Sleepless In Manila

I've only gotten a total of 8 hours of sleep in the last 4 days. I've been losing sleep for a couple of reasons.

1. I've been thinking of work that still has to be done. I was ruminating in my REM state for headlines I can use in my projects.

2. My bad back has been getting quite worse. My lower back is preventing me from having a good sleep since it's really painful.

3. Nerves because we have several presentations to make that need to get approved ASAP.

4. It gets quite humid at night.

Oh well, waking up is the hardest part in sleeping late. It always feels bad to wake up when you're puyat.

Being sleepless in Manila before was like being in a cemetery. It soo quiet. You could probably hear crickets and noise from the aircon, but that's it. There was practically nothing to do at night back then. You feel all alone. That was before. Now, being sleepless means you can go to McDonald's, Starbuck's, Tiangges and maybe even hang-out with call center reps. Things have changed indeed. Now you can also watch cable tv 24/7 when you can't sleep, you can also chat or surf your time away, or just text other insomniacs (just exactly what GLOBE is advocating now). There are also 24-spas and gyms now which you can visit if you can't sleep. And maybe grab a bite at Next Door?

I remember back then, we even had DST (day light saving time) to save on time and energy. Night time was devoted for rest, but now it seems that working at night has become more efficient. There's no traffic, it's not hot, internet is not clogged and who knows you might just end up "lucky" with someone... all these are happening at night. I'm not new to the concept of night time work. When I was younger, we would shift work hours from morning to nights because we were trying to avoid the persistent black-outs. I couldn't grasp back then how they sleep when these people go home...But now, it's become a norm.

You see, things have changed, indeed. But the question is: for the better, or for worse? With all the distractions, with the changing work-time pattern, and sense of rest, is this change going to benefit us?

I'd like to close this by sharing this information I got from a certain website: Our body is so efficient that it recognizes certain hours. If you sleep later than midnight, your quality of sleep is also greatly reduced. Meaning, no matter how long you sleep in the morning, night time sleep is still the best. Your body knows your body clock... But this is unconfirmed. Maybe it's true because I experienced this myself, but I'm no doctor. Bottomline, sleep is good.