Hard time sleeping this time of year?

[JeffF]

2nd year LOR user here and last year I attributed not sleeping much with the "stress" of the display.

This year the "stress" is much, much less and I've again noticed not sleeping good.

Take this morning for example... I woke up at 4:30am and just couldn't get back to sleep. The mind was racing about things to do for next year and even some things to do for this year. It's almost like I dream about ways to do something with the display and my conscious mind thinks it's a good idea so it wakes me. I know it sounds crazy but this is the 2nd year in a row that I'm waking up at un-Godly hours with Christmas lights on the brain.

Anybody else suffer from this?

And to you long-time LOR users who have suffered from this... does it get any better? Or does it just get worse?

I mean... will I eventually just *STOP* sleeping altogether and *ONLY* do Christmas light things?

-Jeff

[shfr26]

Good morning,

I too woke up about 0430 and thought about my display. Had a wind storm last night, blew most of the display around. I did talk to a few people yesterday and they said "I really like your lights", the bad news is, when I asked about the music, they had no idea what I was talking about. I also saw a car leave last night get to in front of the house ,see the sign and come back. SOO today it is off to the sign shop for more signs. Guess this could be by why I have hardly any cars stopping!!

[Frank A.]

Good morning

October and November are bad for me

after Thanksgiving launch I specifically

do nothing with the display for two days

just to let the brain cool down

hard to turn it off but I do accomplish it

nice to get two days sleep

I even force myself to read a book

Totally distracts my thoughts away from the display

Frank A.

[bhays]

I have the same problem. However, you guys are more disciplined than me about getting to bed. I end up staying up until 2 or 3 looking at videos and thinking about next year...

[beeiilll]

Yea, I too am awake most of the night either working on new sequences or else down in the basement tinkering with stuff for the display.

Sometimes I go to bed around 10 PM only to wake up at midnight and be wide awake and ready to jump back into it.

One thing to think about is that this time of year is also when a lot of people suffer from SAD which is basically seasonal depression due to the change in climate, shorter daylight hours, cold and snow. The decreased amount of natural sunlight is a leading cause for the disorder so they claim.

But it is a real problem that can cost a lot for your health in the long run.

I have natural sunlight spectrum bulbs that I run in my shop and in a couple of rooms in my house and they do make a difference for me. Helps relax me and I can sleep better after a couple of hours using them.

[Ed Slonka Jr]

OK, I too do pretty much the same thing but even take it to the point that just about every Christmas song I hear I start running it through my head and thinking what lights I would have on and how to make them react and listening for the beat and high points.

So do we have a name for this disease?

[redsea300]

I get up early alot through the year. I will hear a song I like and start working on it. It is Dec 19 2009 and I am already programming for next year.If you noticed it is 6:30 and i am in California. I actually slept in. I am usually on at 4:30

[George Simmons]

At least it feels good to know I'm not alone. Except I do it on the other end - it's getting to bed that I have a tough time doing. Once I'm asleep I sleep like a brick but before that happens I usually have to do a few hours of sequencing.