Actually, anyone who knows me will say I'm a great sleeper-I can nap like anything. At almost any time. In fact, we have a joke around our house that I'm practicing to be a competitive sleeper-My strong points being the "Long Sleep" and "Catnap" categories.
I'm actually just bad about going to bed on time. I'm a night owl and my husband and daughter are rather early sleepers. There is nothing I like more than a few hours of quiet time at night in my house. You can call me late and I'm usually up for a chat. It's peaceful and I tend to be productive at night. In fact, if I could just stay up late and then sleep until 9am with a short catnap around 3ish, life would be grand.
However, life rarely works like this. School every day and a new job have seen to that!
And so I found myself this past weekend, home from a dinner party at about 11:30. My parents had our daughter overnight and so the prospect of a morning to sleep in as long as I wanted was a juicy one. I went to bed at about 12am. At 11:30 am my husband came into our room and asked me if I was ok because I was still sleeping. (Don't get the wrong idea, I only had 2 drinks at the dinner party.) Later in the day I took a 1 hr catnap. Without issue. They say you can catch up on your sleep and I guess I believe that because today I felt just dandy. However, my ability to sleep 12.5 hrs actually makes me think I need to get a better handle on this sleep thing. (and just writing that makes me feel like I should go and get a physical but aside from being able to sleep at the drop of a hat, I feel fine.)
I KNOW it's not healthy, but staying up late is the hardest habit for me to break. I can read or blog or listen to a book on tape and fold laundry. I love being up late and most nights I decide around midnight that I should probably start going to bed. And then I like to read in bed a little. I hate getting up in the morning. This is not good.
So as an experiment, I'm going to be in bed by 11 pm every night. (I'll probably still read a little) I'd love to do 10:30 but I just don't think I can. I'm doing this for 2 weeks. Maybe a month. Maybe forever if I like it. I can't even remember the last time I went to bed for 2 weeks straight by 11. I was probably in the 10th grade. At the end of this sleep experiment I'll see if I actually feel any different.
My goodness, just writing this is making me sleepy.
Night folks!
4 comments:
I'm just like you, even when I can't afford to be. However, when I was on deadline for Poisoned Kisses, I woke up at 5am every single morning and went to bed at a reasonable hour. I got a lot done, I felt great, and I thought--I broke the cycle! I can do this!
But as it turns out, without the pressure, I went back to my old habits. Now I'm considering staying up until 5am every night b/c no one will bug me those hours and I can get work done.
This is my bad habit too! Well the staying up too late part, not the nap part or the sleep any where part because you of all people know I do not sleep just any where, oh I wish I could though. Because Tim goes to bed nice and early I stay up by myself, I try to go to bed by 10, because I do feel better in the morning and I know it. But given a choice I would stay up to 11, and weekends forget it, I will stay up forever, thinking I can sleep in, but knowing I have 2 little pups who, even if Tim lets them out and lets me sleep (notice I said if) they will play like there's 10 of them on the floor above my bed...quickly letting me know...there will be no extra sleep for me. And napping...I wish I could nap, sometimes I can but most times I lay there for a little while and rest my eyes but no real sleeping occurs. You have a real gift, talent I don't know what to call it, but enjoy it. And hate to tell you, but just like Stephanie, you will feel better after 2 weeks, rest assured (pun intended) but your natural sleep time will not change. You just need to force yourself to go to bed earlier...doesn't retirement sound good :)
I'm exactly the same. I have to be at work at 8 every morning, but I still can't get to bed before 11, and then I mostly read until 12. (Luckily, I live 3 minutes from work, so I can sleep until 7:30.)
My husband is also a night owl, so on the weekends we stay up til about 2 and sleep in til 9 or 10. That is our natural rhythm. It's also one of the reasons I'm not quite ready for kids, because I know they are usually VERY early risers. And I'm not quite ready to give up my sleep on weekends.
My ideal work schedule would be 10-7, but no office is offering that one so far. Good luck on your sleep goal!
Stephanie, that is exactly what I would do!
Leighanne, my retired neighbor Gary has exactly the sleep schedule that I just outlined!
Raven-that's exactly it-my natural rhythm follows what I just laid out. I always say that I do best when allowed to just wake up. Sometimes that is 8am and sometimes, like this past weekend, who know how long I would have slept if my husband had not come in to check if I was still breathing.
And look at the time. 10:52. If I hurry I can hit the sheets by 11!
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