Hibernation rules!

It is now cold with snow falling every now and then. Days are frigid and short, turning dark at 4:30pm. One sleepy glimpse of the grey gloomy sky every morning or rather, most noons, results in me snuggling happily under my warm covers, refusing stubbornly to get out of the bed. The dreadfully wet and cold weather makes me want to sleep on and on without needing to wake up. I am secretly grateful that I am a bummer who does not have to get up early in the morning to go to work. I am in a hibernate state all day long with absolutely no desire to step out of the aparment. My most strenuous activity these days is cooking in the kitchen. Otherwise you would find me sitting on the couch with blanket wrapped cosily around me, watching TV, surfing the net or typing away like now.

Also, with the cold, I snack incessantly in-between meals. I am always HUNGRY!!! Damn it! Goodbye healthy eating, hello snack junkie!

If only I could hibernate through the coming even-colder winter! During which, I would wake up every few days to grab a bite or go pee. By the time my hibernation ended in spring, I would be very thin and starving which suited me just fine. Who needs dieting and working out anymore when you have hibernation!

Technically, human hibernation is not impossible. A toddler of 13 months wandered outside her family home in Canada. The outside temperature was -24 °C. When she was found, her heart had stopped beating for two hours and her body temperature had fallen to 16°C. She was pronounced clinically dead. In October 2006, a Japanese man was believed to have been in a state akin to hibernation for three weeks. He had fallen asleep on a snowy mountain after an accident and claimed he had only woken up after being discovered 23 days later. Doctors who treated him believed his temperature had fallen to 22 °C during that period. Both made full recovery after the ordeals.

There are also many research projects currently investigating how to achieve induced hibernation in humans. I am optimistic that a breakthrough will come very soon in the near future. It'll then be: goodbye winter, hello my sleeping holiday!