- I slept on the couch the other night because my sleep was in the toilet (**shakes fist at universe**), and OF COURSE I took a couple melatonin 3mg tabs. And then I read THIS
- Minnie had no school Monday and Tuesday, so she worked from home with Ben on Monday and came to campus with me on Tuesday. It was fun and cute (see pics below), but also? THIS IS A REALLY BUSY TIME IN THE SEMESTER and I was unprepared to get so little done. It was on my calendar, but it was most definitely NOT on my radar, if that makes sense.
- We gave Dorothy and Cooper Green Light debit cards and connected them with chores on the GL app, and they are doing their chores (which is super helpful, actually) but then not marking them off on the app, so I have to go in and pay them manually and it's low key driving me batty.
- It's hockey and basketball season, making dropping Cooper off at the pool right next to the place where hockey and basketball games are played FUCKING TERRIBLE. Also all of my terrible drives now happen in the dark (**shakes fist at time change**).
CUTE, THO:
When you've brought your young kids to work/school, did you ever hire a sitter to stay with them during classes? Do your students ever complain about the pint sized visitor?
ReplyDeleteI did a sitter with only with one ( baby under 6 weeks, so nice student snuggled her in my office during my one class for about two weeks in a new semester).
Usually, they hung out quietly in the classroom coloring or stayed in my office playing games and reading books ( I shared an office then with the person who taught elementary math methods to teaching students, so there was a stash of cool stuff there) or the portable DVD player in the Era before streaming.
When I had Dorothy, Ben sat in a classroom next to mine and held her, and my parents came to my TA training week and babysat her on campus so I could nurse. I also paid sorority girls to take Harry to the student union once a week during a colloquium in grad school.
DeleteBUT DAD LOOKS LIKE A KID. Bwhahaha.
ReplyDeleteI rarely taken melatonin, but one of my kids does take it fairly regularly. Great. Is there no end to the things that can and will kill us???
OMG I KNOW RIGHT. Everything is bad.
DeleteYou know, I have a huge problem with those kinds of articles like the one you linked to (maybe because I'm a melatonin user and I refuse to think I have a 90% higher chance of heart failure in the next five years) (omg what if I dropped dead after typing this). I mean, look at this statement IN THE ARTICLE: "The research had significant limitations, was not designed to be able to prove cause and effect, and contradicts previous studies that indicated positives for heart health." It's wild to me that shit like this even gets published!!!
ReplyDeletelol your parentheses
Delete(did not drop dead)
ReplyDelete(yet)
ReplyDelete@nicole this made me laugh out loud!
DeleteOmg I loooooove the pics of Minnie at work with you!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am Extremely Interested in anything regarding melatonin, so I clicked immediately on that link. And then I had to take some deep breaths. The article acknowledges that the study a) had limitations and b) has not yet been peer reviewed. Also, digging into the details a little, the things that stood out to me were 1. They have no idea how many people are taking melatonin that is not reflected on their medical records. Is your melatonin reflected on your medical records? I don't think my kid's is reflected in hers. So the data is incomplete at best! (Also, I don't think this article said how many of the 100K people whose charts they reviewed took melatonin and how many were in the -- not actually a control group -- control group, which seems like a significant data point to leave out.) 2. As stated in the article, people with insomnia are more likely to have heart issues at baseline, and, logically, people with insomnia are probably more likely to take melatonin. So that seems like a pretty big red flag to me.
Obviously, this is something that I will keep an eye on, but THIS article does not offer convincing evidence that there's anything to be worried about at this point.
Yup, public health academic researcher here, lots of further research is needed on this.
DeleteAs soon as I read that it hadn't even gone to a conference yet, I felt better. BUT ALSO. I take melatonin to help my body chill the eff out and go to sleep and now I will only lie there NOT SLEEPING and thinking about heart failure.
Deletecorrelation vs causation - supppppper important ! (I have never taken melatonin only bc i am scared it would work but then i'd be up at 2 am!)
ReplyDeleteit really works for me, as long as I don't freak myself out by telling myself it's not going to work before it kicks in...
DeleteYeah, I mean, this is the whole thing. Not getting sleep also has terrible health consequences. You have to weigh the costs with every medication. Also, have they separated effects on men and women (I HIGHLY DOUBT IT)? *shrug* You do what you gotta do to get sleep is what I say.
ReplyDeletehighly doubt it, too
DeleteSleep Apnea is terrible for the heart. I bet a lot of melatonin users have sleep apnea and that’s the root of their sleep problem.
ReplyDeleteinteresting-- now I want to read the paper and find out more
DeleteBummer about your sleep. That is the pits. I am one who regularly has things on my calendar but not on my radar. Days off of school that are out of the blue totally throw me off. My kids also have a dad that looks crazy young and I should've known better because I knew him when I was in high school and for years I thought his dad was one of his brothers (my family often sat behind his family at mass). I did this to myself. ;)
ReplyDeletehahahahaha!
DeleteArgh, my friend Jody took one of those super Benadryl over-the-sleep pills every single night until her daughter told her there was a study showing this could increase her risk of dementia. So she switched to melatonin! But yeah, correlation causation, study needs fewer reviewing, etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely cute. I just drove to get bagels for Eve before I go visit her tomorrow in the cold and rain and rush hour and GROSS.
cold rainy rush hour driving is my LEAST FAVORITE. Hope you have a fun visit!
DeleteYeah, I would not be concerned about that article. I'm so glad I no longer need to drive kids around to activities. I think those years made me hate driving, and I try to avoid it now whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteTake that melatonin girl! If it helps you, it helps you. From the other comments, the study doesn't seem like it's as robust as it should be, so blergh.
ReplyDeleteLittle Minnie at college with you is so cute!
The debit card/chore app idea is really cool, if everyone does their part correctly! Haha.
ReplyDeleteHi, this is Daria.
ReplyDeleteMinnie’s comment about the picture is hilarious.
My kids are 5 and 7 and have a chore chart. .25 cents per chore: put away laundry, sweep the kitchen, pick up the living room, pick up the den, fold blankets, pick stuff off floor. Clean rooms is a big one. Oh, take out trash and recycling. They do then, but if we don’t remind them, they won’t.