The COVID-19 By-Product # 247

 

As we enter our seventh or eighth or nineteenth month of this pandemic, I discovered yet another residual effect of this nonsense.  

I don't have a sound sleep any more.

I thought it was just me.

I'll go to bed about 11:30PM after a half hour or so of watching TV while lying across my bed on my stomach like I used to do when I was twelve.  That's been pretty much my norm since...well...since I was twelve.

Usually, I can go through the overnight with just one interruption for the bathroom.   

Since COVID, the overnight breaks are frequent.   Oh, I go to the bathroom but only because I am up, not because I have to.

The wake up times are pretty steady.   1;30AM.   3:30AM.  5:30AM.   I wake up for the day at 7:30AM.  I am as regular as a Metro North train.

Meanwhile, during those short stints, it's tough to get a good dream going.  The ones I have are very vivid and frequently reflective of something that might have happened in the past day.   All of a sudden, my mind has turned into a cable news network.

None of this has been the usual routine prior to last March.

Oh, and one other thing.   Twice, I have awakened in the middle of the night because I have fallen out of bed.  Hard.   Given that I sleep in a queen size bed and usually center myself in the middle, there must be a lot of thrashing underway to move me to the edge.   This is also an issue because my new bed is higher than most.  If I sit on the side of the bed, my feet are about five inches from the floor.

I can remember the dreams in place on both falls.   The first time, I was stepping into an unsteady boat.  Last week, the tumble happened because I was running away from a burglar.   Since our building has had recent break-ins, I guess I am just projecting to the current events.

On the last tumble, I got a nasty bruise on my chest because the said burglar I came in contact with was really my night table.

Forever the researcher, I've asked the question of some friends.  They are in similar boats, not counting the one I was trying to get into.   Also my trainer who is having the same two hour nightly cat naps.   I ask everybody what causes this all.

The answer is simple and now becoming incredibly routine.

COVID.

So there you are.

Dinner last night:  Maple bourbon bacon salad.