I’ve read in numerous places that not getting enough sleep can lead to overeating and obesity. Though I understood the thought behind that theory, I couldn’t pull up a tangible firsthand experience of fatigue-eating.

Until today.

And now that it happened, there behind me lay a memory trail of same-day experiences from years past.

I got to bed late last night, for starters. Two hours before my alarm went off, I woke twice because Franny’s splint had come clean off of his leg. The body and brain has an amazing way of waking itself up as best it can, but me trying to wrap and replace while ripping imaginary cobwebs from my brain was not optimum circumstances for mommy-nurse.

The alarm jolted me from my cozy slumber, but I got up to make sure the kids were up, dressed and fed, then I plopped on the couch, dozing on and off. My hope was to get them off to school, Franny situated, and take a light hour nap. But as I asked Franny for the umpteenth time, Do you need ANYTHING? Food? Bathroom? Anything? – he finally agreed that yes, he was ready for breakfast, bathroom and basically keeping me on my toes all day.

Forget the nap!! Ha.

So I made us eggs, waffles and blueberries and decided to get on with my day. I scrubbed the bathroom floor and toilet, threw a load of laundry in, changed his wrappings and fixed his splint, answered emails, did some work from home… all the while with a nagging urge to munch, munch. Two cups of coffee down the hatch I went into work for an hour while my mom watched Franny. Munched trail mix on the way.

Ate dinner tonight even though I had been grazing all day and really didn’t need the calories. And half-way through my second small helping of noodles, my mind flashed back to the articles I’d read about overeating and its relation to not getting enough sleep.

Bingo.

My appetite was insatiable, all day long, even with a happily fed tummy. I’ll have to remember that as I tuck myself in later than I should each night.