Sleep...Why I don't and why I need to

Everybody knows how important sleep is to our health.  The amount and quality of sleep we get each night radically affects almost every aspect of our health, from our hearts to our weight to our mental health. Sleep deprivation causes a startling amount of car accidents each year.  In fact, the CDC reports that 1 in 20 adults has fallen asleep at the wheel.  I know there were many times when I was working several jobs or working and going to school at night when I was too tired to drive safely.  Yet I did anyway.

I am working on losing weight.  Again. Or maybe still.  However I phrase it, the end result is the same. I have been saying I was going to work on losing weight and I only gave it a little bit of a try.  Couple that with the foot injuries I have been battling and the extra weight has been hanging around like a bad penny.

I decided I need a holistic and more of a project approach to this.  By project I mean I need to be a good planner.  I need to plan what I am going to eat and when and also when I will exercise.  By looking at losing weight in a holistic manner I realized that I do not get nearly enough sleep!

There are many reasons why people don't sleep enough - they are working, doing housework, night owls, drink too much caffeine, and on and on.  I tend to do a lot of little things around the house after Lilly is asleep and then I unwind by fooling around on the computer or watching some television.  What does this mean?  I need to change several little routines so that I can make the bigger change of going to sleep earlier and waking up without being exhausted still.

Since I am working full time at a summer camp for 7 weeks, I think I will be forced to get enough sleep.  I know it will be exhausting! The person who came to speak to us from the camp's insurer even spoke about the dangers of sleep deprivation, as did the camp director.

With all that being said, I think part of it is that I just have to get myself into bed!  Easier said than done for this night owl....

How much sleep do you get per night?  What are some tips for getting a good night's sleep?

my conundrum

I have a conundrum.  I want to have another child.  I want Lilly to have a sibling, one who is close-ish in age to her.  I would have liked that a year or two ago but it was not the right time.  Now is not the right time either.  Nor will it be for the foreseeable future.  There are very real and valid reasons why we should not have another baby right now.  I know some people say there are no good times, but this is really the opposite of a good time.

Somehow, someway, knowing this does not stop the yearning.  Why does this not stop?  Why can't my heart take a hint from my brain and stop wanting things it cannot have right now?  I think part of it is wanting that sibling for Lilly; knowing how important it was for me and other people I know to have the sibling relationship.  I think part of it is straight up biology.  I am 36.  That clock ticks loudly, and it is not always a pleasant, soothing tick tock.  More like a gong announcing,  TICK TOCK biatch...GET GOING HERE!    And really, I think a big part of it is that we cannot separate our hearts and minds in that way.  They are intricately entwined and that is what makes us human.

Sometimes I just wish I could flip a switch, even just for a little bit, to give my heart a rest.  That or stop that damn biological clock from ticking so damn loudly in my ear!