Chris Hubbard

Over the past month, I have had a few bouts of insomnia.  Here I am again at almost 3 am and I can’t get to sleep.  I am trying to decide whether to blame the knee surgery which makes it slightly uncomfortable to sleep, the not-so-great movie that I decided to watch with my sister, or the fact that I stopped drinking caffeinated drinks.

Three years ago, I tore my ACL playing indoor soccer.  No, I am not some hyperactive sports nut who was finally injured after thousands of hours of pushing my body to the limit.  It was a fluke that someone asked me to go.  I had been playing a little bit of outdoor soccer over the summer so I decided I try it out.  I was in for five minutes and my foot stuck in the astroturf as I was making a turn and you could hear the pop of my ACL across the field.  Fast forward a few years and this was the year to get it fixed.  This year we opted for the high-deductible insurance.  With the birth of our fourth child, we hit the yearly deductible in January so any other medical procedures are covered at 100%.

So what does that have to do with Insomnia?  That is what I am trying to find out!  Is it being uncomfortable that is keeping me from sleeping?  I don’t think so or it would be more nights than what it has been.  It could have been the movie we watched tonight.

My sister is staying with us and she started a new job this week.  She will be working nights (6:30pm – 5:00am) and needed to start adjusting her sleep schedule.  I was starting the second half of the Colts game when she came home and wanted to know if I wanted to watch something with her.  I like to watch movies occasionally and don’t get the chance that much with having four kids.  I really should have gone to bed, but instead watched an action move (and woke up Michelle twice with the volume too high, sorry love).  When I tried to get to bed, I had scenes from the movie going through my head so I tried to combat it with something else.  Unfortunately, I chose a song from church this morning that took over and was much worse to dislodge. 

So here I am.  Looking at blogs and typing this one trying to get some closure to the night before I have to get up in two hours.  I may try sacking out on the couch (that helped last time). 

But what about the caffeine option?  Well, I gave up drinking caffeinated drinks regularly a couple of months ago.  I would regularly have two or three cans a day of Cherry Zero, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, or something like that.  I could have several late at night and never have a problem sleeping.  I have wondered if the change in my body chemistry has now made me susceptible to insomnia.

I have always secretly admired people who could function on only a few hours sleep.  I always wanted to be able to have the time to read that stack of books that I have or work on the pet project that I never seem to find time to work on.  I guess the question is how well I will function in the…next few hours.