It's 6:00 AM and I should probably go to sleep and eat some spiders, but I am not sleepy at all. To me, being able to decide when to sleep and then to sleep for as long as the body requires is one of the biggest luxuries that we can have in this life.
Sleep has always been a big point of contention for me - biologically speaking. I resent that I am forced to stop whatever I'm doing because my batteries need recharging, which takes a full nine hours for me - eight and a half won't cut it. And my body keeps a tally. If it doesn't get its nine hours one night it will make them up when it can. I've slept 12, 16 hours making up lost sleep.
Sometimes I will go more than 48 hours without sleep just out of spite. After about 24 hours it gets fun. The brain starts producing endorphins and I'll get all goofy and giggly. Then, by hour 48, I'm a pathetic, weak idiot - confronted with the severe limitations of my mortal body. The exception to this is if I'm working on a project and then I'm like a machine - going strong and sharp for up to three full days and nights. I would not want to do that on a regular basis, though.
Having been a night person for as long as I can remember, it is a pain to live in a world that functions from 8AM to 5PM. My first professional position required that I be at the office at 7:30 AM sharp. This was torture for me. Everyone kept telling me that I'd get used to it, but after one year I was still struggling. It was not unusual for me to walk into the building and look down to notice that I was wearing one dark-blue high heel and one black high heel. I do believe my co-workers had ongoing bets over this and other of my idiosyncrasies. There was often money exchanging hands after I'd arrive.
An article that I ran across explains my inability to adjust to morning hours. According to this article, the level of adrenaline in our body rises and falls in a cycle like the sine and cosine waves shown here. And as the cosine is shifted from the sine, my adrenaline cycle is shifted, but even more so.
So, in the morning and most of the day, I'd be like the walking dead, only more disagreeable, until after noon when I'd finally start up and not peak until 2AM. It is not at all unusual for me to lift weights, jog, clean, wash, cook, shop, etc. after midnight. Anyway, it was a vicious cycle. I'd wake up, miserably tired, swearing that I'd go to sleep early when I got home, only to have that adrenaline keep me up way too late for the 6:30 AM alarm clock, which, by the way, is one of the few inanimate objects for which I harbor feelings of hate. Most of my weekends were spent making up lost sleep.
Once I get to bed, I fall asleep within seconds and do thoroughly enjoy it. Being yanked out of sleep when my brain is in that deep, deep zone is like physical abuse for me. When the alarm would go off (with classical music - never that god awful, shocking buzz), I'd hit the infernal thing, get up, start the coffee, shower, start to dress and then... the alarm would go off! Dammit! I was still asleep! My mind, refusing to accept the continual abuse, came up with this little trick. How clever. Dreams and reality become indistinguishable. Not an easy or pleasant manner in which to start one's day.
These days, I thank God that I don't have to live by an alarm clock or a clock at all for that matter. Although I work many more hours than I did when I had an office job, being able to choose when I work and when I sleep is absolutely worth it.
Update: It's Tuesday 10:30 PM. I've been awake since Monday 3:00 PM. That's about 31.5 hours without sleep. I feel great. Not tired or sleepy. I did have a really sleepy period while watching House, which was totally lame - all preachy and touchy-feely crap. It almost put me to sleep! Ha. But I'm fine now. Drinking my mate, which you all have no idea what it is, unless you're Argentine, which you're not, unless you are. Think I'll create a post about it now. A little Argentine culture wouldn't hurt. After all, we could be one BIG happy family one day...
Sleep has always been a big point of contention for me - biologically speaking. I resent that I am forced to stop whatever I'm doing because my batteries need recharging, which takes a full nine hours for me - eight and a half won't cut it. And my body keeps a tally. If it doesn't get its nine hours one night it will make them up when it can. I've slept 12, 16 hours making up lost sleep.
Sometimes I will go more than 48 hours without sleep just out of spite. After about 24 hours it gets fun. The brain starts producing endorphins and I'll get all goofy and giggly. Then, by hour 48, I'm a pathetic, weak idiot - confronted with the severe limitations of my mortal body. The exception to this is if I'm working on a project and then I'm like a machine - going strong and sharp for up to three full days and nights. I would not want to do that on a regular basis, though.
Having been a night person for as long as I can remember, it is a pain to live in a world that functions from 8AM to 5PM. My first professional position required that I be at the office at 7:30 AM sharp. This was torture for me. Everyone kept telling me that I'd get used to it, but after one year I was still struggling. It was not unusual for me to walk into the building and look down to notice that I was wearing one dark-blue high heel and one black high heel. I do believe my co-workers had ongoing bets over this and other of my idiosyncrasies. There was often money exchanging hands after I'd arrive.
An article that I ran across explains my inability to adjust to morning hours. According to this article, the level of adrenaline in our body rises and falls in a cycle like the sine and cosine waves shown here. And as the cosine is shifted from the sine, my adrenaline cycle is shifted, but even more so.So, in the morning and most of the day, I'd be like the walking dead, only more disagreeable, until after noon when I'd finally start up and not peak until 2AM. It is not at all unusual for me to lift weights, jog, clean, wash, cook, shop, etc. after midnight. Anyway, it was a vicious cycle. I'd wake up, miserably tired, swearing that I'd go to sleep early when I got home, only to have that adrenaline keep me up way too late for the 6:30 AM alarm clock, which, by the way, is one of the few inanimate objects for which I harbor feelings of hate. Most of my weekends were spent making up lost sleep.
Once I get to bed, I fall asleep within seconds and do thoroughly enjoy it. Being yanked out of sleep when my brain is in that deep, deep zone is like physical abuse for me. When the alarm would go off (with classical music - never that god awful, shocking buzz), I'd hit the infernal thing, get up, start the coffee, shower, start to dress and then... the alarm would go off! Dammit! I was still asleep! My mind, refusing to accept the continual abuse, came up with this little trick. How clever. Dreams and reality become indistinguishable. Not an easy or pleasant manner in which to start one's day.
These days, I thank God that I don't have to live by an alarm clock or a clock at all for that matter. Although I work many more hours than I did when I had an office job, being able to choose when I work and when I sleep is absolutely worth it.
Update: It's Tuesday 10:30 PM. I've been awake since Monday 3:00 PM. That's about 31.5 hours without sleep. I feel great. Not tired or sleepy. I did have a really sleepy period while watching House, which was totally lame - all preachy and touchy-feely crap. It almost put me to sleep! Ha. But I'm fine now. Drinking my mate, which you all have no idea what it is, unless you're Argentine, which you're not, unless you are. Think I'll create a post about it now. A little Argentine culture wouldn't hurt. After all, we could be one BIG happy family one day...
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