Summer In The City

I am generally not a fan of summer.

Surprisingly, it isn't because of the 6-8 weeks of +110℉ temps we endure in Phoenix; that I can deal with. It's because of the early morning light.

As I've gotten older, my sleep patterns have become increasingly erratic. I'm almost always in deep sleep within moments of my head hitting the pillow and usually have no recollection of Ben coming to bed. Some (rare) nights I don't wake up until my alarm goes off. Other nights are a series of one hour blocks of sleep punctuated by half-to-full hour gaps of wakefulness—or a single incident of waking around 4 am and then tossing and turning until I finally fall back to sleep moments before the alarm goes off. Thankfully, most nights are usually just a single incident of getting up to use the bathroom (something I've done since I was a teenager, so no…it's not my aging plumbing) and then falling right back to sleep upon returning to bed.

I understand that sleep problems are a grossly underreported aspect of aging. I know my dad suffered as he got older, and when I was in my 30s I was incredulous when he told me he'd wake up at 3 in the morning and more often than not, struggle—or not be able at all—to get back to sleep.

I'm also beginning to understand why he had sheets of black plastic completely covering his bedroom windows.

We have dark grey curtains in the bedroom. Closing them—and the blinds behind—does an decent job of keeping the room dark at night. But at this time of year with the sun coming up so early, the room still starts getting light around 5 am. It also doesn't help that the dogs have reset their internal clocks to match the sun. They used to sleep until my alarm went off at 6; now they're crawling on top of me anywhere from 5-5:30, demanding to be let out.

I can't tell you the last time I woke up fully refreshed from a typical night's sleep. Lately it seems I'm as exhausted—or more so—than when I went to bed. The one recent time I do remember waking fully recharged and feeling good was either a Saturday or Sunday a couple months ago where I got up at the usual time, piddled around the house for an hour or so and then went back to bed, sleeping in until shortly after noon.