The Curious Case of the Chaos in My Biological Clock
Although it still feels like March, we are staring at the end of August. After stating the obvious, I will explain why this feeling had to be acknowledged. Is it just me or is everyone else realising their biological clocks are seriously malfunctioning? What commenced as a long weekend has now revealed itself to be a tedious, torturous staycation. And this has led to some rather unusual behaviour displayed in my daily activities.
Time had always slowed down when I was drowsy- during classes and after lunch at work. But since the lockdown began, the opposite seems to happen. I feel drowsy after lunch, and then I sleep and voila, it's already 5pm! Strange!!
I am someone who can wake up at 6am, hit the treadmill and head to work by 9. I can also be found in bed at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon, with indentations on my skin, vouching for how well I have slept. My current internal clock seems to have mixed up the settings and I often find myself attending stand up calls in bed(what a misnomer), only barely conscious. And you'd similarly find interesting shots of the sunrise on my Instagram feed on a Sunday morning.
I set the alarm diligently for 7:30 but because of my new addiction I manage to kill the battery in the next 2 hours I spend scrolling through memes on Imgur. Memes by the way is my only reading material these days. As a result I have to rely on my beautiful, predatory pets that wake me up at 5:30am to pretend pour food in their already full bowls(cat habits, don't ask). But sadly this pandemic has started affecting animals as well.
The opposite has happened with this rooster that's my neighbour. He has started crowing at 1am. In what universe does one anticipate sunrise at 1am in Bangalore, I want to ask him. But then the bats in the adjacent tree join him, screeching as if to reclaim the night and all I want to do is stand in the balcony asking everyone to shut up already.
"Insomnia is a global pandemic whose Typhoid Mary was Thomas Edison, forcing fake sunlight into hours when ancient biology demands shut-eye.” this quote is mentioned in The Scientist review of Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep.
Covid clearly takes away the prize for being not just a pandemic in terms of well, causing death, but also messing about people's biological clocks.
Of course there are others like me, worse than me.
Every other night post 11pm I hear bikers on the road by my house. I see dogs startled awake, staring at the noisy apparition too horrified to bark and I wonder, what must go on in the minds of such people who decide to rev their engines and embark on this arduous journey? Are they playing vigilante, the friendly neighborhood biker-man? Are they lovesick souls out to steal a glance at their sweethearts standing by the balcony, basking in the moonlight? Is this some real life, gangster style speed racing? I will never know.
And just like that it's post my bedtime and another week has passed. Fridays are the only remnants of what can be called a schedule in my life. Fridays will always bring that relief, together with that pinch of sadness about a week ending yet again, insignificantly. Fridays will, pandemic or no pandemic, always pass by in a blur leaving behind a feel-good dizziness.
Fridays you see, don't have a biological clock.
Comments