(re-run)
I only use my phone alarm clock for three things, now that I’m retired. Most days I sleep until either the black lab, Pepper, comes down to the bedroom to wake me up, or until the light comes into my bedroom from the eight-foot window. Even though it has black-out curtains over it, the slits between the curtains let in the light, and I can see my redwood tree, planted from a seedling twelve years ago.
Last week Pepper didn’t wake me until 7:20. This week she is getting me up at 6:20. Thanks, regular time, not Daylight Savings Time. By the way, we didn’t lose an hour of daylight on Sunday, as was reported by the Channel 3 Weather girl. Whoever wrote that script needs to be educated. We have the same hours of daylight, just an hour earlier than usual.
Why We Sleep is a great book studying sleep and why we need it. One chapter suggests that it is much better not to jolt oneself awake with an alarm. The working world must do that very thing unless they are still working from home (since the pandemic) in their pajamas.
The book claims that people who get less than seven hours of sleep a night will live shorter lives. It has to do with telomeres on the ends of chromosomes. I am not a scientist, but I know the scientist that figured this out has won a Nobel prize for it, Carol Greider in 2009. Increasing telomere length can slow aging. Fountain of Youth and all that.
My favorite chapter was about dreams, why we need to dream, and what happens to people who can’t dream (they die). Dreams fascinate me because I have vivid dreams that are in color. I sometimes remember parts of dreams in the daytime, or I wake up with the memory of a dream that I’ve just had.. My dreams seem long, and I often have recurring dreams, mostly about finding public bathrooms that have no privacy. It usually means that I have to pee.
I’m one of those seniors who doesn’t need to get up during the night to go to the bathroom, at least so far. I’m not going to brag about it too much because things can and probably will change.
My friends who do lots of traveling or play sports or golf or whatever may need to set an alarm on their Apple watches or their cell phones. They need to get up for Pickleball. My Zumba class doesn’t start until 9:00, so I’m up by then. I only set my alarm for:
- Picking up someone or taking them to the airport
- Getting up to do fasting bloodwork at Labcorps
- Getting up to do a colonoscopy (every other year). Lucky me. I have a digestive system that causes me no end of problems. But I’m not complaining too loudly. It could be something much worse.
At this age, we all have something health-wise to deal with.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 