The Medical profession dictates that the proper amount of sleep a human being needs to maintain a healthy, productive lifestyle is eight hours per night. Getting the proper amount of sleep ensures that a person will be able to perform at peak capacity, without feeling irritable or sleepy during the day. Eight hours of sleep means going to bed at approximately 10:00pm – because it is also recommended to go to sleep before Midnight – and waking up at 6:00am, refreshed and ready for the day ahead…

…I think the last time I slept for eight hours straight – I was a teenager.

My sleeping patterns would make anyone think that I am either a severe insomniac, or a vampire. On average, I go to sleep at 1:30am – only to wake up at around 4:00am – either because of my “furry, four-legged alarm clock”, a noise outside, or because my body feels it has simply had enough sleep for the night. And once I open my eyes for whatever reason, I cannot shut them and return to sleep – no matter how badly I want to or how hard I try.

Many nights were spent tossing and turning in my bed, wanting desperately for Mr. Sandman to bring me another dream – but no dice. It’s as if my body and I struggle to see who wins the sleep war. Don’t get me wrong, if I wake up at 3:30am, I certainly want to go back to sleep, but no matter how comfortable I get, regardless of how many pillows I use – and despite the fact that I sometimes even try remedies like Sleepytime tea, warm milk – or even Nyquil – I am up for the day whether I like it or not.

The really strange part is that although I may sleep an average of only three hours per night, I do not seem to experience any adverse effects as a result. In fact, this morning I woke up at 4:00am – after going to bed at 1:45am. I tried to go back to sleep until around 8:00am – but instead spent four hours doing nothing but tossing and turning incessantly. And when I gave up and got up, I had enough energy to completely clean my kitchen and bathroom, reorganize a few things around the house – and even bring a really heavy broken air-conditioner down four flights of stairs. Could you do all that on only three hours of sleep?

So while I envy people that can either sleep through a full night, or are able to wake up and fall right back to sleep, I guess I will have to live with the fact that my body has grown accustom to only needing three or four hours sleep to properly function – and realize that the next time I wake up in the middle of the night – I should stop trying to fight the inevitable.

But look on the bright side – three hours of sleep gives me twenty-one hour days.

“Until I’m six feet under baby, I don’t need a bed,
gonna live while I’m alive, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.
‘Til they roll me over and lay my bones to rest,
gonna live while I’m alive, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
Bon Jovi - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead