It’s hard to innovate when you’re exhausted.
This week I began an extended stint as the morning online ACE. That’s a 7 to 4 shift, which didn’t seem like a drastic change from starting at 11.
Oops. Three days in, I still haven’t slept more than five hours a night, despite going to bed earlier and earlier. OK, it’s not just the shift change. Getting used to new routines and responsibilities has always kept my mind whirring at inopportune times. And maybe I’ve been a little preoccupied by the astoundingly bad news that keeps coming from all quarters of my industry. (The latest: layoffs in Seattle, buyouts in Tampa.)
But still, it’s weird trying to fall sleep at 9 or 10 p.m. for a guy who got used to crashing at 1 a.m. and rising whenever he wanted for more than two years as a copy editor.
So in the spirit of better sleep, I present a couple of pages from a wiki I just discovered. You’ve probably heard it all before; here it is in an easy-to-swallow, non-drowsy formula.* Because it’s hard to become a master of anything new when you can’t get enough sleep.
*I don’t vouch for the science, but most of these tips are commonsense. Just pay extra attention to the one about checking with your doctor if you’re a wiki skeptic.
Half a tablet (1.5 grams) of melatonin usually works for me. I dissolve it first in a glass of mescal.
Posted by Richard on April 16th, 2008.
Damn. All out of melatonin, and I don’t think I’ve ever had mescal in the cupboards.
Thanks for spending a minute on my little vanity preoject, Richard.
Posted by Andrew Zahler on April 16th, 2008.
Strange, those three nights last week have given me pretty much the opposite problem, i.e. sleeping way too much.
Posted by Remi on April 17th, 2008.
I think it’s a darn fine blog. Thanks to you, I now have Google Reader and half a dozen RSS feeds, including this one.
Posted by richard on April 17th, 2008.