Does Any Teacher Sleep Well?

 In The Middle of the Night

When I first started teaching, everything was just fine. Sure I was nervous and stressed, but at least I slept through the night relatively often. Then I heard some teachers talking about their nightly wake-up "routine." I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but apparently there was this thing where teachers tended to wake up in the middle of the night for hours on end. I thought they were just silly. 

Until one fateful night when it started happening to me. Now I know that it is an actual problem. My wake up time is usually 2am and I am wide awake until at least 4am. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time before having to actually wake up for the day.  During these wide- awake hours, my mind starts racing about everything under the sun like what am I going to wear tomorrow and whether or not my plans actually done. Then songs start playing in my head. Just random songs. So, I get up and go to the bathroom to see if that helps. I try going downstairs and eating a spoonful of peanut butter to see if that might trigger something magical so I can go back to sleep. I count backwards by 7's from random starting places, to replace the old counting of sheep trick.(I have no idea where I ever heard of that one, but I do it.) Sometimes, I go back downstairs and lay on the couch. (That works sometimes, but I fall asleep on the couch and then have to go back upstairs at some point anyway, so my alarm doesn't go off and wake my husband- who can't reach it.) Alas, I try to convince myself that there is nothing I can or am going to do about any of the things swirling around in my head until I am up for the day. So, should just let it go. Ha!

To try and head off this middle of the night dilemma I stay up just a little bit later. I make sure my plans for the next day are in tidy order. I write down everything I need to do in my planner. I set the coffee. I try to exercise more regularly. I lay my clothes out for the next day. Sometimes this stuff actually works, but mostly.......it does not. 

Unfortunately, this is something that I still hear teachers talking about. I am also one of them that has been indoctrinated into the sleepless nights of teacher-hood. If you have solutions that can thwart off this condition- please share it for the better good of the profession. We need all the rest we can get!