Sleep

Q: How many hours do you usually sleep? A: Around seven, on a good night — though "usually" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, because it varies more than I'd like. Some weeks I get a solid seven or eight, other weeks, when work gets busy, it drops closer to five or six and I feel it by Thursday. Q: Do you ever take naps? A: Rarely, and when I do, they tend to backfire. If I nap for more than twenty minutes I wake up groggier than before I lay down, so I've mostly given up on them. Weekends are the exception — an accidental nap on the sofa after lunch, which I don't really count as a proper nap. Q: What helps you sleep well? A: Keeping the room properly dark and cool makes the biggest difference, more than anything else I've tried. I've also had to accept that looking at my phone right before bed just doesn't work for me — it keeps my mind too active. So now it's a book instead, even if it's only for ten minutes. Q: Has your sleep changed over the years? A: Quite a bit, yes. I used to be able to fall asleep almost instantly, anywhere, at any time — a skill I miss now. These days it takes longer to switch off, and I'm a much lighter sleeper than I was, so noise that never used to bother me now wakes me up.