The early bird gets up early

A momentous event happened this morning.

I got up early.

Indeed: I was up before 8 a.m. I was even awake before 7 a.m. I got out of bed at precisely 7 a.m.

Of course, I couldn't do it alone.

My mom called at 6:07 a.m. My alarm went off at 6:30. My mom called again at 6:32, and stayed on the phone until I could prove I was out of bed. Of course, I promptly got back into bed and cuddled with my dog. But I stayed awake the whole time, decided I'd cuddle Bijou until 6:59, and then I got up.

I was out of the shower by 7:30, when Bijou went nuts because there was knocking at the door. And lo, Ian was there with a box of doughnuts and a nutritious morning Dr. Pepper (his soda, doughnutty goodness for both of us). Mom called again around 8 a.m. to see if I had fallen back to sleep somehow, and I was out walking Bijou when she called. Imagine her surprise when I called back and didn't sound sleepy.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if I hadn't been trying to get up early on a regular basis all summer--and been failing miserably.

I have been chronically late to work this summer, except for maybe one or two days in May. Yesterday I was almost a whole hour late, and it wasn't the first time.

It's not like I want to get up late. I'm actually a morning person--there's something so enjoyable about being up when the day is new. But I also enjoy sleeping. It's not a good combination.

Hopefully I can train myself to get up at 6 a.m. every weekday before the end of the summer. I have no choice--there's a graduate orientation session I have to be at by 8 a.m. the week before classes start. I was still sound asleep in bed at that time yesterday!

Here's to hoping. Wish me luck!

Lessons Learned

Here's one for the wise:

NEVER SCREW UP YOUR BODY'S SLEEP CLOCK!!!

I happened to do so over the course of my winter break from school and am now suffering from it. By going to bed around 2 a.m. and waking up around 1:30 p.m. on a daily basis, this schedule became ingrained in my body's daily functions and it's wreaking havoc on me as I try to readjust to work life and get ready for school to start again (think laying in bed for hours, hoping to fall asleep, and then being unable to drag yourself out of bed on time).

A discussion with my friends last night also pondered the issue of sleep. Do humans really need eight hours of sleep a night to function properly? Do we need more or less? I think the answer depends on the person. While some of my friends think four hours is adequate, I think I need eight to 10 hours a night to function 100 percent. The chances of me getting that much sleep, though...eh.

The most important lesson to be learned is that sleep isn't something we can throw to the wind with caution and whatnot. Getting enough sleep, and going to bed at decent hours, respects the body. And that's pretty damn important.