Sleep

the ultimate health aid apparently

I am reading a fascinating - albeit dry - book called “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker, PhD. He has over 30 years of research on sleep, the lack of sleep and what that can do to the brain. As he says, “ The sleep-deprived brain does not know when it is sleep-deprived.” He also says that it takes more than a weekend of sleep to recover from a week of short sleep. And if you think you are one of those people who only needs 5 hours of sleep a night - like I did - he reports that you have a greater chance to be hit by lightning than to carry the very rare gene that allows one to exist on too little sleep. Apparently, the human brain needs at least 7 hours sleep a night, including all the cycles of REM and deep NREM to function optimally and not put themselves or others at risk. Not to mention the links between lack of sleep and cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental illness… Like I said, fascinating, but for someone who routinely sleeps 5-6 hours a night, just a little scary

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It’s not like I want to sleep so little. Rarely is there an outside influence that forces me to sleep so little. Yes, I work in the evenings, so by the time I wind down from a shift, it might be well after midnight. But there are very few days when I have any need to be out of bed before 9 or 9:30 the next morning. I regularly schedule appointments for after 10. I book coffee dates the same. And yet… 6am routinely sees me at Oak Bay Rec Centre, dutifully swimming my laps, because I might as well be doing that as staring at CrackBook or playing games on my phone at that ridiculous hour. And, before you ask, yes, I take sleeping meds. I have also tried melatonin, and am presently trying THC/CBD/CBN (a marijuana blend for those not up on their weed acronyms). If one more person thinks they will solve my sleep issue by teaching me all about sleep hygiene, my lack of sleep may be responsible for assault causing bodily harm. (At least that is the defence my lawyer will use.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my pool time in the mornings. In fact just today I actually slept in to just after 7:30 which is a bit late to catch the early morning swim at my rec centre, and I was honestly disappointed. Laps, or water aerobics in the recreation end of the pool, have definitely been a positive influence on my usual winter blues. I can almost pretend that I am in Mexico. Of course, I started swimming in the hope that it would bring about a bit of weight loss, only to have gained 5 lbs since I began. I’m going with the “muscle weighs more than fat” theory, while trying to ignore the oversized belly or the pain in my knees and feet that couldn’t possibly be caused by supporting said oversized belly. Sigh

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Sleep, or lack of it, aside, time marches on and here we are in February already. With apologies to my eastern friends, the camellia is already full of buds and the tulip bulbs are pushing their green proposals of spring from the soil. Today is a good day as the first in far too long that isn’t drenched in rain, but as much as the heavy skies and water-logged shoes can drag me down, I will always be grateful to get to live here and not face months of snow (again, to my eastern friends, I am so sorry). Nonetheless, February will be a good month. I have already been gifted with a private dance party with my 3 year old granddaughter (to her favourite music, the soundtrack from K Pop Demon Hunters - and no she hasn’t seen the movie) and next week I get to fly up to Williams Lake to spend a week with the almost-3 year old grandson. Of course as much as both the grandkids are happy to see their Oma, there is always a hint of disappointment in their eyes when they see that the fun guy, their Opa, isn’t with me. Next time. I am certain that a big part of Opa’s fun-ness is based on his years of theatre improv. “Yes, and…” is one of the primary tenets of improv and works just as well in imaginary play. “I have this plastic hammer and level.” “Yes, and the fireplace mantel needs to be checked to make sure it is level.” “Yes, and we need to use the hammer to level it out.” You can see how this game could go on for hours.

Okay, I can feel that one decent night sleep has definitely not made up for the accumulated deprivation. As I said, today is a good day. A good night’s sleep. Nothing on the calendar. No work tonight. It might just be about time for nap #1. No guilt.

Till next time,

Sandy