It was a busy weekend, and Ben and I have been working extra hard on the house, to try to get it to a livable state, so we're run down, and exhausted. And this morning at 7 when that alarm went off, it was damn hard to pull myself out of my coma like state and get ready for work. And it's days like this, when my coffee mug gets a LOT of attention, that I think back to other sleepy days of my past.
There used to be a time when I would function (not very well - but decently) on 4-5 hours of sleep a night. In fact that was considered a good night. And I did it consecutively, for weeks. Now I'm suffering on 7 hours - back in my University days that would have been considered sleeping in!
From Sept 2003 - Jan 2007 4-6 hours a night was the norm, with a couple 2 hours nights throw in the mix for a weekly total of about 24-34 hours of sleep. Looking back, I have no idea how I did it for so long!
Like many students, I went to school full time, had a part time job (or in my case, a full time job) and pulled many an "all-nighter" just to get on top of my studying and papers. In order to pay for tuition and rent, I HAD to work 40 hours a week, which meant I crammed my classes into my two days off. This was my schedule for a couple semesters:
Monday:
Up at 6am:
7-4 Work
4-5 shower/eat/nap
5pm - at school, open theatre
5-10:30pm - Rehearsal (I was a stage manager)
10:30 - 11:15 - Rehearsal reports, cleaning up the rehearsal space, locking up
11:15-3:00am - studying, papers, readings, etc
3am - sleep
Tuesday:
Up at 8am
Classes 9-11:45
11:45-12:15 - eat as fast as I can, and then nap the remaining time
12:15-4:30 - class
4:30-5:00 homework or nap
5pm - open theatre
5-10:30pm - Rehearsal
10:30 - 11:15 - Rehearsal reports, cleaning up the rehearsal space, locking up
11:15-3:00am - studying, papers, readings, etc
3am - sleep
Wednesday (same as Monday)
Thursday (same as Tuesday)
Friday:
Up at 8am
9am-12:00pm - Class
1:00pm-2:00 - eat and nap
2:00pm - 11pm - Work
11:15-3:00am - studying, papers, readings, etc
3:00am - sleep
Saturday:
up at 8am
9-6 - Work
6:30-12:00am - papers and friend time (if I wasn't too tired) (potential all nighter)
Sunday:
up at 8am
9-6 work
6:30-12:00 papers/studying/friend time/sleep etc (potential all nighter)
Part of what helped me get through this stage of my life, was mastering the power nap. I used to set an alarm on my phone for 15 minutes. put my head down on the lunch room table during my breaks at work, or curl up in a chair in the Drama Undergraduate Society Lounge and be out for 15 minutes, which would give me enough energy to last one more class, or one more chunk of work.
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| This was a common sight in this room |
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| What started as my nap ended with a people pile, Drama student style |
You'll notice in my schedule that I have listed "eat really fast and then nap the remaining time" the faster I ate, the more time I would have for precious sleep - and that was the only thing I wanted more than anything in the world right then. Which is when I developed the scarf and nap technique, which has continued with me to this day. If anyone has had a meal with me, you have probably noticed that I typically eat quite quickly - this is a result of 3 1/2 years of sleep dep. driving my hunger - and it just never left.
This weekend my mom and brother were in town, and Ben asked my mom if I used to eat really fast when I was younger, and she said no - in fact I was always the slowest eater, until University :p.
Caffeine was also my best friend at that time. I had my first coffee EVER on the first day of University - not because I needed it, but because it was what all the cool kids were doing, and I wanted to try it, so I got an extra large french vanilla from "First Cup" right beside my Drama History class, and it was all down hill from there. Throughout the year coffee was less an enjoyment, and more a necessity. I would down 2 pots by myself writing one paper. I had stomach aches, and shakes. I was delirious, and couldn't focus, and had headaches that I would feel behind my eyes and across the back of my head - but I HAD to finish that paper, so this was my solution to battle the sleep.
Halfway through my second year coffee stopped working, so I switched to chocolate covered espresso beans. At one point I had a friend who was having a particularly hard time staying awake for a class so I gave him 2 beans - he said he was vibrating and felt amazing. I used to eat handfuls at a time to keep me awake. Once they stopped working, I switched to energy drinks, and chugged them like they were going out of style!
Then it got to a point at the 3.5 year mark where I had a doctor tell me that if I keep going down this path, I would have to be hospitalized, and that I was one all nighter away from Chronic Fatigue. But it wasn't even that warning that was the eye opener, it was the fact that I was suddenly bursting into tears out of no where, that I would have mini black outs where I suddenly realized that I was in a new room, and couldn't recall going there, or why I went, and that I was always sick, and usually with something like strep throat. And then there was the day that I didn't wake up... My alarm went off at 8am for an hour - I didn't hear it. My boyfriend at the time spent an hour trying to wake me, and couldn't either. I woke up at 5:30pm that night - completely sleeping through my 9-6 shift at work. My body just decided that I was going to catch up on sleep if it was the last thing I did! When I called my boss to apologize, she wasn't even mad, she was just concerned about me. That was the final straw. I dropped out of school shortly after that.
So right now as I sit here, with burning eyes, fighting to hold my head up on my 7 hours of sleep, I can't help but think back to my University days, and wonder what 21 year old Heather would have to say about me now :p.
And as a side note, for a couple years following my University stint, I quite coffee, just to get back to a place where my body could function without it. Now I drink it because I enjoy it... and because once again, it helps to wake me up (and thank God for that, because I don't even know what the next stronger substance would have been, short of crack cocaine). And speaking of coffee... I'm going to get another cup.
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