Sleepblogging

I find sleep to be very annoying.  I don't mean sleeping itself--I love sleep.  In fact, I treasure a good slumber immensely because I get one so seldom.  What I'm talking about is the fact that we need sleep.  My ability to get a good night's sleep is subject to so many things.

First of all let me address the biggest problem:  The clock.  I don't think clocks are good for humans at all.  I'm not one that has a problem with clocks--I'm always conscious of the time and I'm very seldom late for anything.  Come to think of it, that may be the whole problem:  Too much subconscious worrying about what time it is.  Anyway, to me an optimal situation for humans would be if we slept whenever we were tired and awoke when we were finished recharging.  See, everybody is unique.  Some people may need to sleep 3 times during the day in the form of "cat naps" and others may need one serious, long, uninterrupted sleep.  Not everybody can sleep to a schedule but that's too bad--we have to.  If we weren't slaves to a clock we wouldn't need coffee to wake us up every morning would we?  It's all very annoying.  There are only so many hours in a day, and if you lose some of them that are allotted for sleep it will affect the rest of your day.

I don't sleep too well because I tend to be a light sleeper.  The slightest things wake me up sometimes. If something suddenly wakes me up I won't be able to get back to sleep.  Why?  Because I don't know what woke me up.  I lie there pondering it.  Was it a car?  A gunshot?  Did a tree fall on the house?  It can literally take me an hour to get back to sleep if that happens, and that's if I get back to sleep at all.  In most cases I'm awake until it's time for the stupid alarm to go off and tell me, "What are you doing already awake, stupid?  That's my job!"

I sleep with earplugs in most cases.  Why?  To minimize the chance I might be woke up by some sort of noise of course.  Because I go to bed at 9pm and Suzie wanders in at nearly midnight every night it minimizes the chance that she'll wake me up with some stupid little sound of some kind.  I hate sleeping with earplugs because I can't hear anything when I think I should be hearing things, and that doesn't help.  Sort of a catch-22.  If I wake up I want to know if it's raining, or the wind is blowing, or someone's house is on fire, or someone is trying to break into my car.  When I'm wearing earplugs and I wake up in the middle of the night I experience more confusion then I should because some of my sensory input is missing or skewed.  With earplugs my breathing even sounds different and is almost enhanced sometimes.

To add to my sleeping annoyance I go to sleep with a small bedroom lamp on.  No, I'm not afraid of the dark.  It's just that I have found it to be a lot less of a disturbance when Sue comes to bed if she turns the lamp off after she gets ready for bed than if she turns it on to get ready for bed.  It doesn't shine directly on me but does illuminate the room a little.  Would I rather go to sleep in the dark?  Of course.  When I do go to bed I'm usually plenty tired and have no trouble going to sleep.  There have been many times when I would wake up, open my eyes, wonder what woke me up, look at the clock and see it's just after midnight, assume it was Sue getting in bed that woke me up, then try to get back to sleep (yes, I know that's way to many commas for one sentence).  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.  There have been many nights when I only got 2-3 hours of sleep.

Obviously, I get my best sleep when I'm alone in my own bed, and in a dark, quiet room.  That's not exactly the way most people live though is it?  People might hear dogs barking, cars driving by, sirens, snoring, TVs blaring, neighbors partying, or any number of things, plus we are subject to bed movements our sleep partners make throughout the night.  There is really no way that I know of that I can increase my sleep hours without resorting to drugs to help me, and I don't like that idea.

I think--all combined--I may have gotten almost 5 hours of sleep last night, so it was one of my better nights.

It was a windy night (I'm assuming all night because that's what the weather report said, and it was starting to kick up a little before bed).  I woke up and would almost get back to sleep multiple times.  Each time I was almost there something would wake me back up.  I would keep seeing outside yard lights come on (motion sensors:  Love 'em or hate 'em), and each time they did I would lie there and wonder what turned them on.  It was about 2:30 this morning when I heard a thud against the house.  I was already awake so there was no mistaking that there was a sound.  I pulled out my earplugs and lay there listening and pondering.  It sounded like a bang of the gate slamming shut but I didn't hear much wind.  After a few minutes with it eating at me, it was apparent that I was not going back to sleep.  I got up at 3 and went outside to investigate.  It was warm outside and the wind was blowing, but not too bad.  It would rise and fall--sometimes blowing hard way up at the tallest treetops, and other times swirling down at yard level.  The bushes were what was turning the motion-sensor lights off and on every 10 minutes because they were being whipped by the wind.  I saw a good-sized branch hanging off the edge of the roof and figured that must have been the bang I heard.

By this time it was 3:15, and I usually get up at 3:30.  With a sigh, I figured I'd better go ahead and get my coffee and lunch sandwich made before the power goes out.

Sleep:  I love it when it works... but I hate it because I need it.