Staying awake at the switch
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.
