Zzzzzzz’s

I saw the cartoon recently, and laughed, but only for a few seconds.

I have experienced these images, every one, at different times in my life.

And that is not so funny.

It seems to be a chronic issue with almost everyone I know.

We don’t sleep properly, and surely not enough.

It might be a factor of aging, menopause, stress, or a combination of all . It is not gender-specific. Many men have expressed similar issues.

My sleep issues began in my early 20’s. This was the most dangerous of all, falling asleep at the wheel. I still don’t know how I survived; there must have been guardian angels ?

I was student teaching, teaching 5 levels of Spanish, writing/typing lesson plans until 2 or 3 a.m., rising at 6 am, 5 days a week. I took a room in a local home suggested by the university during the week. On Friday evening, I would drive 50 miles on Pennsylvania highways to get home. I almost always caught myself dozing off at 55 mph.

Much later, now approaching 50, I took a job in a hotel that involved standing for 8 hours. When I got a chance to take a break in the back office, I once fell asleep standing up, in the middle of a conversation with a colleague. He had a monotone voice, but that wasn’t the issue. I was not sleeping at night. I blamed it on menopause.

It had become a family joke that I always slept through movies, especially when renting video at home. I always said that I have seen the first 20 minutes of almost every film, but don’t ask me how they end.

So now, at retirement, I have settled in at 5-6 hours of steady sleep at night, with a nap several times a week. These last from 20 minutes to up to 2 hours.

It seems to be working for me, and I’m tired of staying up at night worrying that I’m not getting enough sleep.

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