Three am and all's swell.

Sleep deprivation is a temporary torment you get through when you have babies and another thing entirely when you hit menopause. I need seven hours solid sleep. Just one off night gives me the achy, sloggy, can't-think blues.

Nonetheless, I awaken drenched in a hot flash most nights at 3 am. For the next hour or two, I am wide awake.

So . . . what are you doing at three am? I've consulted friends and family to share frustrations and empathize over each other's chronic sleepiness. Our nocturnal activities are surreal and splendid.

• Get up, iron clothes, and go to sleep on the sofa.
  
• Read something really, really boring. Like a book club pick or a business magazine.
• Wander around the house checking doors and lights.
• Just go ahead and stay up. After you've tossed and turned for a couple of hours, it's time to get up anyway.
• Take Tylenol PM. Not every night, though you really need it, but once or twice a week just to catch up on sleep.
  
• Check email and shop on eBay.
• Blog. (Okay, that's me.)
  
• Organize the linen closet.
• Dust. You'd like to vacuum, but the family might object.
  
• Take the dog for a walk. (I saw one neighbor do this as I stared in frustration out the window. Bless her. It's good to have company.)
• Watch one of the cable news channels. Trust repetition of news stories to induce sleep (breaking news! celebrity couple breaking up! government official caught lying! storm topples trees!).
• Googled "insomnia" and found http://www.well.com/~mick/insomnia/. The entry titled Green Cows - And Other Animals Of Color is just plain weird.
  
• Make to-do lists (a great idea since you'll be too fuzzy to think straight the next day).
• Pray.

What works for you?