The Part-Time Insomniac

I am a part-time insomniac.

At least that’s what I like to believe. Unlike normal sleepers who can get to sleep around 10 or 11 in the evening, I usually sleep past 12 … way past 12.

Why am I a part-time insomniac and not a full-blown case? It’s because I exhibit symptoms of both an insomniac and a normal sleeper. My case of insomnia probably got developed because I forced myself to stay up late in my younger years. Back in high school, I remember keeping myself awake until the wee hours of the morning just because I needed to express my teenage angst. When I got to college, I had to stay awake late because of projects, assignments, and my rock band. So, I need only to blame myself for my current predicament.

I can say I’m a bit of an insomniac because:

• Sometimes I tend to sleep around 1 or 2 in the morning. Even though I lay in bed by 10pm, I still find myself awake way past midnight. Not because a lot of things are going through my head but it’s just that I can’t sleep.

• Staying up late is no problem for me even if I have nothing urgent to do.

• I tend to be hyperactive later in the evening. My senses are alive and I could’ve discoed the night away if I was into that kind of thing in the first place.

• I am more creative and productive when I work at night because I think my creative juices are more free-flowing in the evenings and early mornings.

• I have difficulty forcing myself to sleep. Unlike my wife who can sleep in a few minutes after lying in bed, I have to do something like read a book or watch TV to tire myself and eventually drift off … hours after.

But thank God I am not a full-blown insomniac. A friend of mine is a certified insomniac and she has to take medicine just to get to sleep. She’s awake the whole night and gets to sleep around 6 or 7 in the morning and has to get up a couple of hours later to get to work. She has considered sleep therapy but the costs are astronomical! Imagine spending money just to get to sleep?

A couple of my former bosses were also insomniacs. Boss 1 was a social person so it worked for him that he was an insomniac. He could party and drink and socialize the night away and do a lot of late night business in the process – seal deals over vodka or tequila. It didn’t work for his driver though who was a normal sleeper. Boss 1 was difficult though when it came to morning meetings – never schedule a 10am appointment with him.

Boss 2 was workaholic so he became an insomniac because of work. Since he was American and his primary customers were Westerners, he needed to get in touch with them a lot. Being based in the Philippines further led him to insomnia nightmare because he had to keep weird hours just to stay in touch with his customers. Because of the lack of sleep, he sometimes went to the office grumpy and acting and thinking weird.

So despite the days when I rant and rave over lack of sleep due to my part-time insomnia, I’m still thankful that I can still function as a normal person during the day. Being a part-time insomniac helps when I need to get something done and I only have an evening to do it.

And despite the late hours, I still manage to sleep at least by 2am and still get around 5-6 hours of rest which is still good and healthy as compared to no sleep at all.

I thought about this article around 1:00am this wee morning, a few minutes before I finally dozed off for 6.5 hours of sleep.