Day 44...ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven

It is currently 1:30 in the morning, and I cannot get back to sleep.  It's a condition that I refer to as 'Emergency Induced Isomnia'.  I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it was caused by emergencies, but tonight it is the result of relatively minor issues...from my perspective anyway...I suppose they are true emergencies to those who call us.

Yep, you got it...I am at work, and I recently returned to the station after being called to help someone off of the toilet, and back into bed.  You see, the life of a firefighter isn't as glamorous as it may seem.  The movies and the news never show that stuff...its just the car accidents, heart attacks, and fires that make the cut!  Don't get me wrong, I realize that if it weren't for us, they would not be getting off of that toilet, and back to bed.  After twenty years however, it becomes a little taxing to be awakened at 1:00 am for that kind of call.

So you see, tonight's Emergency Induced Insomnia wasn't the result of some heroic effort...but a helpful one none the less.  To help me fall back to sleep, I usually count backward from ninety-nine, to zero.  Rarely do I reach zero before I am back asleep.  Sometimes it works, and sometimes...well, sometimes not so much!  I have to start at ninety-nine to be successful.  If I start at one-hundred it wont work...weird huh?  Oh yeah, if I count up from zero, it doesn't work either!  Welcome to my little world of idiosyncrasies!

Recovery is highly underrated in terms of health benefit.  One of these days I will sit down, and try to estimate the total number of sleep hours that missed over my career as a firefighter...it's alot, that I'm sure of!  Sleep is a major factor in the concept of recovery, and without the proper amount, brain function can decrease, as can physical performance.  With my heavy training load, sleep is paramount...so nights like tonite really take their toll on my ability to sustain my training regimen. 

Obviously, tonite is one of those nights that my little counting trick has failed me...hence the 2:00 am blogging session!  I am going to give it one more try, so I am signing off now.  Ninety-nine...ninety-eight...