Tired of Being Tired?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ZzzQuil. All opinions are 100% mine.

Tired of being tired.

Strange thing to say, isn’t it? But it’s true, at least for me. I have a really hard time turning my brain off sometimes. I feel like if I’m laying there in bed, not asleep, I could be up doing something, like more work, or cleaning, or anything else that might make better use of my time.

Though all the while, wishing I were asleep.

The irony.

I keep pretty long hours. Go ahead and laugh, non-bloggers. I know you giggle when you talk about my job. Or, my “job” as I imagine you joke. I also imagine you think I sleep until noon, wear pajamas all day, answer a couple of emails between Dr. Phil commercials, eat a bunch of bonbons, and occasionally take a picture or two of cupcakes, then go to bed at 9.

Yeah…about that.

I get up at 7:30 every morning, get Seven off to school (and I get dressed, in actual clothes!), come home, clean the kitchen to start my assignments for the day, answer emails ALL day, conference calls, photography, writing, pitching, formatting, required social networking (yes, required), hire transportation for parties I throw, book airline tickets, more pitching, more baking, pick up Seven from school, play for a while, make dinner (or get ready to go out), kid to bed, then back to work. I am usually up until after midnight, still working. It’s a long, long day – and weekends are the same, thugh no school but likely more cooking. I’m not complaining – I love my job. I made my job. But I do get really tired.

And then I can’t sleep.

It used to be I would take something like a nighttime pain reliever to try to fall asleep. Now, this may sound weird to you, I don’t know…but I swear to you, whenever I take one, it makes my legs ache. Like, in my hips down to my foot. It will ache and ache, and then finally I fall asleep, before I die of the discomfort.

Let’s not even talk about trying to wake up the next morning.

Do you feel it in your jaws, like I do? A grogginess and dull lockjaw kind of feeling? Okay, maybe it’s just me. But even beyond that – I am so lethargic I’m not worth a thing for the biggest part of the day.

That’s no good. I just wanted a night of sleep, you know?

So, I was kind of excited to hear fromZzzQuil (you know, the NyQuil people?) that they wanted me to try their new sleep aid. No pain meds, nothing for a cold or allergies – just good old fashioned sleep.

I ordered the liquid tablets from Amazon, as they instructed I do with the gift card they sent me, but if you want some, you can get them pretty much anywhere, like Walmart or your grocery store. I was happy to see the pills weren’t too big – I can’t swallow a giant horsepill because I’m a big baby), and because they were the gels, they went down pretty easy. The toughest part pas getting them out of the packs!

Because I’ve taken my fair share of different sleep aids (all pain reliever based) I will be honest – I had my doubts about this new wonder pill. I really, really wanted it to work, but, I kept my expectations on the low side. About 20 minutes after taking the pills, I could feel myself getting sleepy. Kind of mellow, just – wow – it got tired in here all of the sudden. So I took myself up to bed, pulled the covers back, and bam – that’s all I remember. I was OUT.

But you know what? 7:15 the next morning, I woke right up. Really. No weird pain in my jaws, just – awake. I’m not a morning person, and the pills didn’t cure THAT, but I was awake with no side effects. Awake.

Awake and ready to watch Dr. Phil and eat some bonbons, like every other day.

Want some more info on ZzzQuil? I know you do. We’re tired.

• ZzzQuil is brought to you by the makers of Vicks NyQuil, for when your only symptom is occasional sleeplessness. It’s not for colds, it’s not for pain, it’s just for sleep.

• ZzzQuil’s active ingredient, diphenhydramine HCI, helps reduce the time it takes for you to fall asleep when you have difficulty falling asleep, so you can sleep soundly and wake up refreshed. • ZzzQuil is the only over-the-counter sleep-aid medication available in both Liquid (Warming Berry flavor) and LiquiCap® forms.

• ZzzQuil is a sleep-aid product that delivers the effective relief that consumers have come to expect from Vicks products.

• ZzzQuil is intended for adults and children 12 years of age and older. It is non-habit forming as well as safe and effective when used according to package directions. More information about ZzzQuil is available at www.zzzquil.com.

Try it out, then become a ZzzQuil Fan on Facebook and Twitter – and share your own experiences with them! Just use the hashtag #ZzzQuilNight to join in on the conversation!

Now – get some Zzzzzzs.