Zzzzzzzzz

I've been pretty tired lately and last night I had a bunch of crazy dreams.  I didn't have to work today and I slept about 11 hours.  I was so tired that I didn't hear when Chris had sent me a text message requesting spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  My dreams last night were very strange, one of them was about being chased by vampires.  No, it's not because of Stephanie Meyer.  The book I'm reading The Historian, is about people trying to find Dracula's tomb.  Another part of my dream had to do with me speaking in church which was totally random.  There was another dream that I had that I can't remember now.

For a while, I haven't been sleeping soundly and end up tossing and turning throughout the night.  Sometimes I don't even realize it.  Chris mentions it the next morning.  I have a hard time falling asleep at night.  I am such a worry wart that I wake up constantly throughout the night if I have to wake up early because I'm afraid I'll sleep in.  Because I do this, the only good sleep I get is when I can sleep in on days that I go to work late or my days off.  This usually causes me to have a lot of dreams and to sleep for several hours.  Like the 11 hours that I got last night.

I've always had issues with fatigue but it's not as bad as when I was in high school.  I would fall asleep in class, sleep in so much that I'd pack my makeup to school to put on there, I'd come home from school and fall asleep, some times I'd sleep through family dinner because I was so tired.  Some of my problem was probably the habit of "pulling an all nighter".  Some times I'd stay up so late, I figured it'd be easier to stay up all night then to sleep a few hours and then try to drag myself out of bed.  I remember Becca and I staying up late quite a few times and then saying, "Want to pull an all nighter?"  or "Might as well pull an all nighter!"  I think the last time I did that was when we took a trip somewhere, was it me, Becca, Rachel and Mom?  I don't remember, it might have been for Amanda's wedding or something, we stayed up so late packing and getting ready for the trip, that we decided we might as well just leave at 1 am instead of 5am.  Mom wasn't so happy but she just slept in the car on the way.  

Early in Chris and my marriage, I had some pretty bad fatigue.  We'd come home from work, eat dinner and fall asleep by 6pm.  The problem is, I can't take a "cat nap" or "power nap".  I go into what I call a coma.  My naps are 2-3 hours.  So by the time I woke up from my "nap" it'd be time for our regular bed time.   Of course it's hard to fall back asleep so I'd end up staying up late causing a vicious cycle for the next day.  Sleeping in until 11am is nothing compared to the 1pm-2pm that I used to do in my teens and early 20's.  I try to avoid taking naps now, they just aren't worth it for me in the long run.

Last year when I was exercising consistently and waking up at a more regular time at 4:30am almost daily, I don't recall having a lot of fatigue issues.  Also I was probably drinking a lot more water while working out and while at work.  Apparently drinking water keeps you alert.  So, I guess the solution to my problems is to exercise, drink more water and to not be such a worry wart.  I still think that being sleepy is something hereditary though.  If you've ever seen any of the photo's I've posted from past family get togethers, you know what I'm talking about.  There's always someone who's falling asleep.  Most of the time, it's Rachel, but Nephi and Mom have also been culprits.