[AAVSO-DIS] Re: Sleep difficulties

[Brian Skiff]

     Everyone one would agree that trying to do a substantial amount of
observing while having a "real life" and a "real job" on the 9-to-5 cycle
is debilitating.  But Bob Modic's original description was of being on a
very-late schedule continuously, not going back and forth between day and night
shifts.  
     Unlike most of the folks who've posted on this thread, I am more-or-less
a hermit (okay, an extroverted hermit), and have few responsibilties apart from
astronomy.  I have been on a night schedule nearly continuously for 25 years,
working as the grunt observer at Lowell, running various telescopes.  For 15
of those years I was scheduled in effect 365 nights a year, but luckily
only ~120/year are workable, depending on the type of observing involved. 
Now I'm down to being assigned at a telescope four or five nights a week,
so it almost feels like I'm not doing anything, at least observing-wise.
     Compared to Bob, I have been lucky perhaps in not having any ill effects
from this other than being just pooped if a long string of clear nights
develops.  I do maintain a pretty regular schedule, as Pam recommends for
sanity, but shifted several hours from most folks.  The basic reckoning is that
on the common cloudy nights, I go to bed at 3a and get up about 11a.  On clear
nights, I figure on being "on duty" from late afternoon until about morning
astronomical twilight.  I think it was Tom Kracji who made the point about
getting to bed before it was too light.  Having had the same experience (the
body saying "its daytime, let's stay awake"), I've made it policy to get home
before it gets light enough inside the house to see without a flashlight, which
in round numbers is roughly nautical twilight---no matter how glorious the
dawn sky looks up to that point.  Bedroom windows are blocked but not
completely opaque.  (I've observed at Palomar/Kitt Peak/Mount Hopkins/
Las Campanas where the dorm rooms all have darkroom-type black window shutters,
and it really does help having a completely dark room.)
     Around the winter solstice, when a full work-night exceeds 12 hours,
I'm often not seen until 2p (and start to work again by 4:30p....), eight hours
of sleep isn't enough, and one keeps a close watch at the weather, urging the
rapid approach of the next winter storm.  If I feel as though I can konk out
for even 20 minutes in late afternoon before work, I do it.  Other short naps,
or a many-naps routine might work for some people, instead of expecting sleep
only in one block during the 24 hours.
     After much experimentation, I've cut down to about one-and-a-half meals
per day, partly to avoid the common problem, also already mentioned, of
overweight.  Successful so far.  I am a vegetarian, but not preclusively so:
I'm not alarmed at a couple of slices of pepperoni on a pizza or similar maybe
once per month.  I have a cappuccino (regular or decaf, variably) and a pastry
for "first meal" (breakfast, even if it's after Noon), and a more ordinary meal
usually after starting observing, say 7-8p...and that's it.  In particular,
_no_ snacking during the night, and _no_ corn-syrupy drinks, though keeping
hydrated is important, especially here in Arizona.  Drinking/eating fruit, but
avoiding sodas and the like, cuts down on the hangover feeling the next day
(hangovers of the ordinary sort being basically a dehydration issue).
     Since caffeine affects me (at least) for long hours, I have to treat it
largely as a psycho-active drug.  On a few of those winter-solstice nights,
if I'm near-certain I'll be working until dawn, I've been known to stop by
the local java purveyor and get what they call an espressito, which is a
tiny cup of stuff that looks like transmission oil, and lets me get through
a full night without dozing off, though when I flop into bed 12 or 14 hours
later my ears are still hissing from it, and I expect sleep to be less than
restful.  More generally, I try to operate "drug-free".
     As others have also noted, running telescopes increasingly means basically
sitting in front of a computer (or three:  the one that runs the telescope,
a second that runs the instrument, and a third (a pair!) that reduce and
analyze the data on the fly).  For "fun" I sit more at a computer and build
star catalogues.  Thus it is with relish that I play volleyball to exhaustion
two or three times a week with trim, energetic pals and gals half my age.
In winter we have opportunity for cross-country skiing, a simple way of not
sitting in front of the frigging computer quite all the time.  I think Arne
runs several kilometers per day; whatever works.
     I don't think any of this is magic nor the only mode of operating, but
mostly moderation in all things, including moderation.  It could be that Bob
has a mix of symptoms exacerbated by an odd schedule, but I'd certainly urge
him to continue looking for improvements either medical or from lifestyle
changes.  Maybe not staying up quite so late?

\Brian