Sleep

I’ve received some emails and comments about where I am with my sleep. An Ambien soaked couple of days lead me into over-the-counter territory and I haven’t looked back. At first, I went to the standby, a half tablet of a generic version of Unisom. This is a great med, but only if you can sleep until it wears off. With a kid, that is not an option and you wake up more groggy than if you slept less. Although my mood improved and I was getting sleep, if I missed the window, it would be disastrous the next morning. I have to take it at 8:30 pm and then by 10:15 pm, I’m ready to pass out. If I take it later and sleep, I’m groggy for twelve hours after I take it. Leta gets up at 6 or 6:30, so that means a couple hours of grog versus four or five. We like to have breakfast as a family after easing into the day.

Once hay fever hit, I gave up on the Unisom and started taking Benadryl, which is essentially the same thing as Unisom but has the allergy season benefit of antihistamine, although it seemed to have a faster ramp up than the Unisom. However, I’m still groggy until 8 or 9 in the morning. Even coffee doesn’t jump start me. It’s not until the daytime allergy meds (OTC Claritin with a couple of 10mg non-pseudephedrine Sudafeds) kick in that I feel normal.

Last night I wasn’t tired until 11:30. With the summer waking of Leta, that’s still about 6.5-7 hours, which is definitely more than I was getting during the winter. It’s just that first wake at 6 or 6:15 is so brutal when you go to bed at midnight. I’m currently trying to get to sleep in the 10:30 – 11:00 pm realm so I get 7-7.5 hours, as I think that fits our current lifestyle and is a good amount of sleep for me.

Also, I advise to avoid switching your main browser at bedtime, exporting bookmarks and importing them. Then testing the new browser. Too much stimulation.