Self Experiment

I've become my own scientific experiment again. Last Friday, after a bit of coffee and a flurry of filing, I joined my husband & son in the kitchen for breakfast on Friday. However, I wasn't able to eat, and quickly decided I needed rest. I pretty much didn't get off the couch again till Monday night for a few hours. I napped periodically and then didn't sleep again at night.

Adam went out and got me some Tylenol PM after three days of dysfunctional sleep & temperamental appetite, and I thought that would help me reestablish a semi-normal sleep/wake routine.

Alas - if only!

I took the Tylenol PM for two nights in a row, to my detriment. Both nights I'd start to feel like I might be slipping off into sleep and then I'd get the jitters. I'd lay there and constantly fight the urge to twitch & wriggle, or get up and run around & flail. The third night, I paused before opening the bottle and asked Adam if he thought it might be directly caused by the Tylenol. He looked at the ingredients & said he recognized one of them as an ingredient in some sleep-aid pills he's looked at before. He then reminded me that sometimes people have the opposite reaction to certain drug chemicals, and suggested that I brew a small pot of caffeinated coffee before bed instead.

I haven't done that yet, but I'm thinking about it now. When I have coffee during the day I do often feel more sluggish afterwards. Psychologically coffee wakes me up, but it could just be because it's a hot drink, so I'm staying alert to drink it w/o burning myself.

So now I become my own experiment. What can I do to encourage my body to get into a normal, healthy sleep pattern? What do I do in the mornings to bolster energy if I'm still sleepy? We'll see what I come up with.