Sleeping

Reading Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation I resonated with the narrator; having a year of sleep would really rejuvenate me. On the other hand, I wouldn’t need any medications to sleep for upwards of 20 hours a day. I am a huge proponent of naps. They don’t always sit well with me—and sometimes the only cure is more sleep—but if I feel any inclination to rest my eyes there is no coming back. I will risk waking up at 11pm if my body says I need to nap at 8pm. Despite my love of sleep, my schedule is all out of whack, usually because of the naps. Sleeping 4 hours during the day (yes, my naps can last up to 4 hours) really makes it difficult to get to bed before 1 in the morning.

Rest has always been an essential to me. In elementary/middle school, I could sleep 14 hours a night on the weekends. Is that a brag? Is something wrong with my hypothalamus? Even when I do get my 8 hours like the psychologists say I should, I end up feeling tired. Maybe I need 10 hours, but at that point I’m spending 40% of my life asleep. How people function on any less is beyond me—and I still need at least a double shot of espresso in some form. The only downside to sleep is the dreams. I don’t have very interesting dreams, but it’s late and my eyelids are feeling heavy, so I’ll just say one last thing and then I swear to god I’ll shut up about this forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv