Pandora's Box

I suppose most people don't wake up at two in the afternoon, complaining of insomnia. But when you normally sleep until four, that puts you two hours short of your goal (which is only a measly seven hours of sleep). This keeps happening to me lately. I think it's this flip flopping between days and nights that is getting to me.

I still wear my ear plugs and easily sleep through the sounds of the neighbors. My eye shade still obstructs almost all light from seeping through my eye lids. I think what's happening is that I'm waking up hungry. In fact, just this morning, I woke up in the nick of time - registering in a moment of half-alertedness the texture of my ear plug against my tongue as I attempted to eat it in my sleep. Instead I stuffed the earplug back into the orifice for which it was intended and fell back into a restful slumber for another... maybe fifteen minutes? That's when the hunger pangs kicked in full force.

So now, here I sit, typing this all out as I stuff my face with peanut butter filled pretzels. Wide, wide awake.

3 o'clock in the morning, the night before, talking to co-worker:

ME: I am *so* tired tonight. I don't know what's with me.

Andy: Yeah, I thought you were little Miss nightshift [hey, at least he didn't call me a Pixie!]

ME: I am. I don't know why I'm so tired.

I'm the envy of my partner in how easily I fall asleep when I first get into bed. I fall so deep into sleep, nothing can awaken me. But these "mornings" that I wake up early... ugh.

As a nurse, I know all about sleep hygiene. I know not to lay in bed indefinitely, fighting myself to get back to sleep. But it is so hard to get up when I know I will have to stay awake until 8am tomorrow morning before getting more sleep. Another night shift lurks ahead. [sigh] Gone are the days of my untainted love for the night shift.