When should one listen to the wife? It’s complicated.
The night before I was to give the TEDx talk, I lay in the hotel room bed at 1am kicking myself. I had slept a total of three hours and was then wide awake. Before we went to bed, Allison had recommended my taking NyQuil to make sure I got a good night’s sleep. I decided I wouldn’t need it, but I was wrong. At 1am I lay in bed wanting to take NyQuil but Allison had said “whatever you do, don’t take NyQuil at 1am or later, because you’re going to need to sleep for 12 hours and you need to be awake for your talk.”
I tried all kinds of things to fall asleep but nothing worked. Not even my book Innocents Abroad, which had never failed me before. At 3:45m I was thinking I really needed to get some sleep, so I decided to take the NyQuil then. Then I was out, but for just 1.5 hrs, then wide awake again.
The morning was tough – I was not only super tired, but also pretty spacy. We went to TEDx and I couldn’t understand what people were telling me. Luckily eventually the NyQuil wore out, and then I was glad at least I got the extra 1.5 hrs of sleep.
So I wish I had listen to the wife in the first place and taken the NyQuil early in the night, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to her recommendation not to take it after 1am.
Conclusion: none. It’s complicated.
