Awake

It is 3:47am and I just cleaned my kitchen. I am 4 days into a stretch of sleeplessness which is a new phenomenon for me and a bit confusing. Most of November and early December I was on a Trauma Surgery rotation that was mostly night shifts, 14-15 hour shifts starting at 6pm and although I thought this would be difficult I found that I adjusted pretty quickly to my waking hours being primarily in the dark. Ever since finishing that rotation though I have had restless sleep and now it seems no sleep at all.

For the last several days I seem to fall asleep without trouble, but I then wake 2-3 hours later and stay awake for several hours before falling back to sleep again about an hour before I need to wake. For the last several nights I simply have lain awake in bed tossing and turning, hoping that I will become fatigued but usually finding my thoughts were running circles. Tonight I am trying a different strategy... if I am going to wake up, then I might as well use that time to do something productive. So far tonight I have:

1. cleaned my kitchen and stove
   
2. reorganized some shelving for food & spices
3. made a cup of ginger-lemon tea, just like I got in China
   
4. updated every aspect of Facebook possible and re-checked all my privacy settings
5. reviewed the "Best iPhone Apps of 2009" to make sure I have the coolest ones
6. updated my blog (obviously)
7. logged my work hours for this month
8. updated my procedures log for residency
9. completed all pending turns on my various iPhone scrabble games
10. reviewed my online calendar and updated my online finances

Yesterday I thought I was going to overcome my sleeplessness. I went to the gym, made sure I took no cat naps, stopped drinking caffeine about 6-8 hours before I was to sleep and had a relaxing evening at home. No luck. Here I am typing. I have started to wonder a little what life would be like if I could get used to getting only 4-5 hours sleep a night. It might allow me to actually have a bit of a life outside residency, except that all my friends are asleep or at work at this hour. I guess I could get all those pesky tasks done that build up and then end up eating your free time though. Well, so far this post is not making me as tired as I type it as it is making you while you read it, so I will move on to the next task.