To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

 

Are you getting enough sleep lately?  I know.  Almost every aspect in our lives has been disturbed or disrupted by this COVID-19 pandemic.  Our sleeping habit is no exception.

WASH. RINSE. REPEAT.

There are those who work from home (WFH).  Suddenly there's free time here and there.  With the proximity of the bed to the designated WFH work station you find yourself slipping into "power naps".  When done repeatedly, the body clock is disturbed.  Before you know it you are sleeping late and consequently waking up late.  A habit is then formed that leaves you groggy in the morning and irritable or lethargic in the afternoon.  The days go by and voila!  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat! 

THE EARLY BIRD.

I was born in the 1970's.  There isn't a lot of distraction for kids back then.  No mobile games, no cellular phones, no computers, no Internet, no Netflix.  We sleep around 8 o'clock in the evening.  9 o'clock would be the latest.  We wake up fresh at 5 o'clock in the morning.  Actually even earlier.  We get exactly 8 hours of sleep.  This is our family's daily routine.  This is my normal.  It all changed however, when I got into college.

THE START OF SOMETHING NEW?!

College is a different ball game.  I took up computer engineering and boy, oh boy!  There were truckloads of laboratory reports to write.  By hand mind you.  There were tons of plates to finish.  Tons of topics to research and machine problems to solve.  And most daunting of all there was a great deal of applications to code and document.  In order for me to accomplish most of these things, I had to sacrifice my sleeping hours whenever needed.  This was the start of something new for me, I should say.

I believe that school is our training ground for the real world.  Sure there's the academic part of it but there is also skill and behavioural development.  We get to develop and index our response to certain situations.  In retrospect, if I would be given a chance to change anything in the past, it would be better time management.  I would have not sacrificed my sleeping hours.  I could have managed my tasks better.

IN PROVING ONESELF.

When I got a job after graduation, I was so eager to prove myself.  I set goals.  I wanted to establish a solid foundation for my career.  I took on projects with tight schedules.  Did "overnights" in order to finish modules.  I sacrificed my rest days.  I managed to put systems into production successfully.

I made it!  I reached my goals!  From a programmer/analyst to Vice President for Systems Engineering and Applications Development and Support and now a Consultant, I think I have proven my worth.  But it came with a heavy price.  Such a heavy price...

What's the price you asked?  That would be a whole separate blog.  But part of that is "hypertension" and "diabetes".  Gory.  Gruesome diseases.

SLEEP DEPRIVATION.

Fast forward to 2021.  Global pandemic still.  Since I am an individual obviously with comorbidity, it is imperative that I stay at home as much as possible.  Being confined in the four corners of my house for a long period of time is indeed a challenge.  My sleeping pattern has been immensely affected.  There were times that I have been sleep deprived.  So, I am doing everything I can to get myself to sleep for at least 8 hours, and rather importantly at the right time.

Exercise, engage in a good hobby that is enjoyable, read books, avoid sleeping in the afternoon as much as possible, lessen the time spent in front of the computer, and lessen watching series in Netflix and videos in YouTube.  These are reminders to myself.

To sleep or not to sleep in the afternoon?  I hope not to take afternoon naps.  To sleep or not to sleep early at night?  I hope to early every night.

Lifestylecheck101: the choices we make now shape our future.