Insomnia

“Being tired isn’t the same as being rich, but most times it’s close enough.” -Fight Club

This insomnia is rough. Sometimes I just hope I can get home and be tired enough to sleep. Often when I do sleep, I will still wake at 3am. The trouble with having trouble is that I tend to want to diagnose myself with an array of things. I suppose I just want something to blame for my discomfort. There is something called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder:

“….a chronic disorder of the timing of sleep, peak period of alertness, the core body temperature rhythm, hormonal and other daily rhythms, compared to the general population and relative to societal requirements. People with DSPS generally fall asleep some hours after midnight and have difficulty waking up in the morning.

Often, people with the disorder report that they cannot sleep until early morning, but fall asleep at about the same time every “night”. Unless they have another sleep disorder such as sleep apnea in addition to DSPS, patients can sleep well and have a normal need for sleep. Therefore, they find it very difficult to wake up in time for a typical school or work day. If, however, they are allowed to follow their own schedules, e.g. sleeping from 4 a.m. to noon, they sleep soundly, awaken spontaneously, and do not experience excessive daytime sleepiness.”

I have been trying to apply it to myself for a few weeks. It is sort of like Trivial Pursuit, in that I am looking at answers, trying to match it to my questions. It sounds almost romantic to have a rare disorder that I can’t really overcome. It is alluring to have a little aspect of my physiology that I was born with that I cannot easily change. Perhaps I want something to blame, but that something needs to be just barely unbeatable. Maybe I can give up soon and just adjust my life around it. Maybe I can be a victim to Sleep Phase Disorder, and have something exotic to mention at parties.

But seriously, I have been cutting out sodas and reducing my coffee intake to as low as I can stand. I’m sure this is stress related, though I’m sure the fabulous magic drug Caffeine isn’t helping. Not sleeping well has been tough during the day, but I do seem to get a lot done in the middle of the night! Maybe I have owl blood and Morpheus DNA...