I woke up three times last night. Not because I had to pee, or for any other reasonable reason. I just did. It’s one of aging’s less talked-about discomforts.

According to the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS), normal aging tends to bring lighter sleep, less deep sleep, and more nighttime awakenings – basically, sleep gets easier to “break” as the years pile up.

Less deep sleep = more wake-ups. And once I’m awake, the brain has an unhelpful talent for escalating awareness – and a hard time calming back down.

Anyway, at 5:37 a.m., I got up, did my morning stuff, and headed out to our local gym, Fitness24Seven, for another Monday-morning hour-long workout.

The moonlit scene above is what I saw on my way back home.