We’ve endured a few sleepless nights around our house this week due to a tantrum-y, unsleepy little girl. And let me tell you, it has been so not pleasant. Lack of sleep makes everything worse, in my opinion. It makes my third bout with strep tougher to fight (yes, I am on tougher antibiotics now, but still, argh!). It makes Jeremy’s sinus infection that much more exasperating. It makes the daily to-do list that much more tedious and I’m sure it makes it harder for Jeremy to last the day at work. Caffeine alone can only do so much!
Here’s where a little audience participation comes in… When was the last time you didn’t sleep during normal hours? Was it for something fun, or for something a little more, shall we say, challenging? How long have you lasted without sleep?
The only times I can remember having fun instead of sawing z’s was during a junior high New Year’s Eve all-nighter with the EFree youth group in town and during a lock-in with the old Covenant youth group when I was just getting to know my future husband. Other than that, I’ve always chosen to sleep at night. No all-nighters during college, not one. No extended sleepless nights after Liv was born; we adopted her at 7 weeks and she was only waking once in the night.
Like I said, this week has been not-so-pleasant in the sleep category.
Now it’s your turn. Leave a comment for me to read at 3am tonight.
7 Comments
jared Jun 7, 2007 4:44 PM
sleep. meh. who needs it?
jk rt
i never sleep during normal hours. after several years of getting up at 6:30am sharp, i still cannot manage to go to bed before 1am. usually im up until 2. sometimes 3. then theres the weekends. can i get a 4 and a 5?
im pretty sure i suffer from Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder. or something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm_sleep_disorders
the longest: i can recall a couple of times i went 40 plus hours without sleep. usually they occurred in college. wake up early, have a busy day. pull and all nighter. then stay up the following day and night. i think the all time high was like 44 hours. one time i remember watching some movie with ben sinnard at about hour 40 in his dorm room. and it was fun. you get so loopy and dreamy. its all about the science of sleep.
but theres been the costs. one time i went to cornerstone music festival and i stayed up all night on the last night hanging out with a canadian cutie. i tried to sleep at about 9am when most people were packing up. problem was: it reached 110 degrees inside my plastic tent by 11am and i couldent sleep. so i drove home. i fell asleep at the wheel and side swipped a semi going 80 mph. in Gods grace i lived to tell the tale with a little damage to my truck after suffering through a 4 year old yelling at me: “why did you crash into my daddy!” the driver was nice and we parted ways. i think i bought a pack of cigarettes to chain smoke the rest of the way home.
right now im running on 3.5 hours of sleep. grr. my eyes sting and ive consumed about 50 oz of coffee.
its all about maximizing.
:)
Jeannette Jun 7, 2007 5:30 PM
Well, at least every 10 days I get 3 hours of night sleep. Not necessarily consecutive. I gotta say, though, it’s a huge improvement.
I know you’re probably not looking for advice, but _The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers_ by Elizabeth Pantley is a treasure trove. (I know she has a website with a lot of good ideas on it, too.)
http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/advice/0071381392.php
charity Jun 7, 2007 5:53 PM
i think the longest i’ve gone without sleep is about 40 hours. last year there was a night I barely slept, if at all and then wasn’t able to fall asleep until about 3am the next night. :)
Anne Jun 7, 2007 10:41 PM
I was so at that lock in.
Lindsey Jun 8, 2007 1:38 AM
I hardly slept my spring semester of ’06. I don’t recommend it. However, in an effort to slow the wheels in my brain and maybe fall asleep, I watched Jane Austen movies. I own them all, and between the classical music and sedate voice tones, I often would asleep as the sun was rising. But I watched a Jane Austen every night from January-May. They were good companions.
And ironically, I’m posting this at 1:40 am. Ha!
kerri Jun 8, 2007 10:34 AM
I’ve never done the 40 hours of sleeplessness thing, but having had 7 kids (I have to keep milking that for as long as possible), I have had many a sleepless night. My most recent was last night–I don’t know if it was the 2 cups of coffee at the rehearsal dinner, or just all the thoughts swirling around my mind, some wedding-related, some not…but I didn’t get to sleep until about 2:45. What’s worse, I woke up at 4:30 and had another bout of sleeplessness for about 45 minutes.
I don’t know if I can blame this on Bethany still; it was easy to place it on her shoulders when she was the toddler tantruming (? is that a word?) in the middle of the night…in some ways that doesn’t seem like that long ago.
Now I’m veering into sentimental reminiscent mother of the bride ramblings, so I’ll stop. Bring on the coffee!
christina Jun 8, 2007 12:24 PM
rt-
sleep is seriously my favorite thing to do! i love my bed, during normal hours (no sleeping until 12 for this chicka). An occasional nap will last hours no 20 minute deal. The first time i stayed up all night was at the high school graduation lock in.
However, over the last year or two I’ve had more sleepless nights than i care to remember. sometimes it was too hot in our apartment….sometimes i just wake up wide a wake at 12, 1, 3, 5….. but the last no sleep night was before the half marathon. i just laid in bed in this weird half awake dreamy state listening to the thunder, people come in and out of my unlocked house……until my clock said 5 am. My sleeplessness usually happens in the summers…so if i’m unusually cranky or punchy that is why.