I saw this over at Momma Blogs A Lot and I thought I would give it a go. Sleeping is a huge issue at our house – not for me, per se, but for my husband.
In fact, it’s safe to say, the man DOESN’T sleep much at all. There is nary a night that goes by that he doesn’t wake up for some internal reason, but I think the main reason he doesn’t sleep very well is because he doesn’t know how to shut his brain off. He’s always thinking.
ALWAYS.
However, he slept through the night last night and didn’t wake up once – not once. And THAT is a reason to celebrate because it truly is a rarity.
I used to be a night owl. I used to stay up until about 2ish in the morning and then sleep in until 9 / 10 every morning. This worked fine for me, until I married an early bird and he used to get SO irritated with me for sleeping in, so much so, that he was a grouch nearly the entire weekend, so I retrained myself and now I’m up at the crack of dawn – even on weekends.
In some ways, I like this new routine – I’m up, I’m alert and I’m most productive in the mornings. But since I get up around five every morning, I usually start getting drowsy around noon because I’ve been up for seven hours.
I usually get my second wind around two in the afternoon and I’m simply functioning the rest of the day, don’t ask me to be creative, it won’t happen in that time period, all of my brain activity is on autopilot.
Then I usually crash around nine / ten at night and the whole process starts again.
I have occasional cat naps, usually about 20 minutes, during the afternoon and that really helps me to stay up a little later. My sleeping pattern has completely reversed itself, thanks to my husband. 🙂
1. How long do you sleep each night?
I usually get about 7 hours of sleep. I’d like more, but it doesn’t usually happen. Ideally, I think I need about nine hours of sleep to really feel awake.
2. Do you fall asleep easily?
Yes. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere, anytime. However, I’m a very light sleeper and everything wakes me up. However, I can usually get back to sleep fairly quickly.
3. Do you fall asleep at times not in your bed?
I didn’t use to. But I’ve been finding myself nodding off a lot when I watch TV. I REALLY don’t like doing that though, because then I have to force myself to wake up, do my nightly ritual (brush teeth, remove makeup, etc) and then try and get back to sleep after I’ve been moving around and have woken myself up.
4. Do you listen to music or use “white noise” to sleep?
I have to have white noise. It’s essential for me. Because I’m such a light sleeper, every little freaking noise wakes me up so I need something to mask those noises so I won’t wake up. I currently sleep to the sound of a fan, only pointed away from me because it’s so cold right now I’d wake up encased in an ice cube if I had it blowing on me.
4a. Do you have to have it a certain temperature when you sleep?
I just threw this question in because temperature is a huge factor for me when I sleep. It has to be cold. I can not sleep when it’s too hot. As a result, we crank our air conditioner whenever we go camping and turn our heat down at home during the night so it’s cold enough to snuggle under the covers. Our house usually drops to the mid, to lower 60’s at night – we all prefer to sleep when it’s cold.
5. Do you sleep through the night or get up a couple of times?
Once I’m asleep, and providing no one gets up during the night, I can, and often do, sleep through the night without waking up once. The only times I wake up are:
A. When I’m not physically tired. Yet another reason I work out, to make myself physically tired to sleep.
B. My sinuses thicken and I wake up with a raging headache about four in the morning and I’m forced to get up and take some Aleve and put in some nose spray to clear my passages (like this morning, actually).
6. Do you have trouble sleeping away from your own bed?
Yes, yes, and definitely yes. Any change in my routine and I can’t sleep, period. Whenever we go on vacation, camping, or even if the boys have friends stay the night, I don’t sleep worth a crap. I usually jerk myself awake about once every two hours – no reason really, just instinct, I guess. I wake up to make sure everyone is still okay.
It was ESPECIALLY bad when the boys were babies. But I’m sure I don’t have to tell you parents that – I think we all do that when our children are little.
7. Do you need an alarm clock to get you up?
No. The coffee maker usually wakes me up when it goes off at 5:20 in the morning. A lot of times, I just instinctively wake up before it even goes off.
A lot of times, during the school week, I jerk awake about 4:00 and then doze off and on until it’s time to get up. I think I’m afraid of over sleeping and not getting the kids up in time for school.
I’M their alarm clock. MK will wake up on his own, he’s an early bird, so I don’t worry too much about him. But GD would sleep until noon every day, if given the chance. He’s definitely a night owl.
8. Do you ever take medication to help you sleep?
Never. I’ve never had to. Exercising is my sleep aid and works for me every time. Now the husband has to take Tylenol PM occasionally to help him relax enough to go sleep. Again, his brain never shuts off – he simply doesn’t know, or understand, how to relax enough on his own to go to sleep. It drives me nuts, quite frankly.
9. Do you/have you slept with pets?
We don’t have any pets, nor have I ever had a pet that I slept with. I’m not a big animal person so the thought of sharing my bed with an animal sort of grosses me out. (Sorry animal lovers, but I’m being honest).
I don’t even sleep with my husband. But I’ve talked about that before, so I won’t bore you with that again.
I sleep best when I’m by myself, no distractions, no one smothering me, no one snoring in my ear. My family knows to leave me alone when it’s time for me to get some sleep – I’m extremely cranky when I’m sleep-deprived and EVERYONE is happier when I’m rested. 🙂
Christmas song #7 A Christmas to Remember by Amy Grant
Write From Karen 