Can one say with confidence that he/she has been a good sleeper!
Well, it depends on who is the respondent to such a query.
There is no need to define sleep and the benefits or pleasure it gives to all the living beings. There has been a lot of research on the subject with credible positive results of sleep. This narration just covers the personal experiences, as remembered and recollected while staying awake or being in a semi-sleep state. I know sleep is a routine matter of the body taking rest, but there are some sleepy issues that I either observed or experienced, mostly the later.
I don't remember how I slept during most of my early childhood years but certainly remember and recollect the issues with sleep during my high school and afterwards. These experiences with sleep must be more or less the same with everyone.
There was a time when the eyelids used to fall down after 8 PM as if the gravity is acting specifically on them or as if they were made of lead. Over the years as one grows old, the body goes into the state of sleep but the sleep keeps on evading the body leaving the mind to wander and ponder.
I remember waking up each day was an insurmountable trouble every morning, the battles between the mind and body to avoid attending the Physical Training (PT) period used to be epic with tricks from hiding under the cot, pulled-down mosquito net, in the locked-in cupboard and even washroom. Even the draw of running along with the girls couldn't motivate enough. I vividly remember sleeping without an interruption for full 18 hours in the dormitory on a holiday, skipping all meals. Those were the days of growing up in which even the examinations wouldn't have any negative effect on having a sound night's sleep. Sleep was such a favourite pastime that it got endorsed so in the school scrap/autograph books.
College was a different story with no change to the earthshaking-inertia to wake up early in the morning, except on a couple of occasions where meeting a romantic commitment used to take preference. The duration of night's sleep reduced as friends increased and more after I was presented with a motorbike. On one occasion my mother almost alerted the fire brigade when I didn't wake up to open the door despite repeated pressing of doorbell, calling and shouting and numerous phone calls to the landline after she returned from her evening walk. The difference here was only during exams, during which the oil in the lamps used to burn well beyond midnight to make good the whole year spent wandering. Sleep, despite the tensions of career was still sound and peaceful.
Come 'Military Training', here I was made to experience the real deprivation of sleep and also the importance of a hitherto fore matter-of-fact thing called sleep. The body and I realised some astonishing facts about sleep, that it needs no permission or preparation, place or peace - it just takes you over. Can anyone believe that you can sleep while walking, sleep with eyes open, sleep doing drill, doze-off on a potty, sleep in rain even with water drenched boots and soaking wet outfit!! There was a time when the only basic physiological need was sleep, sleep in the class, sleep through the demonstration, sleep on the bicycle, sleep in the bus, sleep through the guest lectures, sleep in the AC cinema..... all that was happening was sleep, sleep, sleep and more sleep. The trick was not getting caught to avoid punishments and night 'toughening' fall-ins by seniors. One incident which comes my mind was, in one of my class-sleep sessions the instructor asked to repeat the last sentence, to my surprise I did repeat and repeated correctly and got saved. My mind was probably ON while the body felt sleepy like Abhimanyu.
The story of sleep is too long to be covered in few paragraphs without making the reader fall asleep, hence I shall try to reduce my sleep-story to minimum narrative.
The sleep deprivation felt in the academy became a habit and got reduced to feeling content with a few hours of night sleep and many power-naps of 8-10 minutes during the day with a 1/2 hour siesta on sundays/holidays and some lucky days. The body clock was set to wake up without alarm at a particular time each morning, (I noticed a funny thing here that I wake up the same time each night at the same time and between 50 to 59 minutes of that hour). During the active and operational requirements I realised the extremities of body-tolerance wrt sleep. One can stay awake beyond 72 hours with the help of water, chocolates and occasional cigarettes as the sleepless hours progress. There were times when the whole nights were spent in snow and rain shivering with cold and numb limbs, sitting in a tactical position waiting for the mercenary dogs, only moving the fingers to be able to operate the weapon, radio and night vision device.
There were times pleasant too like the short nap after the morning physical exercises and especially the afternoon nap (THE SIESTA). I willingly did forego sleep to ride the motorcycle on traffic-free roads and on more than half-a-dozen occasions to drive 1000s of kilometers non-stop for 42 hrs and beyond.
With all kinds of experimentation with sleep my habit has settled to sleeping only for four hours at a stretch. And as part of that habit here I am awake at 2 AM and typing these lines.
Watching my sleeping wife's pretty face and postures is the perk.
Don't Dare To Demote Sleep To A Lazy Man's Pastime But At The Same Time Don't Wait Till The Ultimate-Sleep To Enjoy The Little Pleasures Of Life, If Need Be, Sacrifice Sleep To Catch The Small And Invaluable Moments Of Life.
