Sleep? Anyone?

My son has joked more than once about how my generation thinks it can accomplish an entire day's work before his generation even rolls out of bed, and 8 AM is "sleeping in" for him.  That is funny, but let's face it...sleep, or lack thereof, is a bit of an issue for a lot of us Boomers.  I know this because sleep often comes up in conversation in a couple of different ways.

One way the topic emerges is with those who fret about their sleep habits, which naturally makes matters worse for them.  I know people who have taken "stuff" to help them sleep -- everything from prescription drugs to magnesium tablets.  I know people who have considered acupuncture and others who have gone to sleep clinics and now talk about things like REM sleep and sleep disorders.  You know what -- if I went to one of those places, I would be trying so hard to fall asleep that I never would -- never.  I would just lie there like a tense lump of sleeplessness.  (By the way... did you know that REM stands for rapid eye movement? At my point of "experience" I do know a huge number of informational tidbits -- some of which are relatively useless, but fun... many of which I learned by watching TV or by reading in the middle of the night.)

Then again -- it is important to consider another school of thought -- that individuals will sleep when they get tired enough.  This catching up sometimes happens spontaneously when sitting down for a few moments or -- when blinking.  A glance into the TV area during a televised sporting event or a look around during a church service will attest to this.   --- I am of this second school. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I figure that at some point I will be able to get away with a catnap or two to catch up, so I really don't fret too much about a lack of sleep.  Sometimes though after a wakeful night, I cannot let myself sit down even for a minute.   Really....  It's not safe on several different levels.  A case in point -- when my son was about two and I was pregnant with my daughter, I sat down for a moment, blinked, fell asleep and woke to find him standing in the toilet wearing his leather baby shoes. The sleeping issue has been going on for a while in my life.  My son is 37 years old now.

Truly -- what we grew up calling a "full night's sleep" may be a thing of the past for many of us and certainly we do handle the situation in different ways. Yet  -- one of my cousins said recently that she has solved the problem for herself.  She has figured out that if she only goes to bed every other night, she can sleep for 6-8 hours in a row. Stop laughing.... Actually she may be on to something.  I was awake in the middle of the night this week and watched an "interview" with Deepak Chopra.  When asked about insomnia, he said that if you can force yourself to stay awake for 48 hours, your biological clock will reset itself.  I know that I was not dreaming this.  I am almost always awake in the middle of the night.  I sleep in shifts.  It usually works for me.  You?