I sleep a lot

Let me tell you about an aspect of my life that I consider to be both my super power and my personal kryptonite: Sleeping.

How many hours of sleep do you get on average each night?

For me, that number is 10. 10 hours... often I get closer to 11 or 12.

You might be thinking, "Are you sick?" or "Wow, this girl is lazy." or "Wait until she has kids!" And trust me, I know. I'm not sick, I am a little lazy, and a lack of sleep is legitametly one of the reasons we don't have kids yet. But here's the thing... If I don't get at least 10 hours of sleep on a consistent basis, my body crashes. I get sick. I get anxious. I will even experience micro sleeps - which are scary.

So... Why do I need so much sleep? It started happening after a vacation where I got really sick, and I feel like I just never totally bounced back.

Kyle and I had taken a red-eye flight to Disney World. When we landed, my anxiety was crazy. I was so, so tired. I couldn't sleep on the plane. I couldn't sleep on the bus. I couldn't sleep in the hotel. I was experiencing panic attacks, but this was long before I was diagnosed with panic disorder, so I had no idea what was going on. The next day we went to the parks- that night I slept from 9PM to noon, woke up, told Kyle I was sick, and then fell back asleep until 3. The next morning I found a pharmacy that would deliver to the Magic Kingdom, and I spent $50 on cold and flu meds. It got me through the trip, barely, and when we got home I slept for 15 hours straight. We finally went to the doctor and I got medication, and it took me a full week to recover. I was told I had walking pneumonia.

Three years later, we moved to Florida. Our apartment in Florida was beautiful, but boy was it loud. I slept with headphones every night, and eventually, built up a tolerance to most noises. I trained my body to sleep through the discomfort of our pull-out couch bed, and while I'm not perfect at it, I'm honestly kind of proud of it. Now when I sleep, if I start to wake up, I can think to myself "absolutely not" and basically force sleep for as long as I want to. It's a great skill to have when you are actually sick and need to rest, but it can lead to a lot of lethargic tendencies, depression, and just plain laziness if I'm not careful.

So that's it- sleep. It's my superpower and my kryptonite.

In reality, I would love to get to a place where I have a real routine. I'd like to do 11PM - 7AM, every day. I've tried in the past, but each time it has truly kicked my butt. I'll either end up exhausted and falling asleep, or dependent on caffeine, or both.

It's a double-edged sword because really, I love sleeping. I have interesting dreams and can occasionally lucid dream. I like being out of the real world for a bit. But I think it holds me back in the long run.

So, how do you sleep? How long do you sleep? Do you know anyone else who sleeps like I do? What is your kryptonite? Your superpower?

Maybe I'm just actually Sleeping Beauty. Hit me up, Disney- I'm available for casting!

Nikki