Quick sleep update.
Jan. 17th, 2013 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randomlingSo I went to bed reasonably early last night (about 11.30pm) though later than has been my habit for the past couple of weeks. I took a nap yesterday afternoon, and noticed that I seemed to take longer to get to sleep than I have on previous evenings. So, possibly the nap was the cause of slightly worse insomnia than usual.
Noticed while moisturising my face this morning that I have serious dark circles under my eyes, which sort of jibes with the constant tiredness. (Yay?)
So I've been thinking a bit about what this all means.
If I've had a reasonably active morning (eg, I've left the house), I seem to start feeling very tired around 2-3pm. This means that I feel quite sleepy, my mental and physical reaction times are slowed right down, I get grumpy and emotional, and it gets hard to concentrate.
If I nap, I wake up between about 5 and 6pm, feel a bit groggy for an hour or two, but then have an evening of "probably quite tired, but functional". I could, say, do some programming, or have a conversation with someone without wanting to yell at them, or do some housework.
If I don't nap, I get more and more leaden through the afternoon and evening, and eventually turn in for a very early night - usually between 10pm and 11pm, but sometimes earlier. I'm not usually good for much after 2-3pm except watching telly, eating, and playing very undemanding games on my iPad.
The downside of napping is that the more I nap, the more my bedtime starts to edge later and later. I've absorbed the idea from my parents that going to bed late is Morally Wrong, but it also means that my waking times start to get later, too, meaning that I miss any morning activities and find the once a week that I need to be up early very very unpleasant.
In normal circumstances, I'm a night owl, I would say. But without a nap, I can't take advantage of my usual "best time of day" because I'm too zombified to do anything except daydream about going to sleep.
On the other hand, not-napping does make it easier for me to get up in the mornings, which reduces my feelings of purposelessness and uselessness.
In other words, right now this is feeling like an impossible trade-off to get the better deal on. Neither side feels like a particularly good deal. Which is really quite annoying.
I cannot think of a "best of both worlds" compromise, either.
I'm already a zombie by now, so I think I'm going to go to sleep. This morning was particularly active.
(As usual, no advice, please.)
Noticed while moisturising my face this morning that I have serious dark circles under my eyes, which sort of jibes with the constant tiredness. (Yay?)
So I've been thinking a bit about what this all means.
If I've had a reasonably active morning (eg, I've left the house), I seem to start feeling very tired around 2-3pm. This means that I feel quite sleepy, my mental and physical reaction times are slowed right down, I get grumpy and emotional, and it gets hard to concentrate.
If I nap, I wake up between about 5 and 6pm, feel a bit groggy for an hour or two, but then have an evening of "probably quite tired, but functional". I could, say, do some programming, or have a conversation with someone without wanting to yell at them, or do some housework.
If I don't nap, I get more and more leaden through the afternoon and evening, and eventually turn in for a very early night - usually between 10pm and 11pm, but sometimes earlier. I'm not usually good for much after 2-3pm except watching telly, eating, and playing very undemanding games on my iPad.
The downside of napping is that the more I nap, the more my bedtime starts to edge later and later. I've absorbed the idea from my parents that going to bed late is Morally Wrong, but it also means that my waking times start to get later, too, meaning that I miss any morning activities and find the once a week that I need to be up early very very unpleasant.
In normal circumstances, I'm a night owl, I would say. But without a nap, I can't take advantage of my usual "best time of day" because I'm too zombified to do anything except daydream about going to sleep.
On the other hand, not-napping does make it easier for me to get up in the mornings, which reduces my feelings of purposelessness and uselessness.
In other words, right now this is feeling like an impossible trade-off to get the better deal on. Neither side feels like a particularly good deal. Which is really quite annoying.
I cannot think of a "best of both worlds" compromise, either.
I'm already a zombie by now, so I think I'm going to go to sleep. This morning was particularly active.
(As usual, no advice, please.)
