Zombie diaries (pt. 1)

It's almost 5:30 a.m. and I can't get back to sleep.  After an exhausting week of packing, moving, being sick, unpacking, and a family reunion, I was pretty much done for sometime around 10:30 last night.  I thought I'd be able to sleep for a while, but no such luck because I've been up since about 1:30 a.m.

This madness has to end.
 

This is me.  I call it Sleep, Interrupted.

Could it be insomnia?  Maybe.  Here's how the Mayo Clinic defines insomnia:

Insomnia includes having trouble falling or staying asleep. It's one of the most common medical complaints. With insomnia, you usually awaken feeling unrefreshed, which takes a toll on your ability to function during the day. Insomnia can sap not only your energy level and mood, but also your health, work performance and quality of life

Symptoms Include (from Google Health):

• Difficulty falling asleep on most nights
• Feeling tired during the day or falling asleep during the day
• Not feeling refreshed when you wake up
• Waking up several times during sleep

Check, check and check.  All those symptoms apply to me.  I find that I drift off to sleep easily.  Rarely am I relaxed before sleeping; I usually have to wait until I'm exhausted and just "pass out".  When I do sleep, it's only for a couple hours.  I used to brag that I was the queen of naps, but that title doesn't really have a lot of power attached to it.  Inadequate sleep messes with everything.  My mood isn't very pleasant, I have trouble concentrating, I get jitters something awful and sometimes I get bad headaches.

The risk factors vary, and I'm wrestling with quite a few.  Turns out pretty much everything, even gender, can have an affect on one's sleep health.

Luckily there are some simple home remedies I can try out before seeking a doctor for more advanced testing and treatment.  Cutting out daytime naps and changing my eating habits (i.e. eating at regular times each day) will be difficult, but I'm willing to give it a shot.  Now that I've settled in a bit more since moving, I hope to get my evening walks going again.  That should help a great bit.

Now, after I figure out how to sleep, what to do about when I sleep?  That's the other issue -- I'm a night owl.  Ever since I can remember, it felt more natural for me to sleep during the day and be up at night.  That doesn't work so well in the real world.  Most don't believe me, but my body clock is wonky!

Some features of the human circadian biological clock (click here for more info)

It may appear to some that I'd rather loaf around all day and let the world pass me by, but in actuality, the sleep I do get during the day is very limited compared to when I'm awake.  Also, the sleep I get is often unsatisfying. Going back to work this week will help develop a better sleep schedule, but I know there will be a few nights a weeks where I'll want to be up past my desired bedtime (11:30 pm).  I'm going to work on actually sleeping for longer than a few hours at a time and hope to later adjust based on the time of day.

I'm done with this post and still feeling restless.  Oh and look, it's 6:30 a.m. and the sun is coming up!  Going to take this slowly.  I'll post updates.

Night Night (yeah, right).

So far so good

I'm getting into the swing of things.  Here's what's new:

Vegetarianism:

Sure, it's a health thing, but there's more to it than that.

I watched EARTHLINGS, a movie examining the relationships between living things, directed by Joaquin Phoenix.  It's tough to view, but I'm glad I did.



Also, I've been reading a lot about factory farm pollution.   This veggie life will allow me to be healthier as well as stand up for the planet.  It's really the least I could do.

There's some frozen meat in my fridge, I haven't done anything with it in a long while.  I don't want it to go to waste, so I'm going to give it all to my neighbors before moving.

Tonight I had a pretty fabulous eggplant parmesan sandwich with a side of falafel for dinner.  I don't judge folks who eat meat.  I mean, I've been into meat all my life and I don't want to be a hypocrite.  I'm just learning some new habits.

Walking:

I've been trying out this walking plan that I discovered on about.com. It's for ten weeks.  Admittedly, I haven't been on walks everyday, but that's because I overdid it at the start.  I'm suposed to start out with 15-30 minute walks, but I've been doing like, an hour or more!  I've gone for almost a mile and a half or more each time and while it's satisfying in the moment, I wake up sore the next day and can't go out for another stroll.  My body will adjust, I'm sure.  I'm modifying things.  Instead of 30 min walks daily, I'm doing hour or more walks every other day.  I like creating new routes on google maps.  Here's my latest:

It's to and around the Greensboro Arboretum. Great sites to see.  All I really need is my iPod, a bottle of water and my camera (in case there's anything picture worthy along the way).

Sleeping:

I'm getting more sleep, just during the day while the rest of the world is awake!   I'm up until about 5, 6, 7 AM then sleeping until about 4 or 5 in the evening.  I've always been a bit of a night owl--I've got to get my body clock fixed.  The walking helps tire me out earlier.  I may look into taking walks closer to my desired bedtime.

So, that's it.  More veggies and walking and sleeping (kind of), less meat and loafing around.  I've also got more packing to do.  I move this weekend.  Not looking forward to the heavy lifting.  Grrr...

...But you know what? That means I can start mapping out routes for when I get back to my hometown.  OK, I'm excited again!

Too much already

So, while I'm waiting to move and start a new job, I have lots of time on my hands.  That's a problem.  I did some of everything this past weekend.  I went out with a dear friend, made spaghetti, went for a fabulous walk, meditated, created this blog, and packed some for the move.  I couldn't get to sleep Sunday night and found myself Internettin' and channel surfing until about 6 a.m. Monday.

Sometimes I spend too much time just doing stuff.  This weekend instead a of completing a few chores and taking it easy, I decided to do it all.  Now I'm paying for it.  I'm achy from the walk;  I packed things -- namely spice and clothes -- that should have stayed out; and I had to reschedule a Monday morning doctor's appointment because I was just too tired to move.

I've got to go slower.  I've already expressed that I don't get enough sleep.  Here's to less stress and more rest (couldn't help myself with that one). Nighty-night.

The 1st day of the rest of my life...yada, yada, yada

It's absolutely true that if guilt tripping were a sport, I'd have several gold medals. But that doesn't mean that I got up one morning and thought I should blog about all the things I currently don't love about myself.  Over the past few years/months/days I've thought of ways to work on different vices.  Instead of sinking into an "oh my gosh, I'm not living my best life" rut, I'm hoping this blog will help keep me accountable as I make a promise to live better.

Eventually I'll have some posts and/or pages up detailing what I plan to work on in order to live this "better life."  For now here's a short list:

• Spending money like I got it;
• Crapping up the earth (I don't think I have the worst ecological footprint, but it needs some serious improvement!);
• Not getting adequate sleep; and
• Making lists

Here goes nothing.