When I was little, I never liked to go to sleep. When my parents would put me to bed every evening, I wouldn’t cry or anything, I would just climb back out of bed and continue playing. I just thought that there were more interesting things to do than to lie around, trying to fall asleep. Finally, four hours later, I would crash, falling asleep among my toys on the floor, and my parents would have to carry me back to my room.

My parents tried everything to get me to fall asleep on time. They would read me stories, sing to me, or even try to exhaust me right before bedtime. But nothing worked. As soon as they turned out the lights and left the room, I would climb out of bed and follow them back into the living room. The only thing they could do was to wait until I fell asleep on my own.

However, after a while, the lack of sleep was beginning to take it’s toll. Staying up all night with me really wore my parents out. They eventually decided to take turns. Each night, one parent would stay up to take care of me and my sister, while the other would get to go to sleep.

This was a good plan, but eventually my mother was fed up. She decided that she was going to get me to bed on time. This time, however, she had a secret weapon: Benadryl. This was her last hope; she was going to drug me.

Right before bedtime, I took the Benadryl, and my mother put me in bed and waited for the effects of the drug to set in. She was expecting me to fall easily to sleep, so that she could fall asleep herself. However, things didn’t quite work out as expected.

As it turns out, I am one of the small percent of people for whom Benadryl has the opposite effect. Instead of making me drowsy, it made me even more wide awake. It was as if someone had fed me sugar, coffee, and an overdose of five hour energy. I started running around the room, jumping up and down, and doing the same things over and over. Finally, my mom, exhausted, fell asleep on the couch.


Six hours later, my dad woke up. He came into the living room to find my mom fast asleep, and me, still happily running in circles around the coffee table.