Mister Sandman, Bring Me a Dream

In anticipation of my visit to the "Chamber of Nightmares" aka the sleep disorder center, the good doctor in charge sent me a copy of his book on sleep hygiene (to be billed later at $10 if I decide to keep it - he couldn't throw it in under the $800 fee?). But it's been a help.

Apparently, We-who-don't-sleep have picked up a number of bad habits along the way which exacerbate the sleeplessness, of course. Like going to bed at 7:30 pm because we're hoping to finally catch up on our sleep, but instead lay around all night not sleeping. Or clock-watching. This is a big one of mine. Wake up, look at the clock, it's 2:45 am, that means I have less than 4 hours to go - - - fall asleep twenty minutes later, wake up, look at the clock, it's 3:56 am, just 2 1/2 hours to go - - - fall asleep, wake up, look at the clock, it's 5:48 am, 42 more minutes . . . . . and so on.

According to the doc, clock watching is an "alert" behavior - your brain wakes up to do it, because looking at the clock usually precedes action of some type - call your mom, go to lunch, leave for work, catch the plane. So all those clock-looking moments bring you fully awake, a flat no-no in the bedroom. Reading an interesting book - potential "alert" behavior - no-no. Watching TV - blurs the clear demarcation between awake and asleep - no-no. Lying around for hours getting some rest, if not sleep - no-no, because the poor body doesn't understand that your intention really is to sleep, not lie around.

The other bad sleep hygiene thing us non-sleepers usually exhibit is not knowing the difference between tired and sleepy anymore. We're tired all the time, natch, because we don't sleep, but we're not really sleepy. And the doc says, whatever you do, don't go to bed when all you are is tired. WAIT until you're sleepy, even if it's 2 in the morning or whatever, because then the "push" of sleepiness will carry you off to dreamland.

So I did a little sleep hygiene these last couple of nights - turned the clock to the wall, took the TV out of my bedroom, filled the bookshelf next to my bed with books I've read a hundred times before or more, and waited until I was sleepy to go to bed. Which means I've gone to bed around 11:30 or so, an hour or two later than I usually totter off to bed. And here's the thing: yes, I seem to be getting more quality sleep! Hooray!! But the time I used to spend lying around I now need to be doing something, and I stopped cable TV a few weeks ago because I was wasting too much time on drastic surgery reality series watchin', so I've got hours and hours and HOURS to fill now in the evenings. This probably sounds like bliss to some, and yes, I love to read and surf the net and brush my cat and make turkey soup, but I'm going crazy in this apartment!

I'm three days into my schedule and, honestly, I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and - geeeesh - Go out! Get a hobby! Go swimming! Trim my nosehair! Do laundry! Sweep out the garage! Go see a - gasp - movie! FLOSS, fer gawdsake!

No question, if' I'm gonna be up sooooo late every evening, I need to expand my world a bit.

This is a good thing, y'all.