Sleep Patterns

Our sleep in prison camp is going to be very different than at home. At home I sleep in a queen size bed all to myself. I toss and turn a lot - mostly due to my autoimmune condition causing pain and stiffness in my joints. In prison, I will be placed on a twin mattress as part of a bunk bed. They will do checks every two hours or so to make sure everyone is in their bed and accounted for by moving flashlights into our bunks. Even with earplugs ($0.15 in the commissary) we will hear the snoring, the toilet flushing, the bunk bed squeaking, the laughing, the book page flipping, the light cracking, the guard talking, the whispering, etc. Then, at 5:30am we will be woken up for our first standing count of the day.

The biggest thing I am going to do to prepare for the reality of sleeping at prison camp is getting my body used to a 5:30 wake up. Since I do not know what camp I will be sent to, I figure I should prepare for a 5:30 am eastern time wake up and if I happen to be placed in a later time zone, it will be easier. Starting August 1st, I will start waking up an hour earlier, then an hour earlier a week later, etc. until I am waking at 5:30am every morning. I will just need to figure out two things, what to do with my early mornings and how to stay awake all day.