I don’t know about you, but the older I get the less sleep I seem to need. I remember as a teenager, I would sleep for endless hours. Actually, I watch my children sleep until after noon. And, I think, how can they sleep that long?
For the past few years, I’ve been waking at 2 am or 3 am and I stay up for hours before returning to bed to get up to face the day at 6:30 am.
A few weeks ago in Newsday, the Long Island daily newspaper, there was an article written by my friend Ron Roel. He listed a couple of ways to overcome “bad sleep habits.” He says:
- Exercise a few hours before bed;
- Avoid alcohol;
- Don’t take naps during the day;
- Try to set a regular schedule before bed to unwind;
- Don’t sleep on your back, instead on your side or stomach;
- Lastly, don’t force yourself to go to sleep if you are feeling stressed. Write down what’s on your mind and then ease into bedtime.
I thought it was funny that I was just thinking about sleep issues when this article came out. I also put up a status on Facebook asking my friends if they really need sleep. This is the reaction I got:
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Debra Markowitz That works until you become delusional.
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Natalie Molloy you’re kidding right? ooohh…i see a blog coming on…”how much sleep do we really need?” 😉
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Ron Wood I am not sure if it is good news or bad news, but as I’ve aged I find I need less sleep.
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Natalie Molloy ?@Ron, and I mean this in the most kidding of ways ,they say as you get older you sleep less for fear of not waking up at all , so a senior told me……..
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Steven Kaiser Unfortunately it is amazing how little sleep I get.
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Ron Wood Excellent Natalie. I do love my naps.
The bottom line, you don’t need that much sleep… Looking forward to catching up with all of you at 3 am tomorrow morning!
