Must. Have. Sleep.

This week I had the brilliant idea to cut down on caffeine and stop taking sleeping pills. Like a normal human, I drink coffees during the day to stay awake when I am sleepy, and usually take Unisom or Melatonin, sometimes Ambien (occasionally Xanax or Valium) at night when I feel tired, but not sleepy. The theory went like this: If I am not taking anything at night to sleep, I will be less groggy in the mornings and won't need to drink so much coffee. If I don't have so much caffeine coursing through my veins, then I won't be sleepless in the night and be able to drift off. Makes sense, right?

Well, results are less than perfect. I still can't sleep! And now during the day, I feel like someone who hasn't gotten enough sleep (zombie-like). Last night I went to bed about 11:20, tossed and turned for a while, received a text message from Laura at 12:12am, and I remember getting up and getting a snack at 3:30am. The night before wasn't much better. I think I growled at Conrad at 8am when he tried to chat with me about the weather. All I wanted yesterday afternoon was a coffee, and I don't usually drink coffee in the afternoon... just knowing I was not allowing myself to have it made me want it more.

So what did I do this morning as a consolation to my plan not working? I smoked a cigarette. Operation cut down on caffeine and cut out sleeping aids interrupted Operation: cut down on booze and cut out cigarettes.

Thus I can conclude: I am an imperfect human.

Suggestions welcome.

As always, thanks for reading.