Bodyclock

Yet again, having a week off reminded me of just how screwed up my body clock really is. Even with the combination of domesticity, general routine, and a Hound who sends us to bed at 10.30 every night (I think I’ve written about that experience before, but if not there’ll be something about it this week, I’m sure) the body clock itself is still terminally screwed.
The insomnia that I suffered from/through for far too many years seems to be in abeyance currently, but I still sleep incredibly shallowly for the most part, to the point that if Hound wakes up and wanders around the house at all, it wakes me up. If Psycho Cat moves round the bed, I wake up. (Mind you, I think at least some of that is just down to survival instinct) Unless I’m absolutely dead to the world, if Herself rolls over, or gets out of bed, I wake up.
In short, my nights are generally fairly disturbed. That’s usually fine – I’m used to it, and can get along fine with my life so long as I’ve managed to get some sleep. C’est la vie, and all that guff.
But – and this is where the really screwed up bit fires up – if I can sleep between 7am and 9am, I’m fine. It’s the best sleep I get all night (morning, day. Whatever) During the normal course of work, of course, I’ve got absolutely chuff-all hope of ever sleeping for those perfect two hours. In fact, I’m normally awake at 7, and getting up, getting sorted, moving around. Operational, but not really refreshed, or enthused.
By contrast, over the last week, I’ve been able to get those two hours that my body really needs. All the rest can go to hell in a handcart, so long as I get those two hours asleep. My mood has been better, I haven’t been anywhere near as reliant on caffeine, and everything has just generally been much better.
I think I need to spend some time reassessing (again) what works for me. The end goal of being completely self-employed would fix all the sleep-time issues, but I need to figure a way to make it work while I’m still ensconced in offices and the like.
But on the evidence of last week, I think it’s something that I need to put at a far higher priority than it’s currently on.