[brains, PSA] Sleep

[wispfox]

Random thing that I _CANNOT_ comprehend:

People for whom insufficient sleep means that they are more likely to be able to fall asleep, even if they are awakened by external sources.


For me, insufficient sleep means my ability to sleep gets really badly fucked up and it's far, far, _far_ more difficult for me to get to sleep. A large part of my ability to sleep anything close to a sufficient amount - as vs. enough that I'm actually feeling rested and alert - is a regular sleep schedule. If I've gotten too little sleep, especially if it's a long-term problem, I seem to move between 'exhausted' and 'alert' too quickly for the exhausted part to win out and let me sleep (or stay there reasonable restfully).

Eventually, however, it tends to get to a point where I am COMPLETELY USELESS, and then I might just pass out even through lack of sleep schedule goodness. This may or may not be very good sleep, but it is often enough for me to be able to get back to a sane schedule _IF_ I'm very careful about it for a few days, and things don't get stupid again.


Sure, the former makes _sense_, but it's so very far outside the realm of my own experience that I just cannot keep it in my head for practical purposes.

Comments

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

People for whom insufficient sleep means that they are more likely to be able to fall asleep, even if they are awakened by external sources.

Do you find such people excessively normal in other respects as well? ;)

I can relate... it's very easy for my sleep schedule to get completely fsck'ed up and very hard to get it back on track:

• Me: "Enough of this, I'm getting to bed at a reasonable hour to get my sleep schedule back on track"
  
• My body: "Oh no you don't!"
  

As I said in another LJ entry, why can't I be as wide awake at noon as I am at 4AM?

Bleagh...

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Do you find such people excessively normal in other respects as well? ;)

Oddly, no. But then, this is the kind of thing I will only have reason to notice if they are sufficiently close to me that I'm ever likely to need to care. :)

As I said in another LJ entry, why can't I be as wide awake at noon as I am at 4AM?

See, if it were just that I was actually awake at some strange hour, I'd be happier about it. It's actually that I'm dead tired exhausted alternating with being semi-alert with very little time in either state (the time between state changes reduces the longer I'm unable to sleep, until I am entirely useless and exhausted far beyond the point of pain, and I finally crash).

[ladytabitha.livejournal.com]

This'd be why I differentiate between sleepy (I could go to sleep any time now) and exhausted (I am utterly drained, which has nothing to do with sleep-potential).

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*nod* But... thing is...

I am generally sleepy in this state, but just not for long enough to sleep.

However, yes. I get it. :)

[brynndragon.livejournal.com]

I have much worse problems when I oversleep than when I undersleep. When I oversleep I fall into a cycle of being tired more easily/earlier in the day and thus tending to sleep even more, which can spiral badly if I'm not careful to not sleep too much. I also fall asleep pretty easily, and wake up just as easily. Insufficient sleep means I am more tired throughout the day (with a peak of tiredness right around 2PM), rather than making it more difficult to drag myself out of bed (or making it hard for me to sleep), most of the time.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I also fall asleep pretty easily, and wake up just as easily.

Sheesh. You, australian_joe, and ladytabitha _all_ have this ability. :)

And I know that ladytabitha has trouble if she oversleeps.

*amused*

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

You clearly select for this with your harem!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Only if you stay with a more strict definition than the one you were proposing! ;)

[rosefox]

I don't know why ladytabitha thinks I'd weigh in on the side of those with sleeping difficulties. I don't have sleeping problems. It's just that the rest of the world refuses to conform to my preferred semi-nocturnal schedule. *)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

That is not a sleeping difficulty of the same class as my own. You just prefer to sleep different hours than most people, right?

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

Given we all seem to simultaneously be working with many definitions, I don't see this as a problem. 8->

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I'm only comfortable with the one including only three people. :)

[australian-joe.livejournal.com]

But of those three, we all have more than our fare share of sleep, apparently...

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

True! I think y'all are stealing mine. ;)

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Being very tired makes it much harder for me to screen out noises and fall asleep. People sometimes say horrible things like "if you can't fall asleep, you must not really be tired". . . which is quite the opposite from my reality.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Being very tired makes it much harder for me to screen out noises and fall asleep.

Yes! This, among other things! (I also just cycle too quickly between sleepy and not)

People sometimes say horrible things like "if you can't fall asleep, you must not really be tired". . . which is quite the opposite from my reality.

Quite. Annoying people.

People who say that to me get unpleasant reactions.

[jedi-diplomat.livejournal.com]

I have a sleep schedule, or I did in college. I tried to get at least 8 hours, and would go to bed depending what would give me 8 hours when I had to get up. Of course, being naturally a night owl, (which is strange, because I really am scared of the dark, or what's in the dark) this is odd.

Now, let me tell you, travelling through time, really messes with your clock. Yes, I'm graced with having to travel through time often because of my job. Either the day is never ending and you just want to stay up until a decent hour in the US to collapse, having been awake for over 24 hours by that time and the day still isn't over. Talk about messing with your sleep schedule.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

would go to bed depending what would give me 8 hours when I had to get up.

That worked? For me, if I don't go to bed at approximately the same time every night, it might be a problem. It's ok if I'm reasonably well slept (as well slept as I tend to be on a regular basis), if it's not _that_ much later than normal, and if only once or twice. Otherwise, it causes me problems.

travelling through time, really messes with your clock

Yeah, I've noticed. Makes me a bit nervous about my .au trip in Feb!

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

One thing that happens to me is that I get really bad jitters--a bit like caffeine jitters--after too much time awake. Definitely not conducive to sleep.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*nod* I get that, in the alert part of my cycling between alert and sleepy...

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I just wrote about my sleep issues: here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/baratron/322838.html).

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Daaaamn. I even know someone who has this (one of my co-workers), I think.

Sounds nasty, indeed.