....I drink a cup of water as part of my evening ablutions. My cousin, a well-regarded southwest suburban cardiologist, told me once that there's a thought out there that dehydration can lead to stroke (assuming other contributing factors), and I've had a few friends and family die in their sleep of stroke or infarction. I wake up between 2 and 3 about 4 nights out of seven due to the need to micturate and also, I'm sure, due to being aetatis 69 and not as efficient in the sleep department as I once was. It doesn't bother me. I get 7 or so hours, up around 6 or 6:30, and feel fine...until 10:30 or 11 when I start nodding off.

Now I'm thinking that a latter day Studs Terkel could put together a book of interviews asking people of all ages and stations in life about their sleep habits.