The mania and obsessive-compulsiveness hit over the weekend. I got an amazing number of things done. In fact, I did everything I intended to do and still had time to watch some television and go out for an anniversary dinner. Yesterday morning I continued to feel pretty wired. This is all made even more interesting given that I have cut my caffeine intake significantly. A normal day includes two very large cups of coffee at home and then 24 oz of iced tea and a medium sized coffee at work. I am now down to two very large cups of 1/2 decaf coffee. Period.

Well, of course this is nervous energy.

You are probably right. In fact, I am certain you are right. No one could fault me for being a bit keyed up about my upcoming STAAR surgery (see previous posts for definition of the surgery). Interestingly, I don’t feel nervous right now. I actually feel pretty calm. And if it were just manic/ultra-organized behavior, it would not really be a problem for me; though it might make my staff, friends, and loved ones a bit crazy after a while.

The problem is that I am also REALLY not sleeping well. I slept well Sunday night because I took a diphenhydramine. Monday night I awakened at 1:11am and struggled to get back to sleep. I did finally fall asleep for a few more hours (my alarm goes off at 4:51am on work days). Last night I awakened at 1:47am and was awake for more than 45 minutes before finally falling into a fitful sleep.  Does this qualify as insomnia, no, not really. But it is disrupted sleep nonetheless and disrupted sleep has an impact on health, alertness, weight, and a host of other things.

Now you may be asking how are my sleep habits – aka sleep hygiene? Actually, pretty good. No TV in bedroom, check. No computer in bedroom, check. Cool, dark, comfortable room with little distracting stimuli, check. Sleep preparation routine, double check. My sleep prep is so predictable that once I start, the dogs take their places in their normal nighttime sleep locations (i.e. under the bed, in the dog bed). No caffeine after 3 or 4pm. (remember, we covered this, I am barely getting any caffeine – sorry, didn’t mean to sound cranky). This list goes on.

So, after two days of interrupted sleep – well, truth be told, the sleep interruption began last week some time. It was just less pronounced. Anyway, two days into a greater level of sleep disruption with little caffeine, I am feeling a bit less manic. My schedule is a lot slower today but does include a visit with the chiropractor, light cardio, and playing around with the back and shoulder machines at the gym for a little while…then home to watch the political convention.

The bright side…I will get LOTS of sleep on September 12 and probably for several days after the surgery. I hope…