It's not exactly 5 am as I roll over and slide my finger to the right on my phone, the blinding light is preventing me from seeing exactly which way to slide the bar to stop the alarm, and I'm not exactly sure if I got it right or not. The blessed silence will stay that way, or I'll have to endure another ringtone developer's idea of a pleasant sound to annoy myself awake this morning.
I haven't set the alarm to wake up in years; it's not that I sleep in; it’s that I don't sleep consistently through the night or even from night to night. Instead, I'm constantly awake at 4:00 am, and for most of my adult life, I viewed this as a distinct advantage; until I realized it was probably killing me.
I grew up in the power of optimistic thinking era where you only had to believe in achieving. Join the five am crowd, be the first to work and the last to leave, and the world was your oyster. My ability to sleep deeply for short bouts of time paid off handsomely during summer breaks in high school, where I could work a night shift at the local Texaco gas station next to the freeway, sleep until noon, and then play with my buddies all afternoon. Then, they would go to bed, and I would return to work.
College was a little more challenging, and starting a new career and family made the roller coaster ride of sleep deprivation even more pronounced. Now that the children are grown and gone waking up at four am is more of a nuisance than a blessing. If I can't fall back to sleep soon, I climb out of bed and open the bedroom door that leads to my home office. When we built the home, this small side office was a special request on my part.
I'm generally good for about an hour, then back to bed. I'm good to go if I can catch another hour or two of sleep before getting up for the day. Before you ask, yes, I have all the sleep hygiene items firmly in place. Blue light blockers on my computer screens, I've tried to turn everything off an hour before sleep; however, it didn't seem to make a difference. Cool sleeping temperatures, dark-out curtains on windows and doors. No electronic green, red, or white light when charging. I don't even plug in my phone near my bed.
More often than not, I still wake up at four o'clock. I set the alarm for 7 am this morning after a friend at work casually commented that he was reading the book "Younger Next Year." I didn't think much about it at the time; however, during our meeting for the day, several people made book recommendations, and while I wrote those down in my notes, I decided to check out Todd's book comment. Of the three books, I bought and started reading the fitness book. I'll write more about it as part of my "What I read this week" blog series; however, it is simple to say the book is written for old guys or guys trying not to age gracefully. I mean those trying to kick and scream down the aging road.
The book has rules; the first is exercising six days a week. By exercise, the authors mean aerobic exercise. Best done in the morning and best done on a schedule. I've tried exercising at four am, but that doesn't work for me. I don't need to give my body any more reason to wake up early by dosing it with exercise. I do think 7 am will work. I'm generally awake by that time, even if I have a 4 o'clock study period. The book recommended an alarm, so I'm going to give that a try for now. Here's hoping for a more routine exercise schedule and vibrant health a year from now.
October 24, 2022