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Go the #(@!* to Sleep

Adventures in dreamland.

I'll read almost anything about sleep. Often, I read about sleep while thinking about sleep. I've fought my brain over my body's need for rest since childhood. As a kid, I'd fret in bed most Sunday nights over the school week ahead. Yes, I laid out my clothes the night before to ease morning stress. No, it didn't help.

I got by on fumes for the year I nursed each of the Mini-Kinneys. These days, I go to bed thinking about how early I have to get up and how much I need to get done in the morning before they wake.. The later I hit the hay, the longer I ponder.

Today, I spied an NPR health blog post suggesting that I can blame motherhood for becoming a chronic insomniac.

Parents often think poor sleep is their cross to bear, but bad sleep, night after night, can be so bad it can change brain chemistry.

For example, says Dr. Rafael Pelayo, of Stanford University's Sleep Medicine Center, insomniacs have higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.

"Normally, cortisol levels rise for most people in the morning hours," he says. "But people with insomnia have elevated cortisol levels at night. They're in a hyper vigilant state."

You'd be hyper vigilant too if you were failing so miserably to be even average in the sack: Sleep experts say most adults need between seven and nine hours of shut eye a night; I'm lucky if I get five. I routinely get just four and don't know if, how or when I'll ever get more.

-- Monica Yant Kinney