Sleep -  a state of rest and suspended consciousness, and perhaps the daily event I look forward to most.

Rest truly becomes top priority at the end of a long day.  I am not a morning person: getting up immediately after the alarm rings is a near impossible task, and I hit the snooze button more than I probably should.  My relationship with my alarm clock is marked with ambivalence.  Though I depend on this blaring contraption to wake me each morning, I regret having bought it in the first place.  I am addicted to sleep, using it to temporarily escape stress or help remedy lazy, unfilled afternoons by way of napping.

One of my New Year’s resolutions for this year,  was to develop better sleeping habits — habits, which as of last year, have gradually gone to crap .  It’s unfortunate how erratic and inconsistent my sleep has become.  I blame these fluctuations entirely on myself, the tendency to deprive myself of sleep, and my penchant for sleeping in and sporadic napping are all culpable.

As a full-time student, my attempts to keep up with school work by continuing to study into the night often backfired on me. Getting little or no sleep made me physically and mentally sluggish during class, not to mention irritable to anybody I came in contact with. The amount of sleep diminished during stressful times with increased work loads and increased over weekends. During finals week I pulled three consecutive all-nighters, taking short naps in a feeble attempt to make up for lost sleep.  With my remaining essays turned in and my final exams completed, I went home to recuperate and give my ultimately fried brain some rest.

I had hoped to use this past winter break to catch up on sleep and establish a normal sleep routine before the beginning of the new semester. I failed. My sleep habits over this past break were anything but normal, things merely got worse: I was getting too much sleep.  It turns out, academics aren’t the only cause for my lack of sleep.  Dedicating nights to more trivial things, such as the internet or television had the same effect. For a couple of days, I fell asleep around four or five in the morning and woke up more than twelve hours later. Sometimes, the sun would set as I’d eat breakfast.

All this irregularity disturbed my bodily operations in terms of sleep.  Since I had absolutely no control over it this frightened me.  It was happening more and more.

My battle with sleep is ongoing.  I’ll keep you posted.