Sleep

 I have always been a good sleeper. For as long as I can remember, I have known that I sleep in 90 minute cycles and I need between 7 and 7.5 hours of sleep a night to be my best. Well this past week things have gone off the rails with my sleep and I'm not sure what is going on. 

Before I go too far I should point out that Hubby still has the cough from his cold and he generally wakes up in the middle of the night with a coughing fit. That also wakes me up. So his coughing is definitely part of the problem. But not all of it. 

This week I have been physically and mentally exhausted. I went back to school after a 2 week break and it has been an adjustment. Physically it's been hard because my knee is still bothering me, though it is a whole lot better yesterday and today, and mentally it's been hard because I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. Having to figure out what to do and how to do it on the fly is mentally exhausting. So I would come home at night just wiped out. My legs would physically hurt as I walked Mavy and I would doze off on the couch because I was so tired. So I should have been sleeping well. I should have crawled into bed, passed out, and not woken until morning. That's not what happened. I would crawl into bed and I would pass out, but I would wake up in about 90 minutes. Ummmm.....yeah, no. I would fall back to sleep after a period of time, and then around 1 or 2 Hubby would start coughing and I'd wake up. This time I would have a harder time falling back to sleep as his coughing fits usually lasted a while. By the time he was done, I was generally wide awake. Oh joy. But knowing I had to get up and go to school I would lay there and try and try to go back to sleep. Usually I would fall back to sleep about 45 minutes before the alarm. The alarm would then go off in the middle of my sleep cycle and I would wake up and feel absolutely exhausted all day. Then the whole thing would repeat the next night. 

I thought last night would be better for a couple of reasons. First, I realized what was going on so was looking for ways to avoid it. Second, I didn't have to get up early this morning so I figured I could get as much sleep as I needed and wake up naturally. Things didn't quite work out as planned. It is currently 4:20 am and I'm sitting in my office typing this. Yeah, not what I had planned. 

I stayed up a tiny bit later last night because I had the thought that I actually might be going to be too early. So I didn't go to bed until 9pm. I read for a bit and fell asleep rather quickly. Then I woke up at 11:30pm. Really???? I managed to go back to sleep fairly quickly but then at some point Hubby started coughing. That woke me up again. Apparently I didn't stay awake long that time though, because Hubby got up, made some honey tea, and sat in the kitchen for a bit. I heard none of that. Then I woke up again. I refused to look at the clock because I was determined to get more sleep. But then Bella started 'swimming' on the floor and trying to get up. And I could not get comfortable. And finally Bella got up and wanted out. At this point I looked at the clock and it said 3:40 am and I said screw it, I'm getting up. So here I am. 

I think it is the physical tiredness that is throwing everything off. That and the fact that I may well be going to bed too early. So let's do a little mental math. If I sleep in 90 minute sleep cycles and I want to get up at 4:15 am and I need 7 - 7.5 hours of sleep, let's work backwards. 

4:15 am - Wake up

2:45 am - last sleep cycle starts         1.5 hours sleep

1:15 am - sleep cycle starts                3.0 hours sleep

11:45 pm - sleep cycle starts              4.5 hours sleep

10:15 pm - sleep cycle starts               6.0 hours sleep

8:45 pm - 1st sleep cycle starts           7.5 hours sleep

So I should be in bed by about 8:30pm. I always read for a few minutes and then fall asleep. That should give me more than enough sleep and not wake me in the middle of sleep cycle. Of course, I can't count on the dogs or the Hubby to abide by this schedule but I can only take care of me. 

I know the other night I was in bed at 8 pm. That would have thrown everything off by at least 45 minutes and that would explain why I was so incredibly tired all day. 

I think it would be a great idea to restart my stretching at night. I slept so good when I was doing the hip opener challenge. Time to get back to that, starting tonight. 

Okay, I'm tired of writing. Going to get another cup of coffee and figure out this activity for biology class.