Mar 13 2002
Sleep deprived
I wish I could call in sleep deprived. Not sick, but impaired. Somehow, I don’t think my boss would take kindly to that phone call. “I’m sorry, but I’m staying home to sleep. We’ll all be better off.”
For the past three nights, I have fallen asleep exhausted, slept for 3 hours, woken up, stayed awake for another three or four, and then fallen back asleep for an hour or so before the alarm goes off. So I’m in the deeply sleepy phase when I get yanked awake. I am beginning to think I’d be better off just staying awake.
In addition to this, last night I had those weird dreams that leave you with a bizarreness hangover, making the whole day seem completely surreal. I feel like I’m sleepwalking (although that would mean I was actually asleep). According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than 60% of Americans are sleep-deprived, so I can stop feeling special right now. But if that’s the case, and since sleep deprivation has been shown in study after study to cause slower thinking, less creativity, memory loss, and an increased likelihood of accidents when driving or operating machinery, among other undesirable effects, we really should be able to call in sleep deprived.
I just hope I can make it through the day, not to mention the night.