Maybe it's linked to whether you are a morning or a night person?


Apparently my planet of origin had a 25-hour day, because my circadian rhythms regularly go around the clock, turn upside down, and then right themselves. That means that if I try to live by Earth-rhythm, I will start out a cycle as a morning person and before long be a night person, and then back again. In an excruciating series of half-hour adjustments. Never has coincided with weekends or any work schedule I've been on, and only in my semi-retirement have I been able to make my life and sleep cycles work.

In the process I learned a lot about the science and biochemistry behind the ways our bodies recover during sleep-- the quantities of sleep needed in total, the cycles and depth of sleep required. Now, I respect that side of our physical reality and make sure I get the sleep I need. And I am much the better for it since I got off the speeding merry-go-round of career building. (So is my "career" of volunteer responsibilitites, some of which amount to consulting work.)

One area I have learned to respect is the brain's need to reboot (in sleep) when it's been intensely occupied with analysis or attentiveness. That could make a good joke, but I am talking about an intensity that only folks who've met me will understand, and it takes a toll that only sleep can pay.

~Susan