Oh, Sleep, Where Art Thou?

Ever have a stretch of poor sleep?  I do not mean just one night of tossing and turning and the mind forever racing over some salient point, or the times in our lives where we go to bed worrying about something.  I am talking (or, in my case, writing) about a string of night or weeks, where you wake up as tired as when you went to sleep?

This past week, I was in Stamford, Connecticut to train new users on the OneStream application.  The class went well and I was able to help adult professionals on their journey working with a product that will be beneficial to their company and their work lives.  I knew the material, I knew the information that I had to cover, and this was by no means the first time that I was in front of a class (or audience for that matter).  After eight hours of being “on,” where you are training, reacting to facial expressions (clues to understanding the material), answering questions and making the information relevant to each person, I am very tired.  Each night, I went to bed exhausted and passed out.  Great!  Except that when I opened my eyes feeling refreshed, it was only 11:30 ☹.  Each night I was up multiple times, sometimes not able to fall right back to sleep.  

Was I anxious?  Was I nervous?  Was I not used to being away from home?  All of these questions rattled around my brain (which probably made me more anxious the next night).  The truth is, I was not sleeping great prior to Stamford, nor once I got home.  Yes, I am sleeping more comfortably at home but still not the sleep I want.  Or some mornings it is a struggle getting out of bed and I would rather sleep in.  If I do, there is no exercise for that day and then I feel bad that I did not do that healthy activity for my body. 

I remember my mother’s father telling us that one hour of sleep before midnight equals two hours after.  So, I did a little web research.  There were a few articles that mention our best restorative sleep comes in the first third of sleeping; This easily leads to 1 hour before (1/3) midnight equals 2 hours after (2/3).  If I fall asleep at 10:00 and wake up at 11:30, does this mean that I only need four and a half hours of sleep?  There are also plenty of articles stating that we need less sleep the older we get.  

Either way, by the time that I have woken up, exercised, showered and eaten breakfast, I am more than ready for the day ahead.  I am full of energy waiting to take on the various adventures and challenges in front of me.  The good news, if I tire, there is always the opportunity to close my eyes for 15 minutes and take a catnap (or longer on weekends) to refresh myself.  At least I know, that at the end of my full day, there will always be my comfortable, inviting bed waiting for me.