Sleep

How much sleep you do need every night? Can you go with just a few hours? Have a regular bed-time?

As I age (I keep thinking I'm 35, not 34!), I find that the party-all-night option is simply not for me anymore. I seem to need more and more rest, at least 8 hours nightly, and if I get to bed after about 10:30 I'm messed up for the next day. I can't believe I used to come home and swear at the birds for starting up at 6 in the morning. How did I ever do that all-night stuff?

Afternoon naps on the weekend have become a necessity too. I get grumpy and yawny if I don't get a few hours in at least on a Saturday, if possible also on a Sunday. I do stay up later on a Saturday night, but not that late. I sleep in a bit, sometimes until 10 on a winter weekend morning.

In the past few weeks it feels like my sleep cycle is shifting again. I was in bed before 9 on Monday night, slept solidy, yet still woke up tired the next morning. Same thing Tuesday night. Although drinking loads of water and keeping hydrated usually stems the post-lunch slump, it isn't working this week. I find myself wishing to curl up under the desk (if only the floor were more padded) and sleep. As I type this, I'm yawning again.

Side-note snippet: I once had a friend who was terribly susceptible to other's yawns. Any hint of it, and he'd be set off. We used to delight in writing "yawn" on a piece of paper in church and passing it to him. Worked every time! :)

I don't know if the stresses of last week's dark bit did me in - perhaps all that thinking tired me out more than I imagined. Usually I come back from leave feeling rested and refreshed.

Maybe I am just getting old. Too old to party, too old to stay up until past midnight, too old to do without regular naptimes. Or I'm simply reverting to babyhood?