This morning I found myself starting the day more tired than usual. Maybe it was due to my late-night reading of “_Sense and Sensibility_”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141439661/octothorppres-20 last night, or missing out on the usual 30-minutes-extra morning snooze that Jon gives me while he gets up with Lucy. (Isn’t he a saint? Today he had to leave early to drive to Madison, Wis.) In any case, I was sleepy, and began pondering one of my favorite fatigue-induced fantasies: the Sleep Bank.
p{color:gray}. Photo: Not sleepy. Not even a little.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could store up sleep to use for later in life? Imagine the possibilities:
* You could store some of your babies’ “spare” naptime to use during the noisy family reunion that falls at an awkward time of the day.
* Your eight-year-old is bored, and you suggest that he take a nap — to save for the slumber party he is going to next weekend.
* Teenagers could sleep all summer long, saving up their sleep points for late nights of studying.
* College students could nap frequently at the beginning of the semester, banking up z’s for finals week.
* Pregnant couples could go into hibernation for a few months to cache away some rest to use up when the baby is born.
But as I was changing Lucy out of her pajamas, my morning fog began to lift, and I began to consider some snags in my plan to stockpile sleep:
* Sleep would truly become a status luxury. For example, rich people would go off for fabulous sleep-bank vacations that the poor couldn’t afford.
* New, wildly expensive lines of products would be developed, assuring customers of the deepest, most relaxing sleep possible.
* If they knew they really could save it up, people might begin to feel stingy with their sleep, trying to use the minimum amount possible, resulting in irritability and unclear thinking.
* Catching a cold (and needing extra sleep) would cause undue anxiety. “Where am I going to find the time to make up the sleep for this?”
* People might start going into sleep-debt, which might get harder and harder to pay off as age- and worry-induced sleep problems developed.
* Teenagers might waste these prime sleeping years by staying awake, and then regret their rash decisions when they become parents.
So, it seemed like a great idea — but only for about ten minutes. I’m happy to have sleep as a daily reminder of our humanity, even though that means I feel tired here and there. I guess it turns out it’s a good thing I don’t rule the universe!
Hey Ann,
I woke up feeling pretty sleepy today as well. I am sure that it is due to having a five week old….but the sleep bank sounds a bit nice to me as well. I guess I am thankful that both of the girls were sleeping at the same time about an hour ago and I have three competent boys who were “on call” so I got a nap. Even a half an hour is nice these days.
There weather in Madison is a pleasant 81and we are all praying that it rains as predicted this evening.
Enjoy your mommy/daughter time.
Nicole, I’m so glad you got that nap!
My teenagers sleep all summer, and I highly doubt they’ll be studying come fall. I’d like to borrow sleep from them the way they borrow money from me.
I think the worse thing is anticipating the lack of sleep to come so much that you can’t sleep.
Madelyn moved into a “big girl bed” (toddler day bed) because we are getting ready to move in a month, then we start the christmas madness and then her brother or sister will be born in February, so we didn’t want all of the stress of these changes to happen at once. Last night she fell out of bed and then woke up about every hour. The plus was that I can lay in her bed with her now….so at 4am when he got up, I climbed in with her and fell asleep with her. ahh, way better than leening over the crib to calm her.
Ann I hope you can catch some zzz’s with Lucy today. When I’m beat I love snuggling up for a nap with the kids.