Zzzzzzzzzz

Awww, cute kitty!! I'm not going to be talking about cute kitties today, but the picture is apt because the kitty is doing something that I love.

Sleeping.

Yup, sleeping. I love sleep, it's awesome. If I could add an extra four hour to every day just for sleeping purposes, I would be a happy bunny. It's not that I'm overly lazy (though there is a small streak of laziness in me, I admit), I just love to sleep.

It's probably rooted in the fact that I have trouble getting to sleep most nights. I could be bone-wearyingly tired, but I still struggle to nod off. And I toss and turn like nobody's business. My body might be tired, but my brain is still buzzing. It's very rare indeed that I manage to get to sleep before midnight.

Consequently, I always feel tired. And what do you know, I have NO trouble falling asleep in the middle of the day. Typical. If the house is empty and I am doing something quiet, like reading or writing, my eyelids start dropping and before I know it, I can't keep them open. I'm OK if I'm physically active, but my brain seems to switch off if I am sat down.

Between the hours of 1pm and 3pm are the worst. I can't afford to be sitting down during these hours if I want to stay awake, especially if the previous night's sleep was particularly bad. If I can get to 3pm without falling asleep, I'm fine. I get my 'second wind' and I'm super-dooper for the rest of the day. In fact, I go past feeling tired at all, and end up staying awake far longer than I should.

I'm a night owl, definitely. I'm quite happy to stay awake until 2 or 3am. I can go to bed in the early hours of the morning and usually manage to nod off almost immediately. But bed before midnight? Nope. I'll be counting sheep/cracks in the ceiling/those crazy colored spots for hours.

The worst thing is, I'm now stuck in this vicious circle. I'm so tired most days that I end up napping three or four afternoons a week. But by napping, I'm making it harder to fall asleep when I'm supposed to, and I'm awake for half of the night. Which leads me to....

Oversleeping.

I'm pretty good at getting up when I'm supposed to. A couple of years ago I worked in a newsagents and had to get up at 4am on weekends, so I got used to getting up when the alarm went off. I'm still pretty good, but because I'm so exhausted most of the time, there are days when I oversleep. Unfortunately, this always seems to happen on school days. Fortunately my son sets his alarm for 7am (the same as me, only he doesn't hit 'snooze' like his mum *shifty*), so I don't have to worry too much. But I still have to make sure he's ready to leave by 7:50am, and left to his own devices he would still be eating his breakfast and wearing his PJ's at 7:49am. *rolls eyes*

Today was one of those days when I overslept, and I've been 'off' all day because of it. I jumped out of bed at 7:33am with a groan, and proceeded to blindly make packed lunches while mumbling 'get dressed' and 'teeth!' to my son (I can't manage full sentences without my cuppa first, and I didn't have time to wait for the kettle to boil).

I've done everything that I would normally do on a Wednesday, but I still feel out of sync. I even fitted a nap in this afternoon.*shifty* No doubt I shall be late in getting to bed again tonight....

And so the circle continues.