Sleeping Problems

This past weekend when my sister, Jeanne was here, we were talking about sleeping problems. I told her that I never realized she had so much trouble sleeping. She looked at me, quizzically and didn't seem to know what I was talking about. It was just an observation. For a few years now, she has talked about her nightly sleep aid that she takes. Then she talked about how her husband can't come to bed right away as she needs time to wind down. She mentioned that while here, she noticed the ticking of the clock that kept her up. Now, doesn't that sort of sound like sleeping problems?

I've always given her a hard time for sleeping so late. She responds with, "Well, I don't take a nap." I told her it's not a contest.

I'm a morning person. Always have been. It was a real bummer when I was a teenager because I had to wait around on Saturdays for my friends to wake up so we could start our day.

Even now, I know who I can call early and who I can't. On Saturdays, if I need to call Stephanie, I'll wait until 8 a.m. She answers the phone exactly like this: "Seriously, mom, 8 a.m.?" Then I get to the point and she's happy I called.

Mindy, on the other hand, is a morning person like me. She's usually at "boot camp" by 5:30 a.m and 6 a.m. on weekends.

I can always call Sandy early because she's in a different time zone---it's an hour later in Charlotte.

Here's how I feel about sleep. It's a necessary evil. I need it, I know it. But, every single day, I wake up bright-eyed and excited to start my day. There's always so much I want to do. And yes, I lay down every afternoon (if I'm home) for an hour to read/nap. Sometimes I don't nap and mostly read. Of course when I really want the nap, the phone will ring. Doesn't matter what time it is---the phone won't ring all day until I'm trying to nap. Murphy's Law.

Most of the time, I can fall asleep anytime, anywhere and pretty quickly. We all have sleep patterns that work for us. For me, I go to bed somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-11:30 p.m. I read with my little book light for about 20-30 minutes until I get drowsy. Then, I wake up anywhere between 5 and 6 a.m. (a little earlier now that I'm back on the prednisone). Works for me.

I have friends that like to lay around in bed when they first wake up--rolling over and dozing.Butch likes to do that. Still, he is up by 6-6:30. I don't get that rolling around. My mind kicks in and I'm up! I've got places to go, people to meet and things to do!

So, what is your sleep pattern? Would you change it if you could?