Sunday, July 31, 2005

ah, to sleep

Every summer, without fail, I get insomnia. I don't know what causes it exactly. My best guess is that I'm not "on schedule," so my body isn't tired. (Isn't it weird how your body reacts to things that you don't even think about?) During the school year, I'm up early every day, work all day, eat the same types of meals at the same times, go to sleep at a reasonable hour. In the summer, it all changes. This summer, I had nothing to do during my first week off. So I slept in, sat around the house, lounged in the pool, ate whenever I felt like it, went to bed later than usual. Then I started camp and Summer II classes. For three weeks, I was back to waking up early, working part of the day, then coming home for about an hour before running to class. Then camp ended, so now I'm back to sleeping in and doing pretty much nothing during the day, and going to class at night.

Friday night the insomnia came back. I could not fall asleep. I tossed and turned. I kicked the covers off, then pulled them back on. I stared at the clock. I thought about turning the TV back on, but I knew there was nothing on (and I don't have cable in my room). And as tired as I felt, my mind would not stop racing. It was like I couldn't turn it off. I wasn't even thinking about anything specific, just random thoughts flying around, keeping me awake.

It drives me nuts.

My logical side knows that I should put myself on a schedule. Even though it's summer, I should try every day to wake up at the same time, eat my meals at the same time, do something productive (clean, run errands, plan for the school year, exercise) so that I'm tired at night, and go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour. Why is that easier said than done?

Am I the only teacher who experiences insomnia in the summer? Does anyone have any suggestions? I can't imagine doing this for the rest of the summer.

2 comments:

Sara said...

I stay up very late in the summer. It is a teacher thing...it is like we are doing something that we are not supposed to do.

Pigs said...

Oh, it's awful! Happens to me every summer. I go back in a week, so now I'm in that panic mode - "Need to go to bed early! Get on schedule!" Argh. I can't wait for next summer.