Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Fatigue

The biggest challenge of being nocturnal is setting aside plenty of time in the day to sleep and still making time to interact with diurnal people.  I find myself oversleeping for things for which I would previously have never considered setting an alarm.  The work/life/school balance is better when I try to put everything in my PDA, so it wakes me up in time.  The downside of that is that my PDA is also my phone.  If I don't ignore the phone when I'm supposed to be sleeping, it will invariably ring, I'll wake up, acknowledge the daylight, and have great difficulty dozing back off.  I'm going to start turning the phone portion off and cranking the volume on the calendar alarms.  I haven't really had the same energy level this week that I had last week.  I have to attribute it to sleep interruptions, a sleep deficit, and some poor diet choices.  I've been eating a lot of pizza delivery and Halloween candy and not getting to sleep before noon.  I can remedy the diet problem by preparing meals in advance and keeping good food around.  I'm going to have to consciously set an alarm clock for daytime activities every time I close my eyes for a "nap".  Sometimes, I'll doze off before going to the gym and wake up hours late for my appointment with my trainer.  It's no sweat for her, she gets paid anyway, but I feel terrible for multiple reasons.  Missing out on the exercise makes the sleep problem worse.  The more I think I'm settling into the nocturnal lifestyle, the more challenges emerge. 

All that being said, I've had a busy busy week.  I enrolled in a half dozen benefits at work.  I did a 401k rollover which involved researching the investment options, making phone calls, and doing the leg work to fax forms and FedEx checks.  I'm working on a project for class as well as preparing for a midterm exam.  I attended a birthday party, but I skipped hockey.  And that must be the root of my fatigue problem.  I'm an order of magnitude happier, more energetic, and more productive when I get some ice time.  :-)

On the subject of ice time, I was supposed to play hockey last night, but I woke up with no time to eat before the game, so I rushed around and grabbed work clothes because I would have to go directly from the game to work. . . I got all the way to the rink and realized my hockey bag, skates and all, was still on the back porch.  If I made the round trip I would only get to play for about 15 minutes, so I just ate dinner.  Later, at work, I received a "what happened to you?" email, so I sent a self-deprecating explanation, which I'm sure I'll hear all about at the next game.  Not enough defrag time, and my brain just shuts down.  I doubt that I would have played well, anyhow. <shrug>

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