Counting Sheep

I find myself doing something that I haven’t done in a long time: counting sheep. 

Lately, I’ve been having lots of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Of course, it doesn’t help when your partner also snores like a freight train. But even when I’ve banished him to the couch, it’s tough to clear my head enough to fall into a drowsy state.

And this annoys me to no end. Despite my nighttime ritual of a bath, my sleep cycle has been disrupted so much lately. The Holidays, while a blessing of time off, is also a time of seemingly endless eating and drinking and staying up late. I’m being extremely careful these days with red wine, as I cannot drink it past 5 pm. It’s like coffee - it’ll keep me up all night. Ugh. And as a girl who loves her big, bold reds, this does not make me happy.

So this afternoon, I hit a wall and decided to take a nap. This is huge for me - I never nap. In the past, I can’t fall asleep fast enough and I just lay there getting annoyed. If I do actually fall asleep, I’ll wake up with a headache - either from not napping long enough or too long. This afternoon was unusual, however, as I slept for just over an hour and woke up refreshed. Perhaps a new year brings a new perspective? Anyway, I was so grumpy for most of the day being totally sleep deprived from last night and this nap I took was a complete game changer. So much that I may now be more inclined to take a nap if my body needs it. And these days, it needs it more than ever.

Do you nap? If so, how often?