Superbowl and thoughts on sleep
No,the two aren’t really connected, though I do find the Superbowl broadcastoverwhelmingly noisy which tends to make me want to retreat to my bed. I am nota football fan, and it is immaterial to me which team wins—except this year Iwant the Chiefs to win simply because I’ve heard too much hype about Taylor andTravis and I want them to enjoy their moment. I think what they have right nowis true love, the kind that lifts you off your feet and takes you to a newstratosphere. Some people never know that in their whole lives, so I‘mdelighted for Travis and Taylor, Whether it lasts or not, let them have it now.
Butthe fact that much of the Superbowl makes me want to retreat to my bed reminds methat I’ve been thinking about sleep patterns and age lately. You know thoseobnoxious people who spring out of bed at six in the morning, alert, bright,and ready to take on the day? I used to be one of them. I always said I did mybest work, writing, whatever in the morning. Not anymore.
Andyou know how teenagers can sleep until noon? I never could do that. My internalclock woke me at seven, and If I stayed in bed, I got a headache, tossed andturned, and found it easier to get up rather than pretend I was sleeping late.Not anymore.
My internalclock has shifted. It happened gradually, but these days I find myself up andworking at my computer until midnight. And I can happily sleep until nine inthe morning—once in a while, nine-thirty, though I haven’t made it to noon yet.Sophie gets me up at seven or seven-thirty for her breakfast, but I can go backto bed and go sound asleep until she wakes me again for her second breakfast (thetwo-step breakfast is another subject and has to do with her diabetes).
Thenthere are naps. I have always been a napper, grew up in a family where everyonenapped, made my children nap until they were way beyond the point where mostkids take naps. I would tell them to take a “body rest” if they didn’t sleep.But like most responsible adults, I had a nine-to-five job and couldn’t napduring the week. On the weekends, it was an indulgence. But now that I’mretired, it has become a necessity. I get unbearably sleepy about after lunch,and I’m good for a nap of anywhere from one to two hours. Some days I sleepdeeply, with wild dreams (I’m one of those who often remember dreams, at leastfor a while); other timrd I think I’m not sleeping but realize when I get upthat I’ve been off somewhere else. More frequently these days, waking up toreality is difficult—I’m grumpy. Yesterday I’d had a good and productivemorning but woke from my nap with the feeling that I was sick somehow. I wasn’t.It just took me a while to get back to myself. That’s a new thing too. Pleasenote: don’t call me between about one-thirty and four-thirty. Give me a bit offlexibility
Andthen there are what a friend calls pajama days—those days when all you want todo is go back to bed. They don’t happen often, but when they do, I give in tothem. I may nap off and on all day. It seems to be what my body needs. I’m notsick, not sad, not depressed—just sleepy. I never think I can plead I’m tiredor overworked because mine is not a demanding daily schedule.
TheNational Institute on Aging says the elderly (isn’t it strange to apply thatterm to yourself?) need the same amount of sleep—seven to nine hours—and lists causesfor lack of sleep, from pain to medications, and results—irritability, memoryloss, more falls. Other sites say the elderly spend more time in bed but experiencea deterioration in quantity and quality of sleep—I can testify to that becauseI wake frequently during the night. The result, the National Library of Medicinesays, is more daytime napping, on purpose and unintentionally. But theInstitute on Aging refers to “senior fatigue,” which they say is a real thing—andbegins in your thirties. Makes me think of my mom. I clearly remember one daywhen we were in the garage and she was going to drive me to school. ‘I wake upwondering how soon I can go back to bed,” she said, and she must have been inher fifties. Strange how moments like that stay forever clear in one’s memory.
My ownconclusion is that the changes I’m experiencing are a normal part of aging, andI am blessed to only occasionally suffer from insomnia. Most of the time Isleep deeply and satisfyingly—and sometimes with wonderful dreams that I amreluctant to leave.
Sweetdreams—and how well do you sleep?
