Sleep

       As a teenager I don't get much of it. I stay up fairly late, to at least 11 every night, and get up at 6 in the morning. That gives me 7 hours, which isn't too bad really. I don't get any headaches from sleeping 7 hours, but if I get five or less I'll get a migraine, and it only gets worse as I try to stay awake. I can't nap, but I like to sleep. If I'm unable to sleep because I'm upset I'll take a little NyQuil to knock me out. It's not healthy, but it's better than losing sleep. I'm careful not to do it very often because it's not good to rely on drugs. Sometimes I'll read before bed if I can't sleep, and that'll help, but only if it's fiction. Watching movies usually works too.
      Sleep helps us rebuild our functions. We shut down to a low key operation and rest. Dreaming can be fun too if you remember them. It can also be miserable, especially if you have night terrors, which luckily I don't. My dreams are always weird. I have a lot of dreams where I'm late to work, which is sort of an insecurity of mine. I like to be on time, especially for work. I can recall a few dreams about school but most of my dreams don't make any sense. For example, I had a dream that one of my friends and I were in a trailer court. We were being chased by Freddy Krueger, the serial killer with the claws from horror movies. I turned to her and I said, "You've seen all these movies, what do we do!?"
She replied, "We need Dumbledore." (The wizard from Harry Potter.) And then I woke up. Strange huh?
     I write fiction a lot, pretty much on a daily basis and my characters usually have some sort of sleep related scene. Either they woke up, went to bed, or had a weird dream. I think I might have a small obsession with sleep but it is a strange thing. Scientists have discovered some things about it, like the two stages or NREM and REM, Rapid Eye Movement in relation to dreaming. They've discovered disorders and speculated why we need sleep, because it's evident we do, but much of it is still a mystery. Sleeping is still nice, because you wake up feeling so refreshed, especially if you get to wake up on your own.
       I'll spend at least an hour just getting up if I can get up on my own, that is to say, without an alarm clock. Waking up with the sun is best because you feel fully rested. Waking up in the dark is terrible because you feel like you should still be sleeping. It can't be day yet it's still dark! Those days are the worst to have a zero hour. You feel so deprived sometimes and the only grace is a soda or coffee.
       Still, sleep is important and even if you don't want to go to bed you'll feel so much better the next day if you do. I'm unfortunate enough that if I don't sleep enough I get headaches and they force me to catch up but some people don't have them. It doesn't mean they shouldn't catch up it just means they don't get caught up sooner. It will bug you eventually if you don't get enough sleep. I know from experience. So try to get rest when you need it because it'll help you get through the next day.