Sleep Disorder

Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
- Unknown

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While writing this thesis, I've been trying to train myself to get to more normal sleep hours, but I've failed miserably to this point. Perhaps it's an age thing, but I can't do what I used to do when I was just a sapling, that is, just stay up through the day to go to bed at a reasonable hour that night. Nowadays, I feel my eyelids getting heavy, so I just lie down, hoping that a half-hour respite will clear the fog from my mind. Next thing I know, I've had a long, full 8-hour coma, and I'm wide awake even at 5am the next morning.

Yesterday (Sunday), I had the answer. I figured I'd hit the gym for a nice workout - regular exercise has always done wonders for my sleep cycle in the past, and I've certainly neglected exercise while concentrating on the dissertation. I made it, ran some errands, and felt like I'd accomplished quite a bit for the day. Looking at the clock, it was only 11am! Argh. Find a way to stay awake for the next 10 hours. I figure if I can make it until 9pm, I'll be okay.

The entire day, though, I'm too groggy. I do some thesis reading and formatting, but nothing outrageously productive. 8pm rolls around, and I can't keep my eyes open. I can't remember my head hitting the pillow. Unfortunately, that means I was wide awake at 2am, and wide awake now.

Anyway, that allows me time to create a new progress graph for your viewing displeasure: