sleep

I don't remember ever being a "good" sleeper. Although, I slept well as a baby. Anyways, my sleeping issues probably began in high school. I would go to school and then dance for 2-4 hours with eating dinner or a snack thrown in, too. It was well after 9 before I would get home to start my homework. Well after school and dance I was tired and exhausted and I would often take a nap before starting my homework which would lead to late nights. Confession: my mom was my alarm clock until I moved to Tuscaloosa. She also would call me the morning of finals or tests to wake me up. I had a scare once my freshman year when I woke up 15 minutes before a mid term and it was a 10 minute walk to class.  Naps are one of the greatest things ever. If napping was an olympic sport I could win a gold medal. I am partial to Sunday afternoon naps. I remember during the summer I would stay up late much to my mother's disdain. My "job" during summer was always to keep the house clean. Mom wasn't a fan of me sleeping until 11 AM and cleaning at 11 PM. Then I went to college and tried to avoid 8 AM classes like the plague. It didn't last long having education classes. College was also when I began to train in the art of taking naps. Naps became nearly an everyday occurance. Even when I started observing/teaching at schools I would nap. It was then that I could be found napping at the sorority house anywhere from 6-10 PM, not the whole time of course. Then I could be found in "my chair" in the theta study room creating lesson plans. I was never a morning person, and if you have ever been around me in the morning you know. I have multiple alarm clocks that go off every morning. Some are on my phone, one is an old fashion bell alarm clock, and I have a more traditional alarm clock. Aside from the ones on my phone, the other alarms involve me getting out of bed to turn them off. I can get out of bed and turn it off and go right back to sleep without even realizing what I have done. I recently bought a new app for my phone that is a special alarm clock that requires me solving math problems to hit snooze or disarm. It's helping. I bought this ridiculously bright light bulb and a timer in hopes of setting the light to come on in the room when I need to wake up. I thought it would help. It would have been nice to have been able to understand the directions to set the self timer, too. Anyone need a self timer? When I began teaching I struggled with sleep. I had so much work to do I was  up late. Then I wouldn't sleep much before waking up at an unholy hour. I would often crash when I got home and nap. I learned that sleep out weighs hunger one night when I fell asleep with food cooking in the oven. In the beginning naps weren't too long. Then naps were lasting about two hours. Earlier this school year I would nap from 7-9, eat around 10, nap again around 11, watch tv until 2 or 2:30 and at some point during the night (if I was lucky) I would go to bed. Other nights I would sleep some more on my couch before relocating to my bed. It was rough and a terrible cycle to be in and try and break. I would sleep more and better during breaks from school, but without a reason to be up at a specific time I would go to bed after 4 AM and sleep until at least noon. That made the transition back to school time even more difficult. For the majority of the school year I was sleeping 3-4 hours a night.  I was miserable. I have gone to the doctor 3-4 times over the past two years for exhaustion. I have had just about every blood test none to man done to find out if there was anything wrong. I was put on sleeping medicine to help me have restful sleep. It is no fun to sleep for 12 hours Friday night/Saturday morning and feel like you need a nap after being awake for an hour. I went to the doctor again a week and a half ago. I told him about the continued problems. I told him that although I have never been to Hawaii, my body seems to function on a severe time delay, Hawaiian time. It's like living with permanent jet lag. He put on ambien. I figured he would. My mom also takes it. So during the week I am sleeping more like a normal person. That first day after a good night's sleep was AMAZING! I never realized how bad I was feeling, and how a good a good night's sleep would make me feel. I am happier. I am more productive. I am more patient. I still nap, but only for 30 minutes. Hopefully, I will be able to cut that out soon. Thank goodness for ambien!