Sleeping

Sleep comes easy to me only when a room is dark and quiet. We have our internet router in our room, sitting on our dresser. It used to blink it's red and green lights all night -- right in my eyes, or at least that's what it seemed like. It lasted one night before I used thick tape to block the lights from waking me up.

No lights. No blinking. Not even a MAC laptop that has a slowly fading and then slowly brightening light is allowed. I won't even let Kevin have an alarm clock.

Why? Because sleeping in total darkness is a must:

The part of your brain that controls your biological clock is the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN), a group of cells in the hypothalamus. These cells respond to light and dark signals. The optic nerves in our eyes senses light and transmits a signal to the SCN telling the brain that it's time to wake up. It also kickstarts other processes, like raising body temperature and producing hormones like cortisol. Our cortisol levels are relatively low at night, allowing us to sleep, and higher during the day, allowing for the stabilization of energy levels and the modulation of immune function. (via)

I usually sleep through the night. No, that's a lie. I used to sleep through the night. I used to be a morning person. Now, I find myself dragging slowly out of bed. Why? Becuase Kevin and I made the huge mistake of letting the dogs sleep on the bed. We have two humans, one 70 pound dog, and one 40 pound dog in a queen sized bed.

I fall asleep within 5 minutes of hitting the bed, but if I wake up in the middle of the night -- good luck to me going to sleep anytime soon again. You know how people say they have a hard time going to sleep because their brain doesn't shut off? That happens to me when I wake up in the middle of the night. Then I find myself in a battle.

Like last night I woke up to go to the bathroom. I knew that I would have a hard time going back to sleep, so I tried to tell myself, "sleep. sleep. sleep" when I laid down.

But then, in an instant, my brain suddenly thinks about something and I find myself awake for the next hour, just begging my brain to shut up.

& I just realized I probably wrote the most boring, useless blog post ever. But I'm still thinking about sleep. Becuase I'm tired.