Time Change Proves I Need a New Bed Time

Time went back one hour today.  We all know that.  What I didn't know is that it would ultimately change my life.

What happened to bring about this realization?

That extra hour of sleep.

Like my dad, I've never been the biggest sleeper.  I could usually function well after 4-5 hours at the most.  Anything more than that and I would wake up feeling more tired than I was when I went to sleep.

Then, after having my daughter, I had fewer consecutive hours of sleep.  She had severe acid reflux. I'd wake up every hour and a half or so to make sure she wasn't choking without me knowing.  I know it seems excessive, but I was a first-time parent, single, and she had a number of issues at birth.

Well, as she grew out of the reflux, I still had trouble sleeping through the night.  For 10 years, I would awaken  around 3:45 a.m. to make it to work by 5 a.m.  Now that I don't have to be at work that early, I still wake up around that time, even if I didn't go to bed until 2 a.m.

Lately, I've been waking up pretty early, working to bring some sort of order to my life. (I'm VERY spontaneous, for those who don't know.  Some would say I fly by the seat of my pants.  I resent that, though.) So, on Saturday, I fully expected to sleep in a little later. I woke up at 4 a.m.

I had a full day Saturday and finally went to bed a little after 11 p.m.  I woke up and checked the time as I usually do, but this time was different.  The clock said 3:45 or so, but I felt completely rested! It was almost as if I'd had a full night of uninterrupted sleep. I forced myself to go back to sleep and woke up a little while later.

I got way more accomplished today than I do on a normal day.  I thought about it, and it finally hit me that time went back this morning.  That extra hour was exactly what I needed!  Now, I'm thinking that I might need to adjust my bedtime to make sure I get one more hour than I normally do. If that hour can make EVERY day as productive as I felt TODAY, I'm all for it.