Asleep at the wheel

For as long as I can remember, I have had a sleeping problem. If my body is tired, it will just go to sleep. Doesn't matter what I am doing, reading, studying, driving, I will start to fall asleep. This is a huge pain.

I rarely get the requisite eight hours of sleep. Who does? I think I could actually sleep about 16 hours of day in fact, if it were socially acceptable (in my next life I want to be a cat). So, my body always seems to think it needs to sleep. I am endlessly jealous of those people who say they only need four or five hours of sleep. That would be so liberating!

I would fall asleep virtually the moment a video started during a high school science class. I slept after every section of the P-SATs. I would stop in the library during college for an hour-long nap in a cushy armchair between classes. I think I slept through 98% of the lectures in History of American Journalism. I used to have to stop multiple times for quick naps in rest stops in my 500 mile drive home from college.

Driving is obviously the worst and scariest. If someone else is driving, no problem. I am happily snoring in the passenger seat. But if I am driving, this is clearly a bigger problem. I pump the radio, open the window, chew gum, but still drowsiness slips in, and I find myself napping in a parking lot. The advent of cell phones was probably literally a life-saver. Now I call T and say, "Talk to me, I'm falling asleep!"

I can sleep anywhere, anytime. On a plane, a bus, slumped over a chair in the airport. It's a gift really.

This has been quite problematic during my first weeks of work. I am trying to get at least six or seven hours of sleep, but I have to get up before 5:00 a.m., and we have a steady stream or crying, fussing children in and out of our room all night. The result is a painful wake up call in the morning, a steady stream of caffeine throughout the day until my belly aches, and struggling to stay awake during eight-hour training sections.

It may surprise you, but training on software is not always riveting. I have found myself nodding off virtually every day this week and last. I look around the room, and no one else seems to be having this problem. It is embarrassing and frustrating. I can't be missing pertinent information, and I notice people looking at me curiously.

Friday I got to sleep in till 6:00 a.m. because I didn't have any early morning exercise classes. I felt bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with a minimum of caffeine-support, and only yawned a few times throughout the day. It was lovely.

I need to just make sure I am in bed early and asleep quickly with a minimum of distractions, because these narcolepsy-like tendencies appear to be mine for life. But something always seems to get in the way (Facebook, American Idol, random Googling...)

And now if you will excuse me, I am going to take a nap.

--MM