I recently started a new job. I like it so far, but it's certainly gotten my mind working in ways that it hasn't in a long time. For the past week I can't seem to sleep past 4 a.m., and there were two night that I lay awake from 1 'til 3.

I'm tired, but my brain is too busy to sleep!

If you are hoping to adopt and in the midst of deciding what to do, or if you've just started researching adoption, or if you're in the middle of an adoption, OR if you've just brought a child home, you may be suffering from sleep problems, too.

According to womenshealth.gov, insomnia is twice as common among women as men, and according to getsomesleep.com, 58% of us have trouble getting to sleep or waking during the night at least a couple times a week and 35% of us experience this every night! During times of stress or excitement it happens more - just like it's happening to me and just like it may be happening to you surrounding adoption issues.

This is probably obvious, but not getting enough sleep can cause problems during the day as well as at night (from womenshealth.gov):

Insomnia can cause problems during the day, such as excessive sleepiness, fatigue, trouble thinking clearly or staying focused, or feeling depressed or irritable. It is not defined by the number of hours you sleep every night. Although the amount of sleep a person needs varies, most people need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep a night.

Yesterday, for example, by the end of the day I could barely pay attention when people were talking to me. I had to write down everything that was said to me or else I knew I wouldn't be able to recall it. I blame this squarely on lack of sleep. Hopefully my co-workers just think I'm thorough (as opposed to simply dumb). But I'd like to operate with a full set of brain cells. Lack of sleep is becoming a problem.

Pre full-time job I was getting at least 8 hours a night, sometimes more depending on how fast I fell asleep (that's always been a problem for me). These days I'm getting at most 7 hours/night, with most nights averaging 5. It is really starting to bother me...

Continued in part 2.