“Care keeps his watch in every old man’s eye,
And where care lodges, sleep will never lie.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
And where care lodges, sleep will never lie.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
My perspective on sleeplessness has changed over time. Once it was my enemy and I fought it tooth and nail. Now it’s my companion, familiar, irritating, and intriguing. I go to bed early, fall asleep easily, awaken at 1 or 2 am, might go back to bed after an hour. I’m almost always up at 4 or 5. I love power naps. I really have the energy to do what I need or want to do -most of the time. I do hit a wall from time to time. I used to tell my primary care doc about it and she would suggest a sleep apnea study. Not interested. I tried Ambien once and Tylenol PM twice. Didn’t help, didn’t like the after effects. My acupuncturist says that in Chinese medicine sleeplessness between 1 and 3 relates to anger, and 3-5 to grief. My perspective changed when I started keeping a log of my sleep. I sleep on average 5-6 hours a night. I used to sleep 7-8 hours a night. I don’t worry about it much now and seldom complain about it. It’s my companion.
