Our lives have certain rhythms. Circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle. We humans aren’t the only ones who experience rhythms. Most living things, including plants, animals, and even microbial organisms have circadian rhythms. One of the big factors in determining rhythms is light and darkness. The study of these rhythms is a scientific speciality called chronobiology.

Scientists have devoted years of study the differences between people who are more naturally inclined to stay up late and those who are more naturally inclined to get up early. It is common to call those who find themselves most alert and productive at night “owls” and those who are most alert and productive in the morning, “larks.” By those distinctions, I am a lark - at least most of the time.

It is interesting to me, however, that there are events that disrupt my normal sense of rhythm. Of course there are the major events. The birth of a child changes everything and for parents it means a radical readjustment of sleep schedules. Most parents eventually learn to take advantage of whatever opportunities they have for sleep, napping when the child naps, catching up on sleep when someone else is providing care for the child, doing whatever is necessary to survive in this new set of circumstances and conditions. Grief is another major event that frequently disrupts sleep patterns. Grieving people often find that they are unable to sleep at night when the rest of the world is sleeping. They may go several days without sleep and then sleep excessively in order to catch up.

Sleep disruption is one of the symptoms of depression and psychologists often ask questions about sleep patterns in working towards an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment from people who are suffering from psychological illnesses.

As I age, however, I have noticed that small changes can also affect my sleep patterns. I used to travel more for my work. In those days, I could adjust to two time zones in a day without much effort. Traveling east, I would be weary from travel and simply go to bed at the new time and wake on my usual schedule. Traveling west I would just “tough it out” for one long day, sleep well, and be adjusted to the new time zone by the second day. These days I travel less, and I have discovered that even one time zone can take me up to a couple of days to make the transition. You wouldn’t think a single hour would be that big of a deal, but I am becoming more and more a product of ritual and habit as I age. I guess that is normal. We used to refer to certain aging persons as “set in their ways.” I don’t relish the thought of becoming set in my ways and hope that I can maintain more flexibility than some as I grow older. Perhaps traveling more instead of less would help.

At any rate, I am having trouble finding my rhythm after a simple vacation trip. We traveled east one time zone, which is no big deal: lose an hour driving out, gain an hour coming home. For some reason, however, I had a terrible time adjusting. During our vacation, I was waking in the middle of the night. I always turn off my alarm clock on vacation, so I would become fearful of oversleeping. As a result I would writ my blog when I woke in the middle of the night, waking more fully than normal. Then I’d crawl back into bed and sleep. For the most part this worked well for me. I woke when I needed to and had plenty of energy for the days.

Coming home, I attempted to get right back into the rhythm of things, rising at my normal time, with the alarm clock, writing my blog and getting on with my day. It was a bit of a struggle getting up the first morning, but then things went well. The second night, however, I had a difficult time sleeping and found myself getting up multiple times in the night. I did not, however, go to work on the blog. Instead I read a few pages and returned to bed, tossing and turning until the alarm went off and I got up and went on with my day.

Last night was the third night. It had been a long day, arriving in the office early, staying for choir rehearsal and then responding to an emergency at the hospital. I was a bit wound up from the emergency and it took me a while to get ready for sleep so I went to bed a bit later than usual. Again I woke in the night, got up and read for a while and then went back to sleep.

And wow! Did I ever sleep! I had neglected to plug my phone into its charger the night before and it had been overused with the evening emergency so its battery was dead and my alarm didn’t go off. I finally awoke almost two hours late - with a blog to write and an 8 a.m. meeting. So now I’m scrambling and rushing about to play catch up.

I know that I’ll find my rhythm again soon, but the disruption is a bit upsetting. I don’t have time for this nonsense.

I know that sleep disruption is a symptom of a wide variety of conditions and I know that lack of sleep contributes to many illnesses including obesity (to which I’m prone) and circulatory diseases (for which I have inherited a tendency). Alas! I need to get this sorted out - a pressure that doesn’t exactly contribute to relaxation and proper sleep.

Its time to return to simple spiritual disciplines and centering prayer at the end of the day. Time to turn my attention away from myself and towards the work that needs to be done. Both of these things really help when I need to get back into the swing of things.

I don’t want to admit that the disruption is caused by my age. But this blog certainly sounds like it was written by an old man who has gotten too set in his ways.

If I had time, I’d write another - about a more interesting topic.

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