Sleep

While I haven’t been present on the “blogosphere”, I have been busy studying and taking ordination exams, and moving in to my new place of residence. As I write this, I am offically done with all of the moving in, and organizing my living spaces, and I have my office setup in a manner that I am comfortable. These tasks have taken varying amounts of my energy, and have prevented me from having that truly restful sleep that I so desire.

Throughout my life I have heard that you need this number of hours, or that number of hours of sleep to remain healthy. However, it seems unrealistic for me, who has never had a time when I felt I needed to be in bed in my entire adult life, to start coming up with a “bedtime” so that I will be able to get a good eight hours of sleep. Some weeks I get up at 5:30am to be able to get my son ready for school, and so I can get a workout in before heading into work. This would mean going to bed no later than 9:30pm, which IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. On these days, I am pretty much content with the 5 hours that I get, assuming my sleep is not interrupted, which is usually a 50-50 proposition with an almost 3-year-old. However, this results in the occasional “sleeping in” until 7 or 8, and missing my workout.

I go to sleep so late because unless I am absolutely exhausted, I find it hard to fall asleep and I am completely unwilling to take anything to assist in this endeavor. In this I have found that my body will usually adjust itself to force me into a longer sleep if I need it. In particular, the week following the ordination exams had me sleeping many more hours, 9-10 hours a night. SO while I know there is a great deal of science behind the necessity of our sleep, I have trouble understanding why it has become an imperative for all people to find that exact schedule for sleep.

I look at the difference between my sister and me with regard to sleep. She does need the exact amount of sleep or else she ceases to function. However, I will sacrifice sleep for good conversation, I will sacrifice sleep for the sake of exercise, I will probably sacrifice sleep for pretty much anything worthwhile.

I will, however, “sleep-in” given the opportunity, and I really enjoy sleeping in. If I need the sleep, my body tells me, thus I just need to listen to it and it will guide me, which sounds so much more reasonable than trying to place my sleep on a schedule dictated by a set of general guidelines. However, to each their own, some need it regimented, which is fine, but from personal experience I just need to listen to the weight of my eyes.

Sweet Dreams everybody! I hope you enjoy your (regimented or not regimented) sleep tonight!