Sleep: when and how much

In today’s fast paced lifestyle, most Americans don’t realize how important it is to actually stop and sleep. Many pride themselves how little sleep they can get and still go on the next day, week or months. Others, substitute caffeine for sleep, but this is loading the gun, but what’s going to pull the trigger that causes your body to quit. 

The average American sleeps between 4 - 6 hours each night. This is a deficit and we all know if we over draft the bank we pay a penalty. So what’s the cost for lack of sleep: reduction in memory, lack of attention to details, academic learning drops, lower job performance, reduction in endurance for sports, lower artistic characteristics, increased blood pressure, increased neurological problems, increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, increased risk for diabetes, weakened immune system, increased risk for obesity, increased risk for cancer, ultimately an increased risk for an early death. We need the rest, the Lord gave us the commend to labor six days but to rest the seventh day, however He did not intend for us to labor 24 hours - six days a week. This is why there is a night time within the 24 hour cycle! 

The internal, biological clocks of the body are in sync with the rhythms of the earth; the night - day cycle. The natural tendency of the body is to begin powering down in the late afternoon in order to prepare for the sleep cycle. The average person should not at this time eat a heavy meal as their digestive system too has already powered down for the evening rest, nor should you begin a great deal of mental strain, later into the evening hours, as the brain is not equipped to render such tasks. By 8pm, we should be in bed for sleep. From 8pm until midnight, the body goes into the restoration phase of sleep. The body begins to repair cells, restore over worked muscles, remove toxins from the body and more while we sleep! These first, four hours of sleep are to the body as if you were sleeping eight because of the restoration phase (this doesn’t mean you don’t actually need the remaining four hours of sleep).. Going to bed later in the night, reduces the restorative phase. For the average adult, 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night is necessary. This does not include napping during the day. Day resting is not restorative sleep. For youth, they too need to go to bed at 8pm, sleeping for 8 - 10 hours, children 9 - 11 hours, toddlers 11-14 hours and infants much more. We are depriving our children today of their necessary sleep. With all of the electronics in the home the brain does not power down as it should, and people cannot sleep or if they are “sleeping” it is not a true, sound sleep. So an hour or more before bedtime, turn off the television, the cell phone, the computers, the games and let the brain and the body recharge and rebuild for tomorrow’s activities.