The Sleepless Generation

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, I WAKE UP FEELING warm. I open the window, pull my hair back into a ponytail and drink some water. Then I glance at my phone, delete a few things and see some spam. I hit unsubscribe and go back to bed. Then I lie there thinking, What if by opening that spam email I got myself hacked? What if I just sent everyone in my contact list a Burger King ad at 2 in the morning?

Now wide awake, I move on to other concerns: my parents’ health, my stepson’s college tuition, pending deadlines. Hours roll by. I tackle real-life math problems: how many weeks I have before getting my next freelance check, how many years until my husband and I pay off our mortgage, how much will be in my retirement account in 2040, how many hours of sleep I will get on this night. Four … 3½ … Then it’s 6 a.m., time to make breakfast and send my 13-year-old son off to school.

Members of Generation X like me—those born from 1965 to 1980—report sleeping