Sleepy

Apparently, it's not normal for people to wake up multiple times in a night. I thought it was, until yesterday. By that benchmark, I've not been sleeping well for a while now. The last time I remember sleeping though the night this summer was when I was sick and taking codeine. Codeine is an opiate and knocks me out faster than Nyquil. So, you know something is wrong when the only time you can sleep a continuous 7 hours is when you're on opiates.

I mentioned this to a friend from PHPCP today who works at a sleep lab at UCSF. She suggested I sign up for some trials that they're conducting. The thought of me hooked up to electrodes, being watched ("monitored"), sleeping in a bed that isn't mine doesn't particularly appeal to me, even with compensation.

Throughout college, I had a more regular sleep schedule than nearly all of my friends (12-7am), yet I fell asleep in class pretty frequently. I reasoned that my inability to stay awake in class was because I overextended myself during the day to the point of exhaustion, and then overextended myself some more so that the first threshold crossed would become baseline. That, or my classes just weren't that interesting.

I'm still sleeping the same 7 hours a night that I maintained in college. I don't have many taxing social obligations, and my academic ones are far less strenuous than that at Berkeley. I exercise regularly, don't eat within three hours of sleeping, don't study in bed, and I like sleeping!

So...why am I not sleeping well at night?

Maybe I should stop drinking three cups of coffee a day. I will get back to you on that.

+edit: caffeine fast started on August 3, 2011, until hot cocoa weather kicks in.