Dreams

I slept really well last night, but felt so exhausted by 10:30 that I went back to bed for a nap. I just woke up almost in tears. The specifics of what I dreamt that left me so profoundly sad are already fading, but it got me thinking about how others are coping at this time.

It seems I am not alone. The Smithsonian Magazine reports that anxiety, processing strong emotions, and even the slower pace of life as contributing factors to an increase in vivid dreams. A sleep expert who has suffered vivid dreams herself offers four ways to sleep better during COVID here. Unsurprisingly, they look a lot like everyday good sleep hygiene, but they are worth repeating: get up at the same time every day; be as physically active as possible during the day; relax and put down the electronic devices well before bedtime; and use your bed only for sleep/sex.

I have started watching the stats on cases and deaths worldwide and by country obsessively. The total official number of deaths topped 200,000 early Saturday, and the number of  cases could pass 3 million today. Almost 1/3 of the cases are in the USA alone, which does not bode well for reopening our borders any time soon. In addition to the general figures, I am starting to pay attention to case rates by province, by prevalence per 100K in each province, and to the rates (and testing rates) in poor developing countries, especially in Africa. I am comparing infection rates in countries with chaotic leadership with those in more stable countries. I need to stop obsessing about the data, but I also need to process it because I am not the kind of person who can simply go on with my life oblivious to the global implications of all this. After all, the number of cases worldwide rose by more than 20,000 while writing this post.

So yes, I am feeling profoundly sad, and worried as I read the latest news showing that Canadians are already starting to be more mobile, suggesting they may be getting complacent, or just impatient and bored as the weather starts to improve. It is time to get mobile, buy some groceries for my parents, an then plan to relax like my cats. One of them has a naturally sad and worried face, but she is really very relaxed.


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