9 is the new 8

Sleep. It's like breakfast: too many of us skimp on it and yet it will determine the quality of your day. Reality: I need at least 10 hours of sleep a night or NO LESS than 8 really deep/quality hours. But this almost never happens. It is so easy to slip into 7 is good enough. And 7 hours often feels like it was good enough because I was capable of multi-tasking & high levels of functioning throughout the day. But if 7 is basically getting a full-night sleep, then 6 1/2 is too...in fact sometimes I just have to settle for 6. I might be a little fog-headed when I first wake up...but the coffee will kick me into gear (sometimes).

But all it takes is the experience of a truly good night sleep that was long enough and quality enough for your body to restore itself to know that 7 doesn't cut it. It's actually unbelievable when you experience a freshness behind your eyes when you really get the sleep your body needs. I rarely experience this, but when I do I realize I am jipping myself. And when I perform amazingly in a workout where I have clarity of mind and fresh strength to keep going...it almost ALWAYS has to do with how well I slept the night before. I can examine my food journals all I want....but the answer usually comes from my sleep quality.

Adding healthy food and exercise to my life has brought me to new energy levels for sure. I would not be able to pull-off having a full-time job and an art career if I didn't crossfit and eat well. But I still find myself having those lulls....feeling like I want to crawl into my bed and just sleep...recharge. So I am joining the ever-fabulous Melicious on her journey of increasing energy by increasing veggie intake and GETTING MORE SLEEP!

The first step I am taking is to declare 9 hours the new 8 hours. I will strive for 9hours every night and will say that 8 (rather than 7) is the new good enough. This will be hard to do....when I get busy, good sleep is one of the first things to be sacrificed. But I also know that when I get more sleep, I get more out of my awake time because I am fresher. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and woke up at 7am....and I have to say there is a pep in my step today.

I have been reading "Lights Out: Sugar, Sleep, and Survival" by T.S. Wiley. This book, of course, points out how detrimental it is that humans do not sleep enough. In fact, in a very detailed and convincing 205 pages, the book basically states that lack of sufficient sleep is really the major problem behind most of our contemporary health issues. This problem happens before the overconsumption of sugar...lack of sleep increases our craving for sugar. One statement in this book that really spoke to me and I must share is:

"Understanding human physiological dysfunction is akin to repairing a broken vase. You start with the big pieces and, finally, all that's left is the impact point. Those tiny shards will go together in the end, but you never could have started there.

Those tiny shards are the only news the public gets. That's why the newspapers and news magazine shows are rife with "cutting-edge discoveries" that ostensibly will change your world, but, in real time, never provide one single cure."

This statement provided me with a sense of relaxation and understanding. It put words to something that I always felt was true. Because sometimes I feel like saying, how could this possibliy be so complicated? Why does one set of things cause cancer on one day and another set cause cancer the next day. Why does basically everything cause cancer? Why is the yoke of an egg the worst part of the egg one day and the most nutricious the next? One could simply go mad if you tried to keep up with all this mess. I am going to call these "shards" from now on. I can't go crazy over the shards...I want the big pices of glass...in fact, show me what the vase looked like before it was broken!

Speaking of sleep...check out these other cool beds!