toss and repeat. The alarm finally goes off at 5:15. I have managed to piece together about three
hours of constantly interrupted and useless sleep.
This totally sucks.
At lunch I tell my lack-of-sleep story and am surprised to
discover I am not the only one who had a terrible night's sleep. Later, when I finally get to social media, I
discover several of my friends have also suffered a sleepless night, one friend
tossing and turning as late as 6:00 a.m.
What shocks me even more is that all of the sleep-deprived are on the
east coast and suffered through the huge storm.
Hmmmmm. I am no
scientist (just ask any of my unfortunate junior or senior high school lab
partners, especially those from chemistry class … boom), but is it possible
that barometric changes from the multi-phased storm disrupted our sleep
patterns? Further research reveals that
it is a full moon. I always have strange
dreams and weird sleep patterns during the moon's fullest phase. Is it possible that this full moon is wreaking
havoc on brain waves? How is it that so
many people have a terrible night's sleep, if they sleep at all, on the same
date and time?
I'm absolutely strung out sleep-wise, but I am afraid to lie
down, wary that I will have another semi-sleepless night, or, worse, I will
have a night full of strange, nightmarish dreams that I often suspect belong to
someone else.
Sleep shouldn't be this complicated. It should be like propofol sleep. Well, not in a Michael Jackson propofol sleep
way. That would be a little too
permanent. More like in a
having-exploratory-surgery kind of way.
Dreamless, restorative sleep.
As a matter of record, I have dozed off no less than five
times while writing this blog entry. I
hope I haven't used up my chances to get on a good night's sleep. Besides, there's another storm steaming at us
tomorrow night, but the full moon will be waning by then. Perfect astronomical conditions to sleep for
maybe five hours.
That would be great for a change.
