Thoughts on Sleep
For as long as I can remember, I was a proud “night owl”. After my parents were asleep, I would hide under my Barbie blanket with a book and a flashlight until I fell asleep or the battery died. In school I stayed up late studying, perfecting term papers or creative writing assignments. In high school the only time I was grounded was not for breaking curfew or the usual teenage mischief, but rather for staying up all night to finish a science paper. At 6am, I cheerily pretended that I had just woken up. Mom immediately knew I was lying because, first of all, I never woke up early, and, second of all, I was clearly loopy from lack of sleep. Mom drove me to school to drop off my paper and then took me home to sleep before grounding me for two weeks.
My late night work hours continued into college and I wore them like a badge of honor. (I still don’t know how I survived those 8am music theory classes.) Later, I convinced myself that I was one of those rare people like Martha Stewart or Richard Branson who claimed to naturally only need a few hours of sleep each night. It’s called “short sleeper syndrome”. In reality, what I had was chronic “insufficient sleep syndrome”. It eventually caught up to my health— sleep apnea, high blood pressure and diabetes, which are thankfully under control now.
The body absolutely needs those hours of sleep for rest and recovery. I know that now, and have prioritized sleep the past few years. If I go to bed before midnight, I don’t hit that post-midnight second wind and adrenalin rush that will keep me up for a few more hours (working or binge watching reruns of Scrubs.) It took me a while to adjust my sleeping hours. At first I went to bed earlier and just laid awake before getting up again. Then I gradually adjusted my bed time—just a half hour earlier at a time. Now I have a bedtime routine (thank you, James Clear for habit stacking!) that includes no screens at least a half hour before bed, no caffeine after lunch, and no late night eating. In bed, I read a few pages of a fiction book or listen to a timed audio book to switch off my work and planning brain. I have learned that I need a dark room and warm feet, so I wear slippers and a sleep mask to bed. My alarm is set for 8am every morning now that I don’t have to get up earlier to commute for work. As a recent retiree, I work remotely part-time from home and set my own hours. The late night hours I thought I needed for creativity have been replaced by fresh ideas in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Who knew? Diana knew.
I dedicate this post to my former university student, Diana, who when I reminded her once to get a good night’s sleep before an important audition, she replied, “Nine hours! Every night. Nine hours.” Goals. Thank you, Diana.
