Count Your Blessings #14 – Sleep

Sleep

A natural periodic state of rest for the mind and body, in which the eyes usually close and consciousness is completely or partially lost, so that there is a decrease in bodily movement and responsiveness to external stimuli. During sleep the brain in humans and other mammals undergoes a characteristic cycle of brain-wave activity that includes intervals of dreaming.

The other day I read an article from the Harvard Magazine (of all things) about sleep. I could go into a long and complicated story about how I got to be reading this article but I’m not sure it would be that interesting. Suffice to say it involved a rather dull teleconference and a blog article. Sleep has always fascinated me, big questions like; why did God create it? what do we get from it? what do we really do while we are sleeping? This article made some fascinating statements about sleep and it’s purposes. Some of it was quite technical but there was some great lines too:

Sleeping well helps keep you alive longer. Among humans, death from all causes is lowest among adults who get seven to eight hours of sleep nightly, and significantly higher among those who sleep less than seven or more than nine hours.

And:

The moral of much sleep research is startlingly simple. Your mother was right: You’ll get sick, become fat, and won’t work as well if you don’t get a good night’s sleep. So make time for rest and recovery. Stickgold likes to compare two hypothetical people, one sleeping eight hours, the other four. The latter person is awake 20 hours a day, compared to 16 hours for the first. “But if the person on four hours is just 20 percent less efficient while awake, then in 20 hours of waking he or she will get only 16 hours of work done, so it’s a wash,” he says. “Except that they are living on four hours of sleep a night. They’re not gaining anything, but are losing a huge amount: you’ll see it in their health, their social interactions, their ability to learn and think clearly. And I cannot believe they are not losing at least 20 percent in their efficiency.”

It also has a lot to say about our need to go with the rhythms of night and day.

Sue and have been teased by many of our friends for our need to get to bed, but it turns out we were right all along. We all need our sleep.

But just because we need something, doesn’t mean it’s a blessing.

I love sitting in my bed reading a book and feeling sleep come over me like a wave.

I love waking up on a cold crisp winters morning , knowing that it is absolutely freezing outside my warm cozy cocoon.

I love going up to my children’s bedrooms and just watching them sleep, peaceful and quiet.

I love going to bed on a stormy windy evening and listening to the gales howling telling me that it’s all wild outside; but inside it’s warm and it’s cosy.

I love waking up and listening to Sue’s latest bizarre dream.

I love sitting in the shade on a summers day and feeling a gentle breeze woo me too sleep.

I love waking up knowing the answer to something I’ve been pondering for hours the previous day.

I love waking up knowing that I don’t have to rush off to some job or other, rolling over to Sue, putting my arms around her and lying there in that semi-awake state that a clear schedule allows.

And that it why sleep is a blessing.

I have to say though, that I am still pushing back against the afternoon nap because that is just too strong a signal that I am getting old.

Anyway it’s 10 o’clock, it’s dark outside and it’s time for bed.

From Psalm 4:

Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say. “More, more.”

I have God’s more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees.

At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep, for you, GOD, have put my life back together.