Insomnia

Abby

Doesn’t she look just so serene, so quiet? Abby unfortunately has this habit of strumming the metal bed frame to make enough noise to raise anyone out of a coma. She has no front claws, but it’s like she’s wiping her feet fifty times before getting back in bed. So she woke me out of a sound sleep at 4:45 this morning. Then the pre-trip checklists and packing issues started streaming nonstop through my mind, so getting back to sleep was impossible. Today I’ll get the oil changed in the Ram, tend to those checklists, repack everything for the unusual requirements of this trip, and try to get in another pre-trip paddle tomorrow.

If you have periodic trouble sleeping, I found Melatonin to work wonders. I was introduced to it on ship. It is a natural extract, so you’re not pumping strange chemicals through your system, is non-prescription, and of importance to us on board ship, it causes no problem with the Coast Guard. The greatest thing I liked is it worked without causing a stupor or adversely affecting performance. Part of this may be because the directions call for two tablets, and we always only used one, and it still worked. I could sleep soundly, but still rouse immediately if an alarm went off or someone was knocking at the cabin door, and then get up and perform normally. There is the usual liability warning on the label about operating machinery, but I never experienced a problem with myself or anyone else using it. Like any sleep aide, it is for limited use and not to be combined with any other medication.