Mood Watch - 15

Fell asleep around 11:30 last night; woke up at 2 a.m. By mid-morning I was very drowsy and slept from noon until about 6 p.m. I was awake only an hour before the z-monster got me again and I slept a further three hours.

This sounds pretty ho-hum, I imagine, but sleep is the single biggest indicator of an impending hypomanic or depressive episode, and the rules of the game with bipolar disorder say that “good sleep hygiene,” as it’s called, is imperative. That’s why I pay so much attention to it.

At the moment I still feel fine otherwise, but maybe a shade or two less buoyant. It’s hard to tell what will happen next until it does.

UPDATE, September 13, 4:27 a.m. - Slept an additional four hours, from midnight to 4 a.m. In and of itself that’s a good thing, as it has set me back on what is more or less a “normal” schedule. But the ease with which I did it, having slept so much during the day, is noteworthy, and not necessarily in a good way.