For the past few days I keep stumbling upon the same article/Facebook post about sleeping patterns/hours.

Its true that we (or at least most of us) need 8 hours of sleep (slightly more for female) but we can achieve that 8 hours of sleep in just 3 hours! Because at certain time of the night, 1 hour of sleep is equivalent to 3 hours. Let’s call this, the magic hour. I mean, extra1 hour!? Count me in!

Simple e-maths: 3 x 3 = 9

At certain times 1 hour of sleep is equivalent to, well, 1 hour and at certain times 3 hours of sleep is equivalent to j.u.s.t 1 hour of sleep which is why we wake up feeling lethargic even after 3 hours of ‘nap’.

The ‘3 x 3 = 9’ magic hour is from 9pm – 12am.

Now, the Prophet (pbuh) practice is to sleep after Isya, and wake up later at night/morning for tahajjud. My unintelligent guess tells me that he doesn’t have an alarm clock. So, after the magical hour, he would wake up fresh.

These days, Isya here is somewhere between 5:55pm – 6pm. Maghrib’s before 4pm, by the way.

I usually get sleepy between 5:30pm – 6:30pm. [That’s what lack of sun(light) do to you.] So either I settle my Maghrib and nap before Isya, which is around 5pm. Or I immediately sleep after Isya, by 6:15pm.

Remind me to edit the children books bedtime hours. 8pm is too late for them!

Since this article has been IN MY FAYCE for few consecutive days, I figured, Hey! This must be a message for me to follow this. Afterall, with only one week of school left and 2 essay to submit on top of other workload, it sounds like a good time to have a structured bedtime where I can make my (long) night more productive. Work + tahajjud + up for Fajr and see the sunrise, BRING IT ON!

That evening, as usual, by 6:30pm I was groggy and pretty much brain drugged by the words on Microsoft Word. Instead of taking my nap, I decided to hang on and not succumb to sleepiness. Live the sunnah I say!

Chat with Shafa, more like whine at her. Hehe, sorry Jah! Watched research videos, sketch here and there, finish part of essay’s draft and time check: 9:38pm.

It’s time! *cracks knuckles* Lifts duvet. Time to get my promotional sleep, 9 hours for the price of 3 hours. Hehehe.

Set alarm at midnight, y’know, just in case.

The plan in head:

Wake up latest by 2am.

Work till Fajr.

Watch TV series.

Tesco delivery guy will come.

Finally can cook!

Roll around.

Nap after Zohor/Dhuhr.

SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD PLAN RIGHT!

Right!

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WRONG!

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Next thing I knew, I woke up with daylight through the curtain. Fumbled for any one of my phones only to see that 1 died and another was under the pillow in silent mode!

It’s like having 2 mute friends.

Oh, what time did I wake up you wonder?

10.40am.

Instead of 9 hours for the price of 3, I got 13 full hours of sleep 😱😱😱😱😱. Who drugged me!?

The phone in silent mode had 4 missed call and 1 message. The kind soul that was looking for me is the Tesco delivery guy.

GAH! The frustration.

All this plan…

Wake up latest by 2am.

Work till Fajr.

Watch TV series.

Tesco delivery guy will come.

Finally can cook!

Roll around. 

Nap after Zohor/Dhuhr.

Burned to the ground. *wipes tears*

For the next few hours, I thought to myself, what could have possibly gone wrong?

Then it clicked to my brain.

If Isya timing is like Singapore, 8:15pm onwards, it makes perfect sense to sleep 9pm-12am.

My Isya is 5:55pm, so technically, 7pm is the 9pm!

So I was right! My nap timing is right!

The next time I see that e-article, I’ll make sure to hide the notification. BAH!