Why is it that I become incredibly sleepy when it is entirely inconvenient, such as at 4:00 in the afternoon, but when I am supposed to be sleepy and in bed, such as at 10:00 at night, sleep is illusive?
The low point in every day for me has always been between 2:00 and 4:00 (sometimes 5:00). My energy level drops, I get very tired and I just long for it to be 10:00 at night so I can go to bed. Then I perk back up again and am wide awake. Lately, probably due to stress, I end up being wide awake until close to midnight. But then, when I have to wake up in the morning, all I want to do is sleep for a few more hours. Why can’t I be that sleepy when I am supposed to be that sleepy?
I have read numerous articles on sleep and sleep studies. The experts suggest that a person should go to bed at the same time every night, whether they are tired or not. Then get up at the same time every morning. Make sure that the time spent in bed trying to sleep and actually sleeping is at least eight hours. According to what I read, this will cause a habit to be formed and eventually a person should be sleeping the required eight hours every night.
It is important in doing this that there aren’t any distractions. No TV. No reading. No. music. No sex (at least during the 8 hours that is supposed to be devoted to sleeping). Nothing but lying there attempting to sleep.
Knowing all of this, do you think that I follow this very sage advise? No, I don’t. I tend to stay up watching TV until I am falling asleep in front of the TV. Then I stagger off to bed (usually around midnight) and fall asleep. But then I need to be up by 6:00 or 6:30 in the morning and I deeply regret having stayed up the night before. So I drink tea to wake up, maybe a cola in the afternoon, and that gives me the energy to stay awake but it also means that I am awake again in the evening until well past the time that I should be in bed. It is a vicious cycle. A viscous cycle that I think plagues a number of people in this country.
I have said this before in this blog but it seems like it is a generally excepted fact of life that we will drink some form of caffeine first thing in the morning and throughout the day in order to stay awake and energized. There is even a current ad on TV for a small bottle of intense caffeine (I would name the brand but I don’t want to give them free advertising) that people are encouraged to drink because it will save time. It is faster to down a quick bottle of the stuff rather than making a cup of coffee and drinking that slowly over the course of hours. Because heaven forbid we go through the day without that boost of caffeine to keep us awake.
I have also said in this blog that I would try to do better in developing better sleep habits. Clearly that hasn’t happened. But I think now would be the prime opportunity to start. Before the days become so long that I won’t want to go to bed at a decent hour and then the sun will wake me up bright and early, I should develop the habit of going to sleep by 10:00 at night so I can get a full eight hours in before I have to get up at 6:00 in the morning. Then sleep will no longer be coming at inconvenient times and I will be energized and alert throughout the day.
I will try to remember to keep everyone posted as to my progress in this grand sleep experiment. But I think that for now, I need to go to bed. Good night!!
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