BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Family Health Do You Get Enough Sleep?

Many people skimp on sleep because they figure it's not really that important. Your eyes are closed, how much can it matter?

However research shows that doing things while sleepy is like doing them when you're drunk. You wouldn't drive your car when you were drunk! It actually damages your health not to get the right sleep.

In fact you lose time by skimping on sleep. You function so slowly and poorly when you're sleepy (although you of course don't realize it) that you do things far more slowly than if you'd been awake. So if you had just slept that extra half hour or hour you would now be getting far more done.

The book I was reading said, hormone wise, the best time to sleep is between 10pm and 4am (and of course a few hours around that). Of course I'm typing this at 10:01pm so I'm not following my own advice! But I will shortly

I always tell myself that I'm going to go to bed early on Sunday night to start the week off right...of course I'm kicking myself at 1 am every Sunday. Then I'm, tired the rest of the week. I walk in the door from work telling myself that I'm going to go to bed at a reasonable hour...needless to say sometime between 12-1, I finally lay down. During the summer, I would be able to sleep until 745 to get to work on time, during the school year, I have to get the kids up by 6:30. Even on the weekends when I insist that I'm going to sleep in...my eyes pop open at 6:30. So I get somewhere between 6 1/2 to 7 hours maybe...

I agree completely Lisa. I am 50 years old and in my younger years I could easily function on 4 hours sleep, knowing I would just catch up over the weekend. At my age now, I just can't do that anymore. If I don't get a good 7 hours sleep, I move slower, tend to be irritable at times, and just don't enjoy my day as much. As you can tell, it is 12:12am here, my husband is snoring next to me, and I should be asleep!! I guess tomorrow will be a 'low function' day!

He he he - I wonder if there are just too many distracting things in our world now that make us think "just five more minutes"! I was just finishing up a bunch of pages on candlemaking and I wanted to get them all done before I turned in. I need to be up at 5:30am, so now I can get ... 5 hours of sleep!

I didn't sleep at all last night, too many worries. I feel like [censored] today. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to get your mind to stop racing..

My problem is getting my brain to shut up so i can fall asleep. I start planning my next day while lying in bed, i make lists of things i need to do, i think about things that happened during the day, and every once in awhile i have memories of my past and end up dwelling on things for hours.

The main thing about sleeping is to do all your list-making and planning before you get into bed. What you need to do is distract yourself before you go to bed to keep your mind from wandering off to your to-do lists, old memories, etc.

I usually read something before I got to sleep, like books by Wayne Dyer or something kind of inspirational. I figure that's some good thought to go to sleep with.

You could listen to music or meditate before bed to relax yourself and get your mind off it's busy track. I have used sleep hypnosis CD's also. Glenn harold has some great ones.

If his snoring keeps you up you may be able to address that. Look at the british snoring association website or the stop snoring guide

People think that snoring is something they have to put up with but it sometimes isn't

I don't get a good 7 hours sleep, I move slower, tend to be irritable at times, and just don't enjoy my day as much. [url=http://www.teethwhiteninginstructions.com]Professional Teeth Whitening[/url] [url=http://www.squidoo.com/professionalteethwhitening ]Teeth Whitening Kits[/url] [url=http://teethwhiteninginstructions.weebly.com]Teeth Whitening[/url] [url=http://hometeethwhitening.wetpaint.com]Home Teeth Whitening [/url]

I try to take a few quiet minutes before I go to bed to write out or plot the next day if you will, I have been leterally laying down when I think of something, I will then go to my list write it down and go back to bed. It's just something I do, it seems to make me feel better and I fall fast to sleep. (it clears my mind I think)

Mary Caliendo
Tea Editor

Keeping a pad of paper beside the bed is a good idea so you don't have to actually get up to write things down.

I try to get at least 7 1/2 hrs of sleep and if I miss a night of good sleep, I usually sleep great the next night.

I listen to sleep meditation CD's too many times so I sleep better. They help clear my mind and relax me.

BoomerGal this is also very good adice, anything to help relax us to promote great sleep.

Mary Caliendo
Tea Editor