Sleep . . . I Need Sleep . . .

Happy Tuesday morning! I was up WAY too late last night and am feeling it this morning, with nobody to blame but myself.

My cell phone has been giving me problems, including allowing me to receive but not send e-mails. The wonderful people at our local Sprint store tried different things to fix the problem, but finally decided the best thing to do was just give me a new, upgraded phone :-). (They could do this because my phone was under warranty.) So I spent a long time last night figuring things out and downloading some fun software.

That would have been fine, but I also discovered that my new phone has BeJeweled on it. I've never played it before, but I've heard other talking about how addicting it is. Well, they were right! How else would you explain a 56-yr. old grandmother of 4 - with a cold, no less and who just needs to rest - up until 1 AM playing a game on her phone? In the bright light of today, I can't believe I did that (but you should have seen my high score! lol).

While I was engrossed with my phone, my husband found a free game on the internet for HIS phone, so two adult, normally rational grandparents were up playing games on their phones. It doesn't get much sadder than that :-)

This morning I am reminded of how important it is to get a good night's sleep! In Chapter 17 of Dr. A's Habits of Health, Dr. Andersen talks about the importance of sleep. In this chapter, entitled "Sleep: Nature's Nurse," he outlines various ways that a lack of sleep affects our health. He notes that there is growing evidence linking a lack of sleep to increased inflammation, a higher risk of cardiovascular incidence, and even obesity. Dr. Andersen states that not getting enough sleep disturbs appetite regulation and cites a study which found that getting less sleep almost doubled the risk of obesity, even in young children.

Looks like if I want to stay on the road to optimal health, I need to make sure I'm making healthy choices about what I eat, exercising regularly, drinking lots of water, and resisting the urge to play BeJeweled until the wee hours of the morning :-).

Is there anything standing between you and your pursuit of optimal health today? If there is, is it worth it?

Blessings!
Cheryl