Was I sleeping, or was that just a dream?

Last night was my first night back at home after a week in the UK, where the time is six hours ahead of my home time zone in Houston. That time difference can really mess with your head – and your body – as you try to assimilate back into your home time zone and routine.

As I always do, I try to keep myself awake until around 9 p.m. and then crash for the night. I don’t sleep much on long haul flights these days – maybe two hours – so after traveling and flying for anywhere from 14 to 32 hours, I’m usually ready to drop.

Such was the case last night.

I followed my routine and stayed awake until 9:21 p.m.. I can be that precise because I was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. I awoke some time later feeling like I had slept a long time. Still quite drowsy, I lay there with eyes closed trying to estimate how long I had slept. Had to be 8 or 9 hours, I thought.

Through bleary eyes, I looked at the ever-present Fitbit on my wrist, and it told me the time: 11:48. I had slept about 90 minutes. AAARGG! I was so frustrated and confused! The last several nights in the UK I had fallen into that similar sleep pattern – sleep for 90 minutes, wake up and be awake for three hours, then go back to sleep until the alarm sounded in the morning.

Why was I following that pattern at home now? It didn’t make sense! Resigned to being up for a few hours, I got up. In the bathroom, the animals (a cat and a dog) came in to greet me like it was a normal morning – wanting to be fed and walked. Sorry guys, it’s the middle of the night and dark outside – we’re in zombie mode for a while, so go back to bed.

I decided to make coffee for the morning, so went to the kitchen and pulled the coffee brewer out of the cabinet. As I was placing the machine on the counter, I happened to glance at the digital display on the microwave oven and a duplicate on the gas oven below it. Both showed the time: 5:57 a.m. What? It’s six in the morning? How did that happen?

Feeling totally confused and a lot silly, I put down the coffee maker and pondered the moment. I looked outside – still dark out so no help there; I looked at other clocks on the wall and they confirmed it was six in the morning. Wow. Now I need to reconsider how I’m really feeling after confirming that I actually slept for more than eight hours.

An old Chinese proverb came to mind: a man with one watch always knows the time; a man with two watches never does.

Yes, indeed. My conclusion: my Fitbit had let me down again by failing to make the jump to the home time zone, and I failed to question the information it was providing me. I’ve had this problem before, as I wrote about here.

As my new situation came into clearer focus, I felt much better. I had slept well. The animals were in their proper routine. And a new day was dawning with awesome potential! A bonus: it was time for coffee. I look forward to morning coffee, and after a good night’s sleep I would enjoy it all the more.