“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”, this was a quote that my grandmother always said to us growing up.
Did you know that 40 million American suffer with chronic sleep problems, one of those may be you. In 1984, The British Medical Journal ran an editorial warning that the hurry and excitement of modern life was leading to an epidemic of insomnia. Imagine where we are 30 years later! We are overworked, over scheduled, and over committed like never before. You’d think we’d sleep like a baby at night with all of the running around that transpires during the course of our day.
Yet we stay up too late night after night or toss and turn unable to sleep. Why is lack of sleep so prevalent today? I believe it comes from a number of reasons:
- economic stress and the fear that comes from financial uncertainty
- inability to wind down properly at night
- stress related to work and family pressures
- unforgiveness
- relational and marital stress
- over stimulation from all the screens in our life
- turning to the world’s wisdom instead of God’s for everyday problems.
The TV, Facebook, i pads, iPod, computers, and notebooks vie for our eyes and minds attention 24/7. Fear from crumbling marriages and relationships, struggles with our children, fear of calamity and even unrest with our Maker can all lead to an unrestrained sleep. If you are experiencing fear of any kind take action and stand on these two verses that promise peace and proper sleep:
Proverbs 3:24 NLT – You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.
Psalms 4:8 NIV – I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Rushing around rushig everwhere is a big problem. Running out the door without breakfast is the #1 way to GAIN weight. Remember that saying we learned as kids? “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Turns out there was a lot of wisdom there. Eating regular meals helps regulate our body’s daily hormonal rhythms. When we skip meals, we can disrupt the rhythm and it can cause a change in our sleep pattern. Missing breakfast can change our “fight or flight” and “rest and digest” responses, and negatively affect our cholesterol levels as well. Skipping meals can be especially stressful on our sleep when it pushes us to eat close to bedtime, as eating late meals can also cause negative changes in our sleep.
Psalms 127:2, It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives his beloved sleep.
Studies over the last 40 years indicate that most adults need 7 – 7 ½ hours of sleep per night. There are a rare few that can function fine without the recommended amount.Your body can keep going without enough sleep, but the brain can’t. The brain is largely affected by lack of proper rest. Even by just missing one night of sleep the brain, motor function and mood are adversely affected. Lack of sleep makes it harder to cope with pressure. We can even become forgetful and the simplest of conversations can become difficult to be engaged in.
Read Psalms 127:2 KJV again: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his beloved sleep.”
David is not saying that it is of no benefit to rise early or that there is no advantage to it. However, placing our trust in rising early alone, without God’s blessing, won’t secure what we hoped to accomplish, because everything is in the hand of God. Wisdom, health, strength, vitality, energy, clarity of mind, and success, are all provisions made by God, receive them.
My grandmother always quoted, “ Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”, and it’s true! However, we can’t use this method in our own strength and forget to rely on God’s strength to help us daily.
Take a look at the side effects that lack of sleep and sleepiness can cause:
- car accidents and on the job injury
- hurts your cognitive process and impairs your alertness
- Sleep disorders and chronic sleep loss can put you at risk for:
- Heart disease, Heart attack, Heart failure
- Irregular heartbeat
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Kills your sex drive
- Causes depression
- Ages your skin
- Makes you forgetful
- Makes you gain weight
Not only does sleep loss appear to stimulate appetite. It also stimulates cravings for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods , cookies, pies, candy and chips. Ongoing studies are considering whether adequate sleep should be a standard part of weight loss programs. For my clients it’s one of the very first things we take a look at.
I believe one of the most damaging side effects of lack of sleep is impaired judgment. Lack of sleep can affect our interpretation of events. This hurts our ability to make sound judgments and decisions because we may not be able to assess situations accurately and act on them wisely. Sleep-deprived people are especially prone to poor judgment when it comes to assessing what lack of sleep is doing to them.
Consider trying these practical steps to help you get better sleep tonight:
- Turn off all screens one hour before bedtime.
- Breathe deeply for 10 minutes and meditate on the good memories and /or accomplishments of the day.
- Consider writing a “Thankfulness Journal” where you might jot down one or two blessings of the day.
- Spray lavender mist in your room or use lavender oil on your pillow. It’s reported to improve quality of sleep by 20%.
- Pray before bed.
- Read God’s Word before you go to sleep.
- Listen to instrumental or quite worship music to help you wind down.
The fact is that everything seems to go haywire when we don’t get enough sleep. Do yourself a favor and take some time to analyze your amount of sleep, your quality of sleep and bed time habits. With a few adjustments you will find yourself feeling much more happy in the morning and less tired throughout the day.
