The Joys of Sleep

Last night I got almost eleven hours of sleep. That is highly unusual and usually impossible on a weeknight. I was able to get this sleep because I woke up yesterday with the nagging feeling I was getting a cold. The throat was a little tickly, the nose a little sniffly and the ears a little itchy. I did not want to get a cold. So, armed with Vitamin C, Zinc, and Echinacea lozenges left over from the last time I got sick, I went to work. It was an uneventful day but the unfortunate possibility of a cold hung over my head. Deciding the best defense is a good offense, I left work early, went to the store to load up on more cold-fighting supplements, and went home to my waiting pajamas.

By ten o’clock I had taken as many mega-doses of those cold-fighting supplements as were safely recommended and went to bed. I had arranged to come in late for work, so I set my alarm for two more hours of sleep. When I woke up, sunlight was streaming through the cracks in the blinds and I still had 20 minutes until my alarm went off and I had to get out of bed. The sensation of laying there, somewhere between asleep and awake, just conscious enough to luxuriate in the warmth and the comfort was perfect. As I rolled over to hit snooze on the alarm clock, I realized something. The tickly throat, the sniffly nose, and the itchy ears were gone. I don’t know whether it was the supplements, the sleep, or a false alarm, but I do know I might have to come into work late more often.