Friday, April 11, 2014

A Month of Mornings

I may have mentioned this once or twice before, but I'm not exactly a morning person.

OK, that might be a tad bit of an understatement. To be honest, getting my little self in and out of bed at a reasonable hour has been something I've struggled with my entire life.


I have tried to reform about a million times, but generally it lasts about a week at most before I fall off the wagon, and very quickly I'm back to staying up past 4am and sleeping well past noon.


While I have pretty much accepted that being a night owl is just part of my essential nature, I also really, REALLY miss the daylight. Especially now that the weather is getting nicer I find myself longing for more hours when I can be outside.


So I decided to give it another shot and this time I decided to approach it differently.

In the past I'd always tried to reform by attempting to slowly move my bedtime and waking times a little bit earlier every day. This always seemed like the best approach to me, but the truth is it just never worked.


Then I remembered something I'd heard once about how circadian rhythms work. I heard that melatonin levels actually peak twice throughout the day, once at bedtime, and once again about an hour or two before you awaken. The theory was that the body needed a little extra dose of drowsiness to keep itself asleep as it becomes more rested throughout the night. 

Now, I cannot remember where I heard this, and I have no idea whether this is actually true or not. I'm starting to suspect that it might not be, because when I went to find something to link to for this post I couldn't find anything that even remotely supported this theory. 

But, the veracity of this melatonin theory notwithstanding, I decided that this time I was gonna try the cold turkey approach rather than the gradual one that had failed so many times before.


I figured if I could get up before the extra surge of drowsiness came on, I might be able to physically withstand it.

To give it an extra push in the same direction, I decided to time my experiment with the time shift to daylight saving time so that the net effect would be going to bed and getting up approximately 4 hours earlier than I had been.

Now, if you've ever tried to go to bed 4 hours early, you probably know that it ain't as easy as it might sound. Seriously... how can you go to sleep when you're just not tired? 

Well, I decided this time to give myself a little boost in the drowsiness department and started taking both a low dose melatonin supplement as well as a bit of magnesium (which promotes relaxation) at bedtime.


I also had heard that a vital component of resetting the circadian rhythms is to expose yourself to a lot of light in the mornings. So my plan was to set the alarm, get up and have some coffee and get as much light as possible.


Now, I've gotta say that the first few days were pretty horrible. I'd wake up OK and manage to get out of bed alright, but then an hour or two later the intense sleepiness would hit and I'd feel my typical morning nausea, shakiness and general purpose yuck.


But... I stuck with it, and after about a week or so it actually started to get a bit better. And after a month of this I'm starting to think I might be able to live with it.

It's still not what I would call easy. It takes enormous discipline to make myself go to bed instead of launching into a movie or project after midnight.


But once I get the melatonin and magnesium into my system I do start to feel sleepy so I'm able to fall asleep by around 1:30 most nights.

And while I'm sure the morning people out there are incredulous that I would consider getting up at around 10:30am to be early, I do have to point out that there is an AM after that 10:30, so it is technically morning, which is a significant improvement over my previous habits!

I've gotta say that it's really, REALLY nice to feel like I'm getting out of vampire mode.


I'm soooo hopeful that I'll be able to maintain it this time.

So are there any other hopeless night owls out there who have ever tried to reform? I'd love to hear what has or hasn't worked for you!


47 comments :

  1. Maybe while you're going through your transition, you could make a commitment that would get you out of the house in the morning. It would force you to get up and give you stimulation to stay up. Who knows what my schedule would be if I didn't have to get to a job.

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    1. C...c...co...commitment? In the m...m...mo...morning? OK, I'll be honest and say that just the idea terrifies me. I've been trying to shift some of my daily chores to the morning - like taking out the garbage, turning the compost, cleaning the litter boxes etc, but the idea of being required to actually be somewhere before noon scares the pants off of me! Maybe it's something to work toward...

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  2. I have the same problem. I am interested in your use of melatonin and magnesium I am considering restricting my screen hours after dark because there is a lot of research which says that the light from computers etc are interfering with our rhythms. Thanks for the post - really interesting xx

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    1. I think it totally does help to avoid light sources at night. CatMan and I talk on the phone every night, usually until about midnight. So my strategy has been to turn off the computer before he and I talk, and to not allow myself to touch either the computer or TV after we get off the phone. Sometimes it backfires though because he wants to send me a link to a cute video or something. But by in large, I think it helps to keep the lighting low at night.

      And in terms of melatonin & magnesium. I'm taking 3 mg of melatonin and 400 mg of magnesium. I'd suggest starting small with the melatonin (like maybe a smaller dose than I'm using) and trying it out on a weekend to begin with because some people have really strong reactions to it - like it makes them practically catatonic and loopy. I don't seem to have that reaction at all... it just makes me a little bit drowsy and helps me turn my brain off.

      Good luck with it, I hope you can find something that works for you!

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  3. Ha Ha, just seen the time of the post - it is 1.45PM in the Uk - I have just got up!!! Would hate to deceive you that I was actually up at 6.48AM! AS IF!

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    1. Ha! I totally didn't even look at the time... You know, I was wondering why all of the US responses seemed to be from morning people... Well, duh, the night owls are all still asleep! :-)

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  4. One of my favorite things about this time of year is the increased sunlight! Makes me so happy :) I really hope this continues to work out for you so you can enjoy the daylight hours!

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    1. I have to say that so far it's been wonderful. I'm enjoying sitting on the deck having my "morning" tea. Makes me feel much more human! :-)

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  5. I don't have that problem. Do I do have the problem of feeling like I haven't had enough fun yet at bedtime, which also makes me want to stay up and do fun things. All I can do is remind myself how much better I'll feel, and more I'll be able to accomplish, the next day if I get enough sleep.

    (I love getting up early, staying up late and getting enough sleep. However, naps don't work for me, so I only get 2 out of 3.)

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    1. Oh, you seem to have the key ingredient which I totally lack - self control! I guess it would help if I didn't hate getting out of bed too. And naps have just never worked for me. It just makes me feel wide awake at bed time!

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    2. Reminding myself of how much better I'll feel doesn't always work, of course. Like I'm just now noticing it's almost 11 pm. I may or may not get off the internets soon. I'll just check a few more things first. :-)

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    3. Maybe Windows has a feature to automatically shut down at a pre-programmed time every night? I'm gonna go investigate that one - it could be a real life saver!

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    4. A-Ha! It can be done! I think I'm gonna do this NOW while I'm thinking about it!

      http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/how-to-schedule-computer-to-shut-down-at-a-certain/800ed207-f630-480d-8c92-dff2313c193b

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    5. Bravery! I would never want that!

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    6. Well, you needn't worry because it didn't work! Harumph!

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  6. I am not a night owl, so I can't sympathize with you on this--but I'm not one of those perky morning people, either. I find that natural light helps me feel more alert and ... now that the ice is finally off the roads ... bike riding in the morning really makes me both more alert AND more cheerful. Since you love your bike, maybe you could schedule an easy little ride in the morning--I'd start out with 10 or 15 minutes--and see if it helps. It won't work so well in January but maybe by then you will have transitioned. BTW, according to the latest sleep science, this lines right up--light and exercise are alerting to your body system.

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    1. Well... I dunno. I have trouble with exercise first thing in the morning because I just feel so terrible. Seriously, it doesn't matter what time I get up, I pretty much feel like puking for the first hour or two that I'm awake. Maybe morning people don't experience that? I did walk over to the store today - but I couldn't manage it until about noon. Well... something to work toward perhaps.

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  7. I'm not a night owl (normal awake hours 6:30am-10:30pm, more or less), but I often have trouble falling asleep at night, even when I'm tired and ready to be in bed. Avoiding screen time for at least an hour before "bedtime" (I try to make 9:00pm my cut-off) really does make a difference.

    As does [trying to] avoid stressful and/or upsetting topics later in the evening. The absolute worst combo for me is if I'm cruising blogs after 9pm and find something that I feel strongly about and want to comment on. Screen time + emotionally aroused state = bad news for falling asleep.

    Sounds like you've made a lot of progress toward your goal of having more daylight hours :)

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    1. Holy Moly... I can't even imagine keeping your schedule. Of course, all the years of working at the music school probably didn't help. I remember hurrying to get home in time to watch the news... meaning the 10pm news!

      But you're totally right about screen time and stressful topics at night. Trying really... REALLY hard to turn the computer off and not get sucked into anything after midnight!

      Your comment totally reminded me of this graphic. It's soooo true!
      http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png

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    2. I keep the same hours as Melissa (although currently in the holidays I'm not getting up at 6.30 but reading or drinking tea!) and have exactly the same issues with screen time and getting to sleep. Love the graphic!

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    3. Very interesting! I'm considering installing this software called f.lux (mentioned in a comment below) that adjusts your screen colors so they don't have that effect on the body. Hmmm... lots to think about!

      I'm starting to wonder about the impact of the LED and compact fluorescent light bulbs. I mean, I think one of their "selling points" is that the light spectrum more closely mimics daylight than the old incandescent ones do. Hmmm... maybe I'd do better with a candle! :-)

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  8. As a certifiable morning person, I really have to drag myself through the evenings from 7-10 pm. I don't go to bed early, but I don't function very well at that time. I wish I had ways of being more alert in the evening (other than computer time).

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    1. Ha! I'd gladly trade some of my night time alertness for a bit of your ability to be awake in the mornings! I'm usually just getting started at around 7pm! Wait.... you're a music person... how do you manage concerts that go until 2am?

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  9. I can totally relate....I'm definitely a night person and I have such a hard time with getting up in the AM. I figure it I manage to wake up before noon I'm having a good day. You're definitely not alone. I look forward to hearing more updates on how this new change works for you. I don't think I have the self discipline yet to even think about trying this.

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    1. Well, it is getting easier, and I have to say that I do look forward to sitting in the sunshine drinking my tea in the "morning" ("morning" being a relative term!)

      The other thing that's helping is to allow myself to have some relaxation and fun earlier in the evenings. I think that because I worked a late schedule for so many years, I'm sorta programmed to think of the evening hours a prime working time when I should be "accomplishing" things. Letting myself have some "me" time before midnight helps me feel like I'm ready to go to bed instead of feeling angry that I have to choose between sleep and fun.

      Anyhow, I'll keep you posted! :-)

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  10. Honestly, I'm impressed. I'm going to bed around 3 am (often later) these days, and believe it or not, at heart I actually am a chipper morning person. :S I like the night too though. The thing is, I've had some sleep issues and worry that if I go to bed "too early" I won't be able to sleep. Of course, my worrying is the real problem, and I know that being too accomodating with my ruminating is counter productive. But I figure that as I sort out other health issues (which I'm working on), my sleep patterns will be easier to deal with aswell. So for now, I'm being gentle with myself. The cold turkey might be appropriate in the future though.

    One thing that I am considering trying is just not looking at the time after 11pm or something. Then I could just go to bed when I honestly feel tired (and not obsess about the time), which would probably be earlier than 3 am.

    Sov godt! ;)

    Maria

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    1. Oh, I can totally relate to your situation. For many years I had horrible problems falling asleep and I would stay up until I was completely exhausted so I could be sure that I wouldn't just lie there having insomnia. Of course, worrying that I might not be able to sleep just made the whole situation worse - it was a vicious circle! I like your idea of not looking at the clock and trying to just listen to your body.

      But honestly, I think that if keeping a late schedule isn't causing any problems for you, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. CatMan keeps a much later schedule than I do and he's perfectly happy with it. You have enough on your plate with your other health problems, there's no point in trying to add any more stress to the situation!

      I don't know if this will help you or not, but when I've had trouble sleeping I try to remember a recent dream. Somehow focusing on remembering the dream and then trying to "get back inside of it" really helps me to shut off my brain and fall asleep. I've never heard of anybody else doing that, but it seems to work for me! :-)

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    2. Thanks for your reply. :) I was thinking, maybe you could use some sort of treat to motive you to get up earlier? Say a favourite tea or snack you can have, a fun show you can watch or something like that. But you only allow yourself to have and enjoy it if you start it before 10.45 or whatever time you want to get up. That's double motivation - you only get it if you get up early, and getting up early means you can enjoy it right away.

      Maria

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    3. I think that's an excellent idea Maria, especially since I totally blew it this morning and ended up snoozing until noon! Oy! I just have to find something that would be more attractive than lounging in bed... which, honestly is a challenge! But television might do the trick... like allow myself to watch an episode of whatever I'm currently addicted to, but ONLY in the morning. Hmmm....

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  11. I am beginning to think we are wired a certain way and while we may adapt our sleeping patterns to accommodate our lives. I am not sure that our natural rhythm changes. I get up at 5:15 AM every morning to meet an exercise partner. I have done this for nearly 16 years. But on Sundays I sleep in until around 7:30 AM I feel so much better rested. I still always go to bed around 11:00 PM so I continue to be tired when that times rolls around.

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    1. I think you may be right about the internal wiring. Even as a tiny child I had to be dragged out of bed in the morning, and by the time I was in grade school my mom had completely given up on bedtime because I just always wanted to be up late.

      While I'm sure I'll always be a night owl, I'm hoping that I can at least get to the point where I feel like I'm living on the same continent as the people around me time-zone-wise. :-)

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  12. I like having a cocktail of calcium, magnesium and zinc before bed. And I installed f.lux on my computer ( it's free)- it mimics the days circadian rhythm so you're not assaulted by bright bright light on the computer whilst your body and brain thinks it should be dark. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :)

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    1. OK... I've never heard of f.lux before. Now that's very interesting. I may have to check it out! Thanks for the tip!

      And just curious... what's the point of the calcium and zinc? I take both with my regular vitamins in the morning, just wondered if there's some reason to take them at night instead...

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    2. Hi Cat,
      I also take calcium in the night. It seems it is much better absorbed along with the magnesium in the night. I read it somewhere just 3days back..I forget where. Also calcium shouldn't be mixed with either iron or a multivitamin coz it doesn't get absorbed in the body..and if you taking high doses of calcium they should be divided to be better absorbed by the body..I hope this helps.
      Radha

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    3. Oh... so it's more to help the absorption of the Calcium? I take a calcium/magnesium supplement in the mornings, but since extra magnesium is recommended for migraine sufferers, I take an extra magnesium capsule too. Hmmm... I'll have to go look at everything I'm taking and decide if I should switch around my timing.

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  13. You were describing me during the winter months! During the summer months I wake normally around ten in the morning and function just perfectly at that hour. I simply need more sleep in the winter and have often said I should be allowed to hibernate until spring. Plus getting out of a warm bed to the cold is a real deterrent to wanting to wake earlier.

    It doesn't matter what time I go to bed midnight or 5 am I still wake at the same time each morning.

    Last week I fell asleep at 1:30 and woke for some ungodly reason at 5 am and couldn't go back to sleep. What surprised me was how long I had to keep a lamp on before the sun finally rose enough to let me turn it off. Why head to bed earlier to save on electricity when I need to use it in the morning.

    While anything requiring a brain was still fast asleep until almost noon I began to think of why I was trying to reset my sleep hours and it was to save on electricity. I've since rationalized that you and I as night owls do our part to save electricity! Here's what I figured, there is some common sense in here some where. :-)

    By waking between 5 and 9 am I will use peak demand electricity. Businesses are heating or cooling buildings to prepare for the workers to arrive, people are showering, drying hair, putting on coffee etc to get ready for work or school. So these are the hours the utility companies must produce more energy to fill these needs. But by staying up later and turning on my one lamp (yes I enjoy the feeling of being cocooned by the darkness) I am using energy which is being produced at a much lower amount therefore am not causing as much pollution from midnight to even 5 am if I am still awake then.

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    1. Ha! OK... you totally crack me up, but you make a good point about peak electricity usage. I have no desire to EVER keep a schedule that involves rising before the sun does. That form of modern torture seems just completely ridiculous to me. And to be perfectly honest, saving on electricity has very little to do with my desire to reset my clock. I just want to see the sun more often, and to not have it be a major crisis whenever I actually need to be somewhere before noon.

      I've also read some recent studies that link mixed up circadian rhythms with certain kinds of cancer, so I guess the paranoid section of my brain wants to be able to scratch that off of my list of things to worry about!

      I think it's wonderful that you wake up at the same time every day... I'm starting to feel like I might get there someday if I work at it. My problem is that if I stay up late, I tend to sleep late, and when you can't drag yourself out of bed until past 2 in the afternoon, it really does start to make you feel like you're living in some sort of alternate reality of the vampire variety!

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    2. I told you I rationalized the whole reason I should continue to be a night owl. :-) Yes, I do wake the same time most days. It's noon in the winter but 10 am in the summer. Family and friends used to be able to set a clock by what time I woke I was that consistent. :-)

      Now to get people to stop calling in the morning and I'd be one happy camper.

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    3. CatMan has the phone call thing figured out, he just takes it off the hook - he's a land line man with an old fashioned corded phone. I suppose I could turn the ringer off or something, but I always worry that there might be a genuine emergency and people couldn't get through.

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  14. I've found that work is really the only thing guaranteed to get me up out of bed on time in the mornings (and to bed on time...mostly). Not to tell you to get a traditional job just to be awake in the mornings, but there is something powerful about the start of the J-O-B that motivates.

    My other trick is getting my dogs on a feeding schedule. They jump on the bed and lick my face at the first alarm and the first sign of movement from me.

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    1. Ha! Well, if my cats had their way I'd never sleep at all! I've actually had to start banning them from the bedroom because the boys like to wrastle in the middle of the night, and Smoky also gets excited by things outside and starts climbing the curtains. But I suppose he is helping keep me on track because he's taken to jiggling the doorknob at about 10am.

      Actually, the first time Smoky did his doorknob trick was in the middle of the night and in my incoherent state I became convinced that it was a burglar. Nevermind the fact that the door doesn't lock so if it had been a human they would have just opened it instead of jiggling the handle.

      Anyhow, I somehow decided that I needed to "arm" myself so I got up and grabbed, of all things, my jewelry box. Of course, I do have a phone in the bedroom, so had it been an actual "bad guy" the thing to do would have been to call 9-1-1. Alas, I apparently don't think too clearly when I've been awakened in the middle of the night.

      So, I grab the jewelry box, hold it over my head and open the door ready to clobber whomever is out there. Only to find my adorable little Smoky rolling on his back and purring. All I have to say is that its a DAMN good thing I don't own a gun!

      OK... that had nothing to do with anything, but I'm glad I at least amuse myself!

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  15. First, I have to tell you that the "cold turkey" photo made me fall off my kitchen stool laughing. Aside from that momentary distraction, congratulations to you for working on this challenge and trying to reset your clock! It sounds like you've approached it with some smart strategies, and I hope you enjoy a lot of payoffs and nice spring mornings as a result.

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    1. Glad you liked the Cold Turkey... it made me laugh too. I almost used one about "western swing dancing" because it's a "two-step" program, yuk yuk. But it didn't really fit.

      Anyhow, time will tell on my new schedule, but so far so good!

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  16. Mornings hurt no matter what I do. No matter how much sleep I get, etc. It took me 3 hrs to get out of the house today (thank god my boss is on vacation!). Of course, long ago a naturopath told me this was because I had subclinical low thyroid and we have tons of thyroid disease in my family, so...yeah. Should probably look into that, eh? Have you checked your thyroid at all?

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    1. I had it checked a few years ago and it came out at the very low end of normal. My doctor didn't want to put me on medication, but I've been trying a few things. I gave up soy because it's supposed to slow thyroid function, and I've been taking a kelp (iodine) supplement when I remember. The kelp really does seem to help, so I need to step up my efforts to remember to take it.

      There are some herbal thyroid remedies out there, but since I'm allergic to so many herbs, I haven't seriously looked into any of them. What does your naturopath recommend?

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    2. I'll have to look it up, but one of the things she had me on had some animal thyroid in it. I didn't take it for long enough to see if it helped. She also stressed treating the adrenals. Less coffee (I used to drink 6 cups, down to 2-3), sleep, blah blah. I'll find the recommendations again and let you know. I am going to try kelp! I got some liquid iodine but DAYUM, that shit was nasty. Couldn't stand to keep taking it. What kind of kelp do you use?

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    3. I just take pills that I got online at Puritan's Pride, but before that I had some that I got at the grocery store. I also bought a big batch of nori and have been trying to make California rolls pretty regularly. That method has the added advantage that it's YUM!

      That's very interesting about coffee and adrenals. I'm not a big coffee drinker - only have it now and then... but I may have to read about other things that stress the adrenals.

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Thanks, and have a fabulous day!