We all have our own demons at work. Lately, mine has been daytime sleepiness. It’s when you find yourself nodding off in the middle of typing a sentence or just struggling to stay awake in front of the computer monitor. If you’re guilty of the same thing, then it’s probably been a while since you last had a good night’s sleep.
On average, I get around four hours of shut-eye, and apparently, it’s not enough. I tell myself that I’ll make up for it on a weekend, but I never do because I’m always busy. Recently, I learned that it doesn’t even matter whether I get to sleep late during weekends because as it turns out, you just can’t reverse all the ill effects of staying up late through recovery sleep.
Last week, just before the long weekend, I told myself that I would try to hit the hay earlier. I didn’t. Friday night found me working on a few articles until the wee hours of the morning. And since I tutor kids every Saturday morning, I only got to indulge in a snooze fest when I got home at around lunch (which as we established earlier won’t really help me much). I did find myself sleeping earlier Sunday night but I dropped the ball just last night, sleeping at around 3:00 A.M.
Work isn’t the only thing that has been keeping me up though. On some nights, I stay up late because I’m trying to find Michelin star restaurants in Hong Kong. On others, it’s because I’m trying to read as many chapters as I can of Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians (which I am now done with). Even though I know I should be sleeping earlier, I find myself resisting, opting to stay online or play Plants vs. Zombies 2 until my brain just can’t take it anymore. Is there a medical term for being obstinate?
Perhaps it’s about time I stop taking sleep for granted. Truth be told, I’m tired of forcing my eyes to stay awake every morning. I just want to wake up feeling great and refreshed. There’s another long weekend coming up in a few days. Instead of staying up late, maybe I should make sleeping a priority.
Need motivation to get more Zzz's? Here are 10 reasons why we all need to get more rest.
(Photo from Minnie Hunt on Pinterest)
