A couple of weeks ago the Los Angeles Times ran the article Better Sleep, Better Living, which I found very interesting. I meant to blog about the subject matter for that week’s Wellness Wednesday. However, I ended up blogging about the post-election chaos in Iran instead, as it was heavily on my mind.
What type of sleeper are you? I used to be a deep sleeper. Somehow as I have gotten older that has changed. I am not a morning person, yet, I have never been one of those people who can sleep in or sleep until past noon. When I used to have a regular 8 to 5 job I always struggled to get out of bed in the morning, yet when the weekend came around I could not sleep past 8am, a whole two hours later than my usual wake up time during the week.
Interestingly, my sleep patterns do not reflect the outcome of the study presented in the article. As I have gotten older my sleep patterns have also become affected about how I feel. If there is something that bothers me profoundly, I will lose sleep over it. I have been known to toss and turn all night unable to sleep.
There are also other things that can have an impact on my sleep. I won’t talk to you about the hardship falling asleep and all the nightmares that I would have the night before any exam. The nightmares were always the same, I either never made it to the exam because I get lost or I had no means to get there OR I just sat there and because I forget everything.
I have found that there are also other factors that can affect my sleep. I know that it is in my best interest to stay away from coffee or strong tea in the afternoon, as well as not have a heavy dinner. I have also found that Chamomile Tea works like a charm. It completely relaxes me and I eventually fall asleep.
Two other points of interest for me about the article were “cooling the brain” and “happy, rested couples.” I kind of chuckled at both. Cooling the brain, yeah, I really have an issue with that. Sometimes, there are so many things going on in my head that I don’t seem to be able shut down my brain at night. It is crazy how at times I have solved issues in my sleep simply because my brain just didn’t stop working. Point and case, last Friday morning I woke up and had a solution in regards to what to do with our dog while we are going on our road trip. I woke up with a plan for the pending logistics of the last two days of it.
Now without reveling too much…my comment to the following quote was: YOU DON’T SAY!!!!
The quality of a couple’s sleep and relationship tend to follow the same trajectory, researchers said. On a day-to-day basis, a couple’s relationship affects how well they sleep. And how well they sleep affects how the relationship functions the following day.
Holly mother of God if that ain’t true, I don’t know what is! I have spent a few sleepless nights when I was furious with my significant other. If things were bad the night before, then you better believe it that they are not going to be any better after a night spent tossing and turning!!
They always say that sleep can have an effect on your mood, alertness, state of mind, and weight. I always try to get between 7 and 8 hours of sleep. I find that if I go past that, I don’t feel as good. I also know that it is not as easy for me to go back to sleep once awakened in the middle of the night. I hate being awakened for this very issue. You may be so amused to know that The Sous Chef works nights and gets home around 3am. So needless to say that I don’t really get the luxury of having continues sleep because I get awakened by his not so subtle entrance. Or that he complains about the fact that The Dog and I have left him no room on the bed or there is not enough covers for him. Or the latest? He woke me up one day last week at crack of dawn telling me to stop pinching him. In my perplexity over the accusation all I could utter was, “how can I pinch you if I was asleep?” But he was convinced and angry that I was pinching him. Seriously, I had better things to do, such such as sleep! In retrospect, it may have been true, it must have been my subconscious mind telling my fingers to pinch him for waking me up as much as he does!!!!
Have you ever pondered about your own sleeping patterns?
How funny! I loved your writeup about sleep and can SO relate to it! I personally need 8-9 hours of sleep per day and will do *everything* to insure I get it!
it is amazing how sleep can have such an impact on everything!