Sleep as a tool or a toy? You are wondering about now if I've gone off my rocker I suppose. I've been thinking long and hard on this so just hear me out.
Sleep is most definitely a tool of course! It's a tool that is a biological necessity. My musings have led me to ask myself if I've used it as a toy too. Hmmm?
A toy again being defined as something that entertains you. There have been plenty of times I've used sleep to cope with my life and I've resorted to it so I didn't have to do anything-I was bored perhaps.
I've discovered in the past I've slept way to much. I use to believe I was one of those people that needed 9-10 hours a night. har har As I've pondered my sleep patterns through the years I've realized that sleep is addicting. The more I got the more I wanted. Pretty soon I needed 10 hours at night and a 3 hour nap. I knew I wasn't any more worn out then the pioneers and they survived on much less sleep and they were much more active. So what was wrong with me? Why was I always tired?
Ding, ding, ding! I was using sleep as a toy and not a tool. Toys and quick fix entertainment will never satisfy our souls and our true needs. I realized that when my husband and I greatly cut back the sleep we had a night we were more motivated. We also found the sluggishness we before felt had vanished. It took a short while to overcome those initial days of my body expecting more sleep to get it kicked in so that I felt normal. I recognized that it was just like an addiction and my body was rebelling at first, but that doesn't mean that weaning myself off of extra sleep wasn't the right thing to do.
We've worked on this for the last five years. It has been a process. We do better for several months and then we bomb again for a couple of more. The bed is so warm and cozy in the winter time! We've always felt worse though when we've been sleeping in. Life's a journey remember. Right now we are in a really good sleep/awake cycle and have been for quite a while. I think we've finally found our niche and we will make a more lasting change!
When I take naps now-which I still occasionally do- I can recognize immediately if I really need that sleep. If I wake up groggy and spend the rest of the day in a daze I probably really didn't need that sleep. However, if I wake up refreshed and can easily get to sleep again at my regular bedtime then I probably did need that nap.
I know these concepts are strange perhaps. One of children was yawning one and a lady said, "What? Are you tired?" Our son replied, "Yes, I slept in. I slept to much." The lady replied, "What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. If your tired you need more sleep." Society has us thinking that it is not possible, even inconceivable to get too much sleep. D & C 88 teaches us to "cease to sleep longer than is needful."
If you are use to getting lots of sleep and you had to be up late that day than yes, your body will feel extremely tired the next day, because you are addicted to it.
I know plenty of people-Pres. Hinckley- that work(ed) hard all day and sleep (slept) a lot less than me (or me when I was over indulging). They are more energetic , productive, positive and happier to be around than most people I know.
Just some thoughts. Perhaps we can all evaluate the sleeping patterns in our life. We may find we can get some more energy out of ourselves than we previously thought possible. Are we using sleep as a toy or a tool?
And just so I don't sound self-righteous I slept in until 7:30 this morning (the day I wrote this post). Yes, I've felt blah all day just so you know. We're talking about correct principles and not perfection!
I wrote this post two weeks before its actual 'publication' date. I wanted everyone to know again that these are just some ideas that I've had for the last couple of years. This is subject to your own personal interpretation obviously. We are all in different stages. For one thing, I do not have little children or babies. My children all sleep in their own bed and sleep through the night. They also do not hang on me all day and so I'm not emotionally drained like I was several years ago. Anyway my point: don't freak out with this post. As my friend Lazy Lara says, "don't try this at home." : )
6 comments:
I think it is a rare problem to get too much sleep. I work hard to change my lifestyle enough to allow me more sleep at night but it is still very unusual to sleep more than 6.5-7 hours a night. I'll keep working at it because I definitely feel better with more sleep.
This is great food for thought. I wonder how much sleep a person really needs. We've been reading Farmer Boy and those children got up really early and worked hard all day. Would it be bad to ask you what a good sleep cycle looks like for you?
And not that I do it, but I've always heard that an hour of sleep before midnight is worth two after.
I've noticed when I go to bed after 9:30 no matter what time I wake up I'm more sluggish than when I go to bed earlier and wake up before the alarm regardless of what time it is set for if that makes sense.
I'm having a fibromyalgia flair up this weekend and what is interesting to me (I've also been working on not self medicating with sleep) that while yes I could lay in bed and sleep away most of the pain I'd rather stay awake and keep my sleep schedule...otherwise when this passes it will take me a week or so to get back to normal.
Sleep is a strange beast...there is definitely balance needed and only trial and error will teach you what that balance is.
This is interesting. The D&C also says to go to bed early and get up early and I think that's an important part of it. If I stay up late I need more hours than if I go to bed early. Most people I know don't get enough sleep rather than too much. I have been working on getting out of "sleep debt" this last year. I'm going to write a post about it one of these days.
This is a really interesting post. I hadn't thought about sleep in this way.
When I became a homemaker after years of working fulltime, I slept a LOT. On average, I was sleeping 12 hours every single night. I was just really tired. After a year and a half of being at home, I need less sleep but I still think I sleep a lot (around 9 hours a night). Occasionally I take a nap in the afternoon when my hubby is home and wants his siesta.
My studies into health say that we should wake up naturally every morning without using an alarm. Lately, I've found that I'm waking naturally between 6:30 and 7. This is with going to bed sometime between 8 and 9:30. I really wonder if it's a health reason that I'm getting too much sleep or if I go to bed too late or if it's just a mindset. Once I wake up though, I'm out of bed and on with my day.
Anyways, thanks for letting me ramble... :)
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