Sleep Well

Sometime back I jotted down some thoughts about staying well.  I happily confess that except for a few brushes with the ickies, I've done very well this winter.  And I sadly confess that I left out one of the most important things you can do for yourself  -  Sleep.

Normally this is the part where I would post a nice photo, but alas -  I could not find any that adequately depicted my idea of a good sleep.  All the photos were beautiful younger people in white sheets shot in bright white light - NOT my idea of a good nights sleep.

In fact a good night's sleep is quite the the opposite.  Who cares what color the sheets are, because its supposed to be DARK.  And if you can't get the room dark, make yourself dark by using a sleep mask or covering your head with a blanket.  You just can't get a good rem sleep in the light.

I wasn't always this way, but after reading The Hibernation Diet, I came to realize that many factors affect our sleep, including how much light is in the room. Upon making a few changes I started sleeping sooooooooo much better.  And now that some years have passed I find good sleep to be increasingly important to function well.

And it also helps you STAY well.  When you get run down your immune system is more likely to become compromised.  And for me, when I feel that happening, sleep is my number one weapon against becoming sick.  Probably the most prominent experience happened while visiting our daughter late last year.  Sunday afternoon after a couple of wonderful days  found me coming down with something AWFUL.  Once we got home I hit the sack and slept most of fourteen hours.

Fourteen hours. And I felt fine the next day, and the day after that, and after that . . . .

So sleep. There is good reason the CDC considers sleep deprivation a public health epidemic.  Don't be a statistic.