-John Milton from Comus
I have not been able to sleep through the night for what seems like ten years, but in particular for the past 3 weeks. I have been weary to try prescription medication, and have found that Melatonin works for me sometimes. However, no one should do what I did last night: 10 mg of Melatonin, 2 sea sickness pills and 2 Robaxical. It certainly did knock me out, but I slept for about 12 hours, and I woke up at noon unable to think coherently. It's 3:30 p.m. now, and my brain is still foggy. I think I would have preferred not sleeping.
I have always been a night person anyway, so I think part of my insomnia stems from my desire to stay up late. I love the night. I love the dark, the solitude, the quiet. I come alive at night, and am always most productive. I have written most of these blog entries past the hour of 1 a.m. (this one being the exception). But for much of my adult life, I have had jobs requiring me to be not only awake, but fully functional at 9 in the morning, which I realize to most is not an early hour. The year I taught Elementary school, I had to leave the house at 6 am to get the work by 7:45! I was 12 years younger, so I dealt better with the exhaustion than I do now. (generally, I can get by with 6 hours a night of sleep for about 2 weeks before I crash spectacularly!) To me, 9 a.m. is screamingly early! Crew drills at that hour are inhumane! But if I finish rocking out at midnight, I can't get right to bed. Even if I don't go to the crew bar (which is rare), I'll sit awake in my room until about 4, usually playing Sudoku or Sims3, or maybe, if the stars are properly aligned, writing this blog. Nevertheless, I need to be able to get to sleep before 6 in the morning.
So what will I do tonight? I think I will forgo the over-the-counter drug cocktail of doom I tried last night, and go for a cup of chamomile tea in conjunction with the Melatonin. We'll see. I wanted to get up early tomorrow. Early meaning 10 a.m. It's all relative.
I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE!!!!! Thank you. My sister pops out of bed, bright-eyed at 5:00AM and crashes around 9PM. I don't even THINK about gassing up the car, doing the shopping, etc., until after 10PM, am up in my home office until 2AM and sleep to 11. The few times I had to accompany high school prezero-hour rehearsals 3 or 4 times a week for two weeks (requiring getting up at a quarter to 5 to then drive 45 min. one way to the school) about did me in.
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