mad anthony

Rants, politics, and thoughts on politics, technology, life,
and stuff from a generally politically conservative Baltimoron.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Sleepy time...

I've been trying to get less sleep.

Yes, less sleep. It's occurred to me that I only have a limited amount of time on this earth, and that there probably are better things I should be doing other than lying in bed. Plus, there have been a ton of things I've been trying to get done (sell stuff on eBay, get my room slightly neater so it doesn't resemble an explosion at a city dump, read a couple books for pleasure) - plus having time for the 6 days a week I work, the 2 MBA classes I'm taking and the corresponding homework and projects, daily trips to the gym, and the normal chores of life (shopping, laundry, dishes, ect).

When I worked nights, I slept way more than I should - sometimes as much as 9 or 10 hours a night. I also didn't have as much to do - no classes - so it was fine.

But now I have more to do and can't afford to sleep all day. I also have to be at work at 7:30AM instead of 1pm.

I've been trying to force myself to sleep less - partly by doing things like going to the gym after class gets out at 9pm (which ensures I won't just go home and "rest my eyes" and wake up 8 hours later) and partially by just not going to sleep, even when I want to.

But there is one problem with this plan - I'm tired as shit, and I can't get up in the morning. The last 2 days I've rolled out of bed at 6:50am, which is bad since I'm supposed to be at work at 7:30. I've got in within a minute or two of "on time", but that doesn't exactly make me a model employee. I currently have 3 alarm clocks, set to start going off about an hour an a half before I need to get up, but I manage to sleep or snooze through all of them.

But I've managed to not go to bed until after midnight, so I've cut my sleep down to around 6 hours - I wish it could be less.

I also feel like crap. I feel the way I would feel in college when I would have to drag myself out of bed for an 8am econ class after spending the previous nights shotgunning Schaffer Light and Jagermeister with my roomates. Except that the last time I had a beer was last week.

I'm hoping I can train myself - that once my body gets used to less sleep, it will feel normal, and I'll be able to get up. But that assumes I don't get fired or have a sleep-related car crash first.

I know people are probably thinking "but you know, you could just go to bed earlier, and then get up earlier, instead of trying to shave time off the time you go to bed". But I can't. I'm not a morning person. If it wasn't for grad classes, I'd still be working the night shift. When I was a kid, my mom would have to yell at me for an hour to get me out of bed and off to school. I have an uncanny ability to sleep through alarms, to wake up, turn off alarms, and go back to sleep, and to convince myself that I can doze a little more because I only really need a couple minutes to get ready.

damn it, i'm tired.

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