If you need me, I'll be asleep

I'm home sick today, although I've liberally allowed 'exhausted' to be an eligible criteria for a sick day. This is definitely a benefit of living in a country where you don't have to count or accrue sick days. I've had another one of those inexplicable waves of exhaustion that seem to be part of me living in London. The worst wave of this was back in March for nearly a week, but it otherwise hits about once every 3 weeks or so. I'm usually able to time it for a weekend, when I 'allow' my body, mind and soul to rest - resulting in marathon sleeps and little motivation for much else.

It's not a sign of depression, nor am I actually ill. I think it's just me not accepting that I'm not invincible and pushing myself too much to work hard, play hard AND relax (I've found that all three aren't really possible). So what happens instead is I experience them somewhat sequentially, resulting in a day like today.

After my Thursday and Friday with all work and no sleep/play (I didn't get home until 10pm and missed the dinner party), I enjoyed a 12-hour sleep on Friday night, and a relaxing weekend with no alcohol (see, I'm not that dumb). I let myself skip the gym on Saturday, and on Sunday just did weights and minimal cardio when I realised how tired I felt. I responsibly went to bed last night at 10pm with one of my library books, but didn't actually fall asleep until midnight, dreading the 6am alarm. Ritually pressing snooze until 7am, I then somehow turned the alarm off without really minding...It wasn't until 8:30am that I realised I would either be showing up to work late morning...or not at all. Still in bed around 9:30am, feeling drugged with sleep, I opted for not at all. I sent out the requisite emails to colleagues and client that I'd be taking a sick day, along with appropriate delegation to my team.

After a bowl of muesli and about 30 minutes of reading/listening to the brief rain shower outside, I was back asleep by 10:30 until....2pm. Incredible, really. Since then I've had toast, coffee and finished my book. It's 3:30pm on a Monday and I finally feel awake like a normal person, and I feel fine really. I don't feel like I'm coming down with a cold or that I'll feel this way tomorrow. I just needed a day to sleep 13 hours. Is that normal?