Sleep

I love to sleep. A lot.

I like to sleep because:

• My bed is ever so comfortable, warm the sheets are soooo soft
• I am a very active dreamer and I remember a lot of my dreams.
• I get good ideas and happy thoughts in my dreams.
• I almost always feel better when I wake up than when I went to bed
• No one bothers me when I am sleeping

I sleep a lot when I am stressed or worried about something. When something very stressful happens in my life, like at work, I can almost feel my "tiredness" descend on me like a blanket. And I start to have wishful thoughts about going to bed, and taking off my clothes, and going to sleep. By the time I get home on one of those days, I can barely keep my eyes open and I can fall asleep within minutes of laying down. I know this is a learned behavior.

When something REALLY stressful happens over a long period of time, and not just a bad day, I practically live in my bed. I can get up and go work (sometimes) and do minimal stuff that I need to, but if I am not forced to be somewhere, I am in bed, either trying to fall asleep or fast asleep. I can sleep for entire weekends. The longest period of time I did not get out of bed except to eat and go to the bathroom was 6 days. It was a long, long time even for me. My back hurt from laying down so much. I had just moved to DC, and I was very lonely and worried. The entire city stressed me out. And I had several days off for the move, and a three day weekend all in a row. So once I got the bed installed, I crawled into it and didn't get out, answer the phone or e-mail for SIX DAYS! Nick, my roommate now, but just my neighbor then, pounded on my door until I answered it. He made me get showered and come down for a video and a glass of wine.

This is not a new thing for me. I slept a lot as a child. My mother said I slept through the night very early on as an infant. And I always slept 8-10 hours as a child. By the time I was a teenager, I could easily sleep 12 hours + a night.

I thought of this today because I noticed that now that work is heating up a little, and my boss is expecting me to take a leadership role, I am falling asleep right when I get home. And sleeping most of the night. I did this Monday night, and last night. I am going to try not to do this tonight.


We'll see.