Recently I shared a “typical” (which, we all know, is really hard to define) day in my life as a work-at-home blogging mom. In the post I wrote that I get out of bed at 7:15, start winding down – mentally – around 8:30, am usually in bed by 10, and often fall asleep with my Kindle in my hand shortly after.

In response, a reader wrote this:

Ouch!

After wasting twenty minutes coming up with a variety of snarky responses, I dashed off a quick reply and went about my business.

But hours later, I found myself still thinking about the comment and realized it was because I know I get more sleep than a lot of people do, and I’ve always felt a little “different” because of it.

Now, let’s define “more sleep.” I log between 8-9 hours a night, (10:30ish when I fall asleep, a little before 7 when I start to rouse) but it isn’t exactly the deep and dreamless sleep of a wee babe. I still get regularly nightly visits from small people, my husband snores (sorry for outing you, dear, but I’m pretty sure everyone on our block already knows) and I often wake in the night for one reason or another.

Ever since becoming a mom I’ve been such a light sleeper that if the dog tiptoes into my room and breathes next to my bed, I wake up.

But still. Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that I get 8.5 solid hours of sleep per night, every night. With a little extra on the weekends.

And, let’s assume that, per the above comment – and the complaints, pleas, and humble-brags of tens of thousands of mothers on social media – that most moms are getting more in the range of 6 or 7. Or maybe even less.

Well…so? [click to continue…]

 

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