Any of my friends who have taken lectures with me can probably confirm that I have a habit of falling asleep in class. And I mean almost every class. I’m fine if I’m actively engaged, like writing notes, but the minute the professor starts just talking to elaborate a point or something, I tend to nod off. It doesn’t take long to reach dream-land, although it usually only lasts a handful of seconds before I come to and start paying attention.
I remember way back to first term where Rob would marvel at my ability to fall asleep sitting up in our physics lectures. That’s actually the farthest back I can pinpoint the phenomenon … nothing comes to mind from my high school days, but I’m not certain if it occurred or not. Consider it a censored observation (I’m in Survival Analysis mode from studying for my midterm).
A few explanations came to mind. First off, I was just bored. But even for classes that I really enjoyed and *tried* to focus in, it was an issue. Second, I wasn’t getting enough sleep. My school schedule usually required early mornings: by choice, 8:30 or 9:30 classes were the norm. I like getting up early because I feel more productive; but combine this with the fact that I don’t usually head to bed until 12-1, it meant I typically only got 6 hours of sleep or so. Ditto for work terms, where it’s almost impossible to avoid early mornings. (At least at work, when I feel myself nodding off, I can get up and go do something else for a few mins; that’s harder to do during class. I only remember falling asleep once in a meeting, but Dean fixed that with a quick nudge. Falling asleep at work: BAD, particularly in a meeting; strong will power has saved me over the years, but the daytime drowsiness has been as much an issue there.)
So anyway, once rationalized, I never really thought about it over the years. Then it dawned on me that I didn’t notice other people doing the same thing in class. Sure, people would look to fall asleep every once in a while, but I never noticed anyone else doing it chronically day in a day out. Now, over the past few terms, I’ve had a schedule where I can often sleep in much later in the mornings, getting a good 8, 9, or more hours of sleep per night. Yet still the problem persisted, so I thought, “maybe this isn’t normal.” (My own unqualified diagnosis is narcolepsy)
I paid a visit to the on-campus clinic, and got a referral to the K-W Sleep Lab, which is where I spent the night last Tuesday. It was quite an interesting experience. It’s really strange to walk through an office environment, but some of the rooms you look into aren’t work spaces but rather bedrooms.
After changing into my sleeping clothes, one of the technicians “wired me up”. A bunch of electrodes were attached to various places on my head, chest, and legs to measure brain wave activity and muscle movements; there was also equipment to measure breathing and heart functions. It felt a little strange, but wasn’t really uncomfortable. I wish I had brought my camera. Heck, I wish I had come across a mirror to see what the whole set up looked like!
I read for a while, until about 11, then all my equipment was hooked up to the station beside my bed, presumably fed to some central computer. The room was equipped with a mic and infrared camera, so if I needed anything during the night I just had to say something and wave my arm. Between the surveillance and the wires hanging off of me, I wondered if I’d have any trouble getting to sleep. And 11 pm is particularly early for me to go to bed. But I estimate it took no longer than 10 minutes, which isn’t all that bad (typically I’m out by the time I hit the pillow).
I got a wake-up call around 6 am from my technician and was unhooked, unwired, and out of the office in short order. Speaking of the technician, Jen was really good; during the wiring process we chatted about school, northern Ontario (where she went) vs. urban life, and she answered my various questions about the clinic. Much better than just sitting there and feeling like a lab rat. Or possibly a lab monkey. Actually, I’d probably be okay with the latter.
The results won’t be ready to discuss until a month from the date of my visit. Given that so many readings were taken continuously, that’s a shitload of data they compiled from me. But if they’re looking for abnormal patterns, I can’t imagine it taking that long. I have a feeling that’s it’s more a matter of the doctor actually being available, there seems to be only one per center.
Another amusing tidbit related to this whole thing: when I was originally setting up my appointment, the next available date was the 14th, and I said that would be fine by me. Then the assistant or whoever I was speaking to exclaimed, “Oh, that’s Valentine’s. Are you sure that’s okay, you don’t have plans?” I assured her that yes, I was quite free that night. Nice to have the situation put in perspective like that by a stranger over the phone.
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