Sleep, and why I don't get enough, or do I?

                                              

"Tis a grey day, Misty May! Tis a grey day!"

I speak these words to my early morning companion after her one-bark request wakes me up: "Arf!... Let me out!"

It's her way of letting me know that I have slept past the acceptable time for getting up. I turn and blink at the digital clock above my head... it's only 6:01 a.m. And it's Saturday. But she doesn't know about sleeping late on Saturdays, (or first day of the work-week Mondays, hump-day Wednesdays, "Lost!"-Thursdays (a favorite TV show of mine), or evenTGIF Fridays )... she just knows that every day after she eats her first doggie meal, she needs to go to the bathroom. Pretty near the same time every day.

Steve is up at 4 a.m., eats a breakfast and feeds her before he goes off to work. He doesn't let her out because she doesn't want to go out at that time. She needs to let her digestion kick in, I suppose.

I'm the one who lets her outside about an hour later.... the one who usually wakes her up and says "Let's go outside Misty! It's time to go out!"  Then I open the door and off she goes. She has her routine walk around the yard and woods. She generally comes home. It takes her about ten minutes, sometimes fifteen if she dawdles. Then, weather/temperatures depending, I will lead her to the outdoor dog pen, or she'll stay inside for the day.

So, her bark wakes me up this morning, and despite that I really want to savor that early morning slumber, my mind quickly fills with the list of things I need to do... not all what I want to do... but need to do.

I partially fill the glass tea kettle with water to make tea. I love tea this early in the morning. It is the only time I can drink a hot beverage without triggering a hot flash.

I look out the windows... it is a grey day... and the yard looks so peaceful and inviting. I pull a long sleeve shirt over my tank top, slip on a pair of walking shoes, and grab my camera. Maybe there is something out there waiting to be photographed.

                             

Pouring hot water over the tea bag, I brew one cup of tea. I am alone, except for Misty. I want to be still today. It has been a full week. Looking ahead, there are only 6 1/2 school days. I'm excited about the summer ... time I can use to really prepare for next year, and reorganize my classroom. There's Vacation Bible School, and traveling to visit my son in Baltimore. There's Jury Duty in July.... there's a couple of teacher workshops to look forward to.

But for now, today, this morning, there is time to be still and know that the Lord is God! Grey day, yes, but one the Lord has made and I rejoice. I am glad in it!

I step into the dew sprinkled grass and ground cover in the woods. Shoes quickly soak it all up, cooling and wetting my bare feet inside, but I don't care. Time to dry off later.

                             

As I walk about the yard, wishing for a little more sunshine for better lighting, and wishing that I had paid more attention to Greg's instructions about what to do when light is low (a tripod would have helped!), I notice that mushrooms have sprouted up all over the side and back yards.

I am not sure if they are little white mushrooms or little brown mushrooms at first, so I come in and do a google search.

                                                 

My inexpert conclusion is that they are definitely little brown mushrooms. To play it safe, if you ever see these 'shrooms growing in your yard, and you will after a good rain, it is best not to even consider eating them. You don't want your doggies to eat them either. They may or may not be poisonous, but who would want to chance it?

I love to eat grilled or fried store-bought mushrooms once in awhile, but the thought of harvesting the ones growing in my backyard does not appeal to me.

I continue to stroll around the yard, noticing work yet to be done. I take a moment to shoot our neglected patio below the deck. There are weeds to pull, pond statuary to remove (the pond has been gone for nearly two years), and swings to repaint.

                            

While I'm on the topic, there's going to be a Porch Party at Rhondi's Rose Colored Glasses, Thursday June 5th. I've never heard of an online porch party, so I thought I might participate, but I really don't have a front porch... I have the aforementioned mini-patio downstairs, and upstairs, there is the front deck. If I plan to participate in the Porch Party, I'm going to have to do some major cleaning.

The porch below is not my front porch. Just a tag.  

                                                 

By the way, if you would like to join the Porch Party, check out Rhondi's journal for details. Rhondi writes: " ...All you have to do is leave a comment (in her journal) on any post between now and then. Then on June 5, post photos of your front porch and my post that day."

She will include links to all our blogs so we can all visit each other.  Remember, this is Rhondi's Porch event... I'm just passing on the message and the invitation.

I first read about the Porch Party first at Marie's Oak Cottage blog. Remember Marie, the UK Chef from Marie's Muses? She's still the UK chef,but you should see her new blog... it's more of what she had at aoljournals. Her life continues to be faith driven, and she is charming as ever.

Now to get to the topic of sleep, and why I don't get enough of it, or do I?

This is a topic near and dear to blogger pal, Karen, at OutPost Mavarin.

Waking up several times during the night is not uncommon for either myself or my husband despite that both of us get up very early in the mornings for work: he at 4 a.m, and myself at 5:30 a.m.

I think it's our age. I remember when sleeping through the night undisturbed and sleeping late were the norm for us. I've talked to others, and it seems most of the people I know can describe some kind of sleeping problem. The most common is not getting enough of it.

What to do? I've tried going to bed earlier, you know, to give me more sleep time. But it doesn't work. Going to bed earlier (say around 9:30 pm instead of 11:30) only means I will lay in bed awake thinking, thinking, thinking. Two hours later, I'll still be awake.

I've tried sleeping aids (OC and Rx)... they make me feel like I'm getting up way too early, as well as making me feel drowsy throughout the day. I never take them on a school night. I don't like feeling drowsy when there are twenty-five students in my classroom who need an alert and active teacher!

I've tried not drinking water before I go to bed, but that only eliminates one problem.

When my DH was sick last week, he slept in the other room. He hadn't wanted to disturb my sleep, was his thoughtful reasoning. But I still woke up... my own snoring wakes me (grin). So I sleep on my side which partially eliminates my own snoring, but I still wake up at least five or six times a night. We're back together, dormer a deux.

I avoid drinking anything with caffeine after 1:00 pm... that helps out a bunch, but I am not happy with how many times I continue to wake up, nor how tired I feel in the mornings.

I had my blood levels checked, and though I was very anemic earlier this year, taking iron supplements daily has remedied that. Still, I am tired during the afternoons and early evenings. If I sit down to rest after I get home, I fall asleep.

Therein lies my problem, I think. I will sit down in the lounger chair after I get home, lay back, and fall asleep. Anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. Then I'm ready to cook dinner, read, Bible study, do school work, or surf the net and read journals, answer emails, etc. Nothing very active.

I spent some time this morning following up on my concern over what I've perceived to be a lack of sleep, and found a great website that helps explain the health connections to sleep.

If you want to know more about our circadian rhythms, or the two forces that drive our sleeping patterns, how to get the sleep you need, you might be interested in this website which features many high quality videos that are helpful to teach you more about your sleep patterns. The site is called Healthy Sleep. It is a research based production of WGBH Educational Foundation and the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine, created to improve knowledge about sleep. Many researchers and physicians were interviewed in the creation of this relatively new website, so I feel like it is a reliable source of information.

So what did the good doctor recommend? He suggests I try not going to bed earlier, but rather stay up later. Apparently, there are two sleep-related forces at work: one that drives us to sleep, and one that drives us to be more alert and awake. When they get out of whack, like when I sleep later on Saturdays, it can greatly interfere with my getting enough sleep during the school week.

Okay, I'll bite. I'll try it. As long as I have Misty, that won't be a problem. She's the best early morning alarm clock. I don't even have to remember to set her before I go to bed... she sets herself!

Oh, he also recommends that I not take those after school naps when I get home... big mistake. Messes up my sleep drive mechanism. That's going to be a little harder to reprogram, but I'll give it a go.

Finally, my early morning stroll took me past Max's grave. The tree there is sprouting new leaves, looking more alive than it did the day we buried our little dog the day before Palm Sunday. It's been over two months since he left us. I haven't yet made plans to landscape this area, but I want to do something. Whenever I walk the yard with Misty, we stop where we laid him to rest, and I remember better days with Mr. Max. I miss that adorable face and his happy bark. <sigh>

                                                             

 

Tags: mushrooms, Porch Party, Sleep problems

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