by Sean St.Onge
Here is a retread of a blog I posted a few years ago and all of the message content still appies.
Now, I know our waning lust for social networking keeps us up along with amazing television (Netflix is tremendous! I know!).
We all know that we must sleep more. The old adage was that one should sleep up to or at least 8 hours per night. Most of us work, come home by 7 or 8pm, finish eating, allow time for family or significant others, pets, or random neighbors blasting through our doors like Cosmo Kramer. Biggest bullet point of the day is for us all to feel the need to stay online for that snapchat/facespace/mypage/livejournal/tweeder, etc. Let's all be honest...do we NEED it??
I realize as I type this, some of you may right now be in bed sitting up to read this saying "man, what a hypocrite! At least I'm reading your stuff man!" Well, as much as I appreciate the shares and reads, GET SOME SLEEP!
We are all defiantly not in bed at a reasonable hour. So let's move past not just getting enough sleep. Let's talk about when we do sleep. How do you sleep? Do you sleep on your back, on your side, on your stomach? With one arm up? One down, one up? Both behind your back? Have you pulled a Michael J. Fox from Back to the Future??
How you sleep can greatly affect performance the next day based SOLELY on position, NOT just length. An interesting look from an article I read about a year ago that may give some solace to your body position or positions and how to change it up. http://tweakfit.com/sleep-posture-pm
How to combat this epidemic:
1. Prepare for tomorrow
Line up all your personal accoutrement. Then, when you wake, you have less to worry about to get moving.
2. Keep your sleep quarters cool.
Perferrably a nice bed, comfy cozy. Unless you enjoy sleeping in Hades, but that is up to you...most people prefer to have a cool, 65-72 degree area as it helps to cool your body temperature allowing one's brain to rest.
3. Block out all light. Sounds simple, yet we can all feel light when the sun rises and that usually wakes us. Invest in some nice curtains, try overstock.com, it's one third of our lives.
4. Get rid of electronic devices. Save for an extreme emergency, that phone call randomly after 9pm can wait until the morning. We are so wired and "connected" to the internet, myself included, the movie The Matrix looks more real every day. I wouldn't run from an Agent, by the way.
Now get your rest kids, try your best to implement all these to help get the proper amount needed. Your brain, your body, and your livelihood depend on it! Otherwise the Mighty Hefield will haunt your dreams with visions of things that bite.
SOAP BOX, (YAAWWWWWN) OUT.