Insomnia.

Lately I've been struggling with insomnia. I'm not sure why, but my mind has started to become alert at night. I've tried meditation, setting alarms to tell me when it's bed time, warm milk, etc.. I've even stopped my nightly pot of tea in hopes that it would have some effect. Nothing seems to work and though it is not hindering my performance yet, I have been sleeping rather late on the weekends.

When I was in corporate America, I was on call 24x7 and call they did. Between commute and working at home, I was only getting about 1.5 hours of sleep a night plus one hour on the train. After years of doing it, I was irritable, tired and stressed out. I even worked some 24 hour + days and on one instance worked 78 hours straight. Don't let anyone tell you different, somewhere after 60 hours, your body decides it wants to start shutting down and your mind starts falling apart. Not the feeling you want to have trapped at an office and not in front of people you work with. I wish I could explain it better, but it is a feeling unlike anything else I have experienced. It is out of body in a bad way.

After I left corporate America, I still woke up all hours of the night startled, swearing I heard the cellphone or pager going off and expecting to have to answer a hardware or software issue.

I've always been able to function with little sleep and worked on a night crew at a supermarket while going to community college. I refuse to take any sleeping aids. I'd rather die of exhaustion then of a side effect and don't trust drug companies that spend more time appeasing their marketing department, than their chemists

Tonight and tomorrow night, I'll be in the city, so I don't think that will help.

When I get back, I'll have to try and get my body into a routine of going to bed earlier and hope it starts working.

Good Night