Snooze alarm
Last night I was asleep by 9:00. Tonight, it’s after 11 and I’m not sleepy. Why can I not be consistent in my sleep routine? Wait, what routine? There’s no such thing!
Some nights I fall asleep on the couch at 6:30, wake up for dinner, then go straight to bed. Some nights I have to make myself hit the mattress at midnight. Sunday night I was up until after 1:00 a.m., then had to get up at 5. Yeah, Monday was real fun at work. Thank God my office isn’t very visible, because I dozed off more than once.
Do you ever do that? I mean, do you ever actually fall asleep at your desk? It’s happened to me several times, and every time I’ve jerked awake terrified that I might have snored! Yes, I snore. I’m not a raucous snorer, but I do a bit of snuffling now and then. It’s not your typical officeplace noise, and I’d be sooo humiliated if someone happened to come into my office mid-flurfle. How could you explain that away, blame it on a non-existent cold?
Usually I keep something cold, wet and crunchy on my desk to wake me up if I get drowsy. Eating an apple or celery is much more effective at chasing away the ZZZs than coffee. Coffee often seems to backfire for me, inducing sleepiness instead of battling it. I don’t know if that’s actually possible. Maybe it’s all in my head. Or maybe I’ve become immune to the caffeine. But I worry about this a lot, because I’m so often tired at work. Ideally, I’d like to be getting a good rest every night so this would not be an issue, but barring that miracle happening, I need a technique for quickly waking myself up when the urge to snooze gets too alarming. Before I either (a) fall out of my chair or (b) bang my head on my keyboard on my way to the Land of Nod.
What works for you?
[tags]Fatigue, sleep, coffee, I’m not an insomniac - I just can’t sleep[/tags]
November 7th, 2007 at 5:45 am
I’ve never dozed off at work, but my sleep patterns are pretty erratic too. Some nights I’m dozing in the recliner before I even put the kiddo to bed. Other nights I hear my brain saying “You really should get to sleep! You’ve only got (insert # of hours here) hours left to sleep.”
November 7th, 2007 at 6:40 am
Sometimes I get into this groove where I am hitting the bed by 11 and waking up at 7 and life is perfect. Not so much lately….geez, I was bone tired at 8pm last night and still could not quite find my way to snoozieville.
I’ve never fallen asleep at my desk! Part of my insomnia problem is that I don’t sleep well places like desks, couches, airplanes, trains, etc. But when I am at work and am feeling like total crap cause I am overly tired, I tend to do the coffee thing, the sugar thing, the high protein thing and the water thing. Someone once told me that water is better for a tired body than caffeine.
Uh, sorry to ramble….
November 7th, 2007 at 7:26 am
i totally fall asleep after i drink coffee- it’s true! it happens! i used to be a coffee junky but now that i quit it, reverse effect. weird, huh?
i’ve never fallen asleep at work. i just go home if i feel that tired. i have, however, gone to work still tipsy from the night before. for shame!
November 7th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I snack all day long at work to stay awake… and drink TONS of diet soda. I also take a nap on the train on the way to work. I am only getting 6 or less hours of sleep every night. I feel so deprived :(
Wah wah wah ;)
November 7th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
A quick walk around sometimes revives me.
Only sometimes. Otherwise, it’s Diet Coke to the rescue. If that doesn’t work, the legs start jiggling….and nobody really wants to see that.
November 7th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Awww, thanks for the link.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
I believe that I have no routine for sleeping. I sleep when my mind tells me to, since that is generally when I am ready for bed-when my mind no longer has anything occupying it.
I do go on this kick, where I come home from the office, take a 60-90 minute nap, iron my clothes for the next day, get up and eat, talk to my girlfriend, and then get on my laptop and take care of business matters via the net. Some days I do not always follow that, but the nap in the evening does help me to function for taking care of my job at night.
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