What is Sleep, really?

I work on an ambulance. It really is supposed to be a great job. Everyone seems to admire it. Of course, reality is not quite the same, and I see way to much stuff that was not included on the recruiting poster. Like GI bleeds. ugh.

Of course, working in EMS in general is a 24 hour a day job. There are no breaks, and our shifts start and end at all times of the day and night. Which causes, in me at least, a rather interesting side effect - my body has no idea when it should be sleeping, and when it should be awake.

As an example, right now it is about 430am. Bars are closed. No car has driven past my window in some time. Yet, here I am awake like it is 430pm. Tomorrow night, I will need to be at work now, and awake, yet Monday I had to be at work in 2 and half hours, and was sleeping.

Sleep has been called the Little Death, and I know people who consider themselves lucky to get 4 hours a day. I guess, really, that is about what I can get at a stretch too, though I definitly want more. Perhaps a little death is good for us? Makes us like life more.

Well, the sun wll be up in a hour or so, and bird will come out. The quality of TV programming will improve (marginally), and the day will start for people in this time zone. Me, I might still be awake, or my body, confused as always, might drive me back into the warm comfort of my bed. I might even be a little curious about how it will all work out. Time, as they say, will tell.

Be safe, and keep the rubber side down.