My sleep is very irregular at the moment. I have no idea any more what is a "normal" or even "necessary" amount of sleep is for me. After fourteen months in hospital when I slept a lot, especially when I was on full-time bed rest, as I had to be for a very long time... After that, I don't know what's normal for me any more. Do I need more sleep than pre-accident because I get more tired? Do I need less because I have less functioning body to get tired now? I have no idea. Some nights I get ten hours sleep, others three. I often need to nap through the day. The other day I went to bed at 7pm because I was so tired, and slept for twelve hours. I felt brilliant when I woke. The next night I went to bed at 11.30pm and slept for about four hours. Not surprisingly perhaps, the following day was horrible.
My body also now seems to think the way sleep works is one good night, one bad night. That's been happening way too often. I had to visit the doctor recently and I asked him about sleeping. "Well, make sure you get into a routine. Go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time". I pointed out that when Annika was away, I got up at 6am and didn't want to get up at 6am every day. He's prescribed some Zopiclone to break the habit. I haven't collected it yet from the chemist, and I'm not sure I want to. It's highly addictive and I'm hoping I can sort this by myself. That said, I'm not sure how long I can keep going with such broken rhythms, with poor nights, with the complete exhaustion. Don't think I need the Guardian to tell me that sleep is good for me.
