Sleep…

Sleep is a cherished commodity in my life. I know sleep promotes good health and healing, but sleep has been a problem for me for decades. It began when I lived in Winnipeg under the flight path of “The Red-eye Special,” he overnight flight from Vancouver to Toronto. That plane roared over my home at 4:15 every morning, and never failed to waken me. That fact actually became useful when, some years later, I began running every morning at 5 AM. The plane got me up, and I got going…for two hours.

This morning pattern continued for 20 years, so by then I could waken spontaneously even before the plane approached. When I let that home, and the city, the pattern continued. By 5 AM, I was awake and ready to start my day, running, walking or whatever. That was now 30 years ago, but the pattern still continues. In fact, over the past two winters, when I walked 4 km every morning, I was often on the street by 4 AM!  It seems not to matter whether I go to bed at 9:30 or 11:00. Between 4 and 5 I am awake and ready to go.

Some years ago, I was tested for sleep apnea, and was diagnosed as a sufferer. One of the remedial steps taken was to put me on a C-PAP machine, which keeps a constant pressure in you nasal passages all night, thus preventing the hundreds of brief awakening that occur to the apnea patient. I can’t recall now when or why I stopped using the machine, but once again recently, I was diagnosed as a sleep apnea sufferer. I will likely be put on a C-PAP machine (modern edition) again. This will guarantee at least good sleep while I am asleep.

However, all this is ‘back story’ to my present dilemma. Since having open-heart surgery< I am required, for now, to sleep on my back only, not my side, as I usually do. I waken at least 3 or 4 times a night to empty my bladder – another ‘gift’ of the ‘golden years.’ Since arriving home from the open-heart surgery (a new aortic valve and a triple by-pass) I awaken completely at least once every night. At first, I just lay there and stared at the ceiling. Another time, tried listening to the radio – which was interesting that it kept me awake even longer! Now, I simply get up, make myself some tea, and read for an hour. I can the return to bed and get to sleep. There’s something hypnotic going on there, I think.

The consequence of all this is that in the morning, I am wiped out, and find it hard to rise and have breakfast at 7 – an impossibly late hour for me! After eating, I now usually return to bed at sleep another hour or more. When I do get up, I am groggy and slow until I get outside for my first 15-minute walk of the day. Walking! That’s another blog!