Dreamweaver Consulting

“I GIVE MYSELF THE GIFT OF SLEEP”

Tiredness… it’s something I battle, will push through, work through… because there never seems enough time in the day to get everything done so I am making a conscious choice this week to get more sleep!

But why should this be a gift? I’ve often thought about this on the way to work while I doze on the train… why should sleep be a gift? It’s something we do every day, it’s absolutely necessary in order that we can live… so how and why should we phrase it as a gift?

I think that in today’s society which is so fast-paced, technology aware, everything has to be now, now now… instant gratification, instant communications, instant information… this all leads to to stress and pressure, and sleep is one of the first things to go when we have deadlines to meet.

I also figure that potentially part of this may even go back to childhood… I presume I wasn’t the only one… but I remember being sent to bed as a punishment, being allowed to stay up late as a treat… retreating to the bedroom to read a book so as not to get into trouble… and this kinda makes me think now that sleep ended up falling into the subconscious territory of “bad”, of a place to be avoided. Anyone else agree?

Yet I need my sleep, love my sleep, hate getting up early in the morning… each week I *intend* to get into a regular routine of going to bed at a certain time so as to get at least 7 hours sleep (I generally need 8 per night but on weekends can sleep for longer)… but does this actually happen? Heck, no! Why not? Well each evening there is always one little job that needs doing, one email that needs reading… nothing actually that can’t wait until the next day… yet I do these things at the expense of sleep by postponing it.

Sleep… so many benefits… here are a few:

improved concentration
memory formation
repairing damage done to the body’s cells during the day
keeps your heart healthy
may prevent cancer
reduces stress
reduces inflammation
makes you more alert
bolsters memory
helps to lose weight
makes you smarter
reduces risk for depression
it makes you a nicer person

I found this site (among many others) through Google, in case anyone wants to look up more information:

http://longevity.about.com/od/sleep/a/sleep_benefits.htm

I have to say not only do I agree with the above list but can also identify with the nicer person one *grin*, lack of sleep makes for a very grumpy person… so this week I WILL achieve this, I choose to achieve this… and hopefully some of these benefits won’t be too far behind!

Anyone else joining in?

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead ♥

© 2012 Michelle Payne

Picture by Josephine Wall
http://www.josephinewall.co.uk/

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2012 at 1:01 am and is filed under Affirmations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.