All Kinds of Tired

There's Early Morning Tired, which affects me no matter how late I sleep in.  It is a groggy feeling, which might just go away on its own if I let my circadian rhythm alone for a few hours.  Usually I have someplace to be, and it is too complicated to try to decide between caffeinated and decaf when I first wake up.  I moderate my caffeine intake by drinking all, some, or none of my morning coffee as I commute in to the office, or plop down to read emails in my home office.  I sometimes skip the coffee on the weekend, to varying resulting wakefulness.

After Lunch Tired hits around 2:00pm for me.  Whether it is the caffeine from the morning wearing off, or the carbs from lunch kicking in, I just feel like putting my head down to take a nap. If I am at work, the solution is more coffee, and/or a brisk walk down the hill and back again.  Over the weekend, a nap would be lovely, but seldom does our schedule allow it.  I could use a siesta!

Tired of Aggravation strikes several times a day.  Usually in the morning as we prod the children from one stage of preparing for the day to the next, and then again in the afternoon as we negotiate over their homework and playtime.  It definitely is on the schedule at bedtime, as their instinct to prolong wakefulness mixes with their inability to be within a 3-foot proximity of each other when toothpaste is involved.

Not Enough Sleep Tired is a direct product of too much housework to do after the boys are down for the night, and an early morning meeting requiring early home departure.  Or it can result when email or blog-surfing keep me up too late, and I forget that there is an 8:00am soccer game on Saturday morning.  This looks a lot like "Stumbling Zombie Tired" below, but hits me earlier in the day.  Caffeine is to be applied in regular doses from 6am to 4pm.  4pm to 8pm is the "you're hosed" zone, when I have to push on through whatever my schedule holds without the assistance of caffeine.  Earliest possible nap/bedtime after 8pm.

Bone Tired is what I feel after a 6-mile hike with the Boy Scouts on a drizzly Saturday morning--mostly in my feet and legs.  Also, after my girlfriend walks--but the fried rice after these compensates.  Stomach -1, Feet -0. 

Brain-dead Tired happens around 10:00pm.  My body still feels ready to keep moving, since I've burned little energy in my day job working with computers, and my night-job of yelling at small children.  This is a good time for doing brain-dead chores like stacking the dishwasher and folding laundry.


Stumbling Zombie Tired hits at the end of a long, productive day.  Not only did my brain shut off 2 hours ago, but now my basic ergonomic stabilizers begin to fail.  I bump into furniture, or drop something.  The adrenaline from the pain of barking my shin, or reaching to grab something that is falling wakes me up enough to realize it is time for me to go to bed.  I love this feeling, since I often have trouble falling asleep at night.  DH laughs at me, as I am the only person he knows who treats going to sleep as something that must be accomplished.  Yeah, it takes effort to fall asleep (more like "climb" asleep) most nights, so I love when I actually get tired enough that it happens on its own.

What other kinds of Tired do you feel?  When do they happen, and how do you cure them?