Watching Me Sleep

When I used to go into the office for work, I'd get up at about 5:30 to shower, dress, and get out the door so that I could arrive between 6:30 and 7. I liked to get an early start on the day, with few distractions, and leave early so that I could enjoy some time to myself before heading home.

I miss getting away for a bit after work. I should start doing that part again.

I would go to bed around 11:30 but wouldn't turn off my light and rest my head until after midnight, when my newest blog post would release and I could set up automated announcements for that day. This meant that, by the time I fell asleep, I would only get about five hours of rest until my alarm sounded (actually, my alarm went off at 5 but I would have to hit the snooze button a few times before the final, 5:30 alarm got me out of bed.

Assuming I could fall asleep right away, though it usually takes me about a half an hour to fall asleep if I'm tired enough and there's nothing weighing on my mind.

To sum up, I didn't get a lot of sleep when I worked from the office.

Since March of 2020, I've been working from home and I haven't had the need to get up early. I can now afford to rest until I really need to be online, with just enough time to shower and throw on some clothes. I've even made a morning fruit smoothie part of my morning routine.

My alarm is now set for 7:00, though I still continue to hit the snooze button and get out of bed around 7:30. I'm usually at my desk between 8 and 9, depending on my day's schedule of meetings and whether I have to take out the garbage.

I'm still going to bed at the same time—just after midnight—but I get about two extra hours of sleep.

Yet, I'm always tired.

Last night, while watching the news, I saw a story and interview around the fact that many of us don't get enough REM sleep, the part of rest where our body mends itself. Without enough REM cycles over enough time (apparently, humans average between three and five successful REM cycles), our body wears down and we're susceptible to all kinds of health issues.

I wondered to myself whether or not I get enough REM sleep, so I immediately turned to my Garmin heath app, which monitors my sleeping through my smart watch.

While I seem to get enough hours of sleep, I don't often get enough REM cycles. Or rather, I seem to get only the minimum number of sleep cycles and what I get seems short.

I also don't seem to get enough deep sleep and wonder how that's affecting me, too.

I'm wondering what I should do to prepare myself for a better sleep.

First of all, I should start getting away from a computer screen or my smartphone well before bed. That means all blog posts and video editing tasks should wrap up by 10, and I should place my phone in a Do Not Disturb mode starting at 11, when I put it down and leave it down.

I no longer set up blog posts after midnight, but I should break the habit of wanting to play Wordle and Connections before bed. I can do those when I wake up, before I get out of bed and start my daily routine. (I mean, I already post my game results on social media at that time, anyway.)

I'm going to start these new routines tonight. In a month or so, I'll check the results and take stock of how I feel.

I'm glad I have a watch that monitors me as I sleep. It's like a  medical technician, watching me sleep.