The giant wooden mallet did not help me sleep. It just made a few small birds appear out of nowhere and fly in circles around my head while twittering melodiously.

The problem with the insomnia is that it exacerbates other problems. Since I’m no longer working, being tired during the day isn’t that big a deal. But when I’ve gone a couple days with very little sleep, anxiety starts creeping in. And this is not the usual garden-variety background anxiety that I encounter nearly every day during my “off periods”. Serious lack of sleep can lead to serious anxiety – not quite to the level of a panic attack, but it gets close. Fortunately, I do have a supply of Lorazepam, which I take only when truly needed, and which is very effective (though far from immediate) at killing anxiety and depression.

Then there’s this:

If I want to read a book during the day or even at bedtime, I can’t get more than a couple pages into it before I start nodding off. So, when I wake up at 2 or 4 in the morning, I should be able to just read a little and I’ll go back to sleep, right? Nope. When I want reading to put me to sleep, I can read for hours – even if it’s boring reading! Same goes for TV – seems like I’m always falling asleep when I try to pay attention to a show, but if I turn on the same show in the hopes it will put me to sleep…doesn’t happen.

I find myself wondering if there have been any studies to determine how dogs can sleep so damn much.