Monday-Tuesday 22-23/1/2018

This was one of those where I slept better than I thought I did. It felt like I was awake for a long time after lights out and I recall waking a lot. The reality seems to be I just vividly remember the awake points in my sleep cycle and of course in non-REM sleep there are no memories, so the passing of time is not registered.

I remember my dreams involved odd situations that left me perplexed rather than upset, but on waking I remembered nothing about the events.

I've read that cocoa contains caffeine and should be avoided before bed, but I'm of the opinion that my own body is fairly unresponsive to caffeine, and a pint of cocoa before bed certainly appears to have done no harm - and it was YUMMY! 

Sleep total was again annoyingly just below my 6 hour target, but I also meditate in the afternoon, and my bodily response is similarly interesting. On an uneventful day, I give it a 2pm-4pm window, but my body consistently decides that around 80 minutes is enough, and I wake parched and badly needing a wee, quite often with a urine boner.

The dryness probably comes from the fact that the Consulting Room where I meditate is small and contains an effective chemical dehumidifier. As you breathe out water vapour with every breath, if the air is dry, you are dehydrating rapidly. As for urine, now I'm squarely in middle-age, my prostate is expanding (causing urine boners) and my bladder sphincter is less robust - a quarter-pint is enough to trigger the urge to wee (it was a pint in my youth!).

From now on I will include meditation experiences as separate posts, as they add to the overall "brain rest" total.