Dead Of Night
Courtyard, originally uploaded by 160507.
I love sleep. I never had trouble sleeping. It’s a gift. When I was in college I would board the bus, lean against the window, fall asleep, and wake up three minutes before my stop. On long-haul flights I am asleep even before the plane takes off. I suspect most of my work gets done in my sleep. (If your boss catches you snoozing at your desk, try this explanation: “I’m working”.) If I have a deadline looming, I take a short nap; when I wake up, the article has been worked out in my head and I just have to write it down (though there is no guarantee that it’s any good). The only time I cannot fall asleep is if I have to get up early for an important appointment: then I spend the whole night checking the clock to see how much time I have left. Without my nine hours of sleep I am useless; I spend the whole day plotting a nap.
Recently I had a bout of insomnia that just about drove me bonkers. I would go to bed at my usual time, 2 or 3 am, then spend the next four hours waiting to lose consciousness. It was exhausting. I tried counting backwards from 1000, listening to nature sounds, various non-pharmaceutical remedies, nothing worked. Maybe I should’ve just gotten up and read a book or watched DVDs, done something constructive until my systems shut down for the day, but I kept expecting to fall asleep any second. Then when I finally dropped off from sheer exhaustion, it wasn’t the deep, sticky, artificial death that I consider a good sleep. (My friend Carlo, a borderline narcoleptic, says death wouldn’t be so scary if there were some assurance that it was like sleeping.) I would wake up round noon, unsatisfied, and be in a zombie state the rest of the day. Oddly, I did not feel sleepy during the day, and I seemed to function “normally”, though I felt cheated (I want my sleep). This went on for about a month, and then last week my sleep came back. I’m still trying to figure out what happened.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 30th, 2007 at 18:24
off topic: pls raffle off a copy (or several copies hehe) of twisted travels! ilang NBS branches na napuntahan ko, wala na daw.
September 30th, 2007 at 20:49
i love sleeping too! on rainy, lazy days, i sleep. my mother always finds me lying on the bed when she comes into my room. then she asks me, “natulog ka na naman?” :P although on summer and term breaks, i have trouble sleeping. they say drinking warm milk induces sleep. :D
September 30th, 2007 at 21:20
Wow, i luv sleeping too. This had been going on for a month now, I don’t know, I just slept after a day’s work (or a night’s work, I’m in a call center industry). And found myself enjoying it, will wake up at around 2pm, have my dinner, and sleep again until 3 am. LOL
Maybe you’re for the call center environment too. LOL
October 1st, 2007 at 11:39
As most of my friends say to me, I CAN SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD…
October 1st, 2007 at 12:13
My daughter also has a sleeping problem. She’s awake at night and sleeps at daytime like a paniki. Her theme song is Wildflower… be careful not to touch her for she’ll awaken… and sleep’s the only freedom that she knows.
8 hours of sleep is enough for me. Less than that, I feel groggy all day and like Jessica, I spend the whole day “plotting a nap”. Sometimes I wish a can be a cat. :)
October 1st, 2007 at 12:41
I have insomnia. It’s really frustrating at times, especially when I really want to fall asleep but it seems like my system is not yet ready for it. Oftentimes I read books so I have something constructive to do.
October 1st, 2007 at 13:02
You’ve been talking about depression lately. If it is true that you have clinical depression then you just revealed one of its hallmarks: sleep habit changes, which could be either insomnia or hypersomnia.
Also, coffee and other caffeine sources is the most common culprit. Not more than 5 cups of moderate strength coffee (varies with each person, some develop palpitations with a mere sip) should be consumed in a day and none after 2PM.
Of course this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for work as Bergman has proven.
October 1st, 2007 at 14:31
Sleep is good. It reduces the dark circles under my eyes lovingly called “eyebags”.
October 1st, 2007 at 23:59
i love sleep!! although ive had the same problem as ms jess has had – its annoyingly frustrating when you cant sleep even when you’re ready to drop from sheer exhaustion. i get psychotic when im sleep-deprived.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:51
i used to have trouble sleeping. but when i started listening to my audio book podcast on “World War Z” (heh… ) before I go to sleep, within the first 15 minutes tulog na ako. listening to audiobooks cured my insomnia.
anybody else experience the same thing?
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:53
btw, anything less than 7 hrs. of sleep a day i feel horrible. i need sleep. sleep is underrated!
October 2nd, 2007 at 14:23
At work, this reminds me of Garfield. “Do not disturb. I’m thinking with my eyes closed.”
October 2nd, 2007 at 23:50
O Dominatrix of the Known and Unknown Universes!
Hail thee for sharing the greatness of your life to us grovelling mortals!
May your sleep never again be troubled
lest Morpheus dare incurs the wrath
of your nigh-omnipotent regency!
October 4th, 2007 at 21:15
*MENTAL NOTE: Try “I’m working” and “Do not disturb. I’m thinking with my eyes closed.” excuses next time I get caught sleeping at the office…*
October 5th, 2007 at 05:26
try this… i’ve read on readers digest…
boss caught you sleeping…
a.) upon waking up due to boss’ presence say “Amen. yes, boss?” it would definitely lose your boss’ thought that he caught you sleeping on the job.
b.) say “they told me in the blood bank this might happen.” sounding that you donate blood would make you appear charitable. hehe.
c.) say “i was so close in solving our company’s problem when you interupted my deep thinking… yes, how can i help you?”
d.) “Lama, lama, lama, lama… good energy in, bad energy out… i’m just destressing… you should try it.”
try the first one… very fat chance you’d get away with your sleeping habit… heheh..
October 11th, 2007 at 09:32
Hahaha @ twistedminion
Or, I’m going to print this [http://www.laughparty.com/print.php?id=761] then sleep on it. If someone asks me, I’ll just say I think I overdid that stress reducing activity. Ha!