Ever watched Fight Club? Remember Edward Norton describing the life of an insomniac? A life in which everything wasn’t quite…there. Nothing ‘exploded’ out at you, events were muted, the normal human emotions were flattened.
Poor sleep can have the same effect.
As I was telling Paul a few minutes ago, last night, I was unable to sleep for at least 1.5 hours after hitting the bed. When I did get to sleep, it was…odd. I woke up at least 10 times during the night – and that was just the start. I distinctly remember periods of lucidity where I wasn’t sure if I’d been sleeping for the past while or existing in a half awake, half asleep stage. Points where I never felt as if I’d been ‘roused’ out of sleep. It felt instead like I was engaged in a constant day dream – woken every so often, never getting the refreshment I craved.
Yes. Craved. Having suffered through periods of insomnia in the past – some more severe and of greater duration than others – I am now extremely watchful of unexplicable changes in my sleep patterns. Not for me the dreariness of a life fuelled by caffiene and heavy-lidded eyes. I’ve had too much of that already. Just because I did it (and can get away with it) doesn’t mean that I want to repeat it.
That is of course, unless I feel that whatever I’m doing instead is worth it.