The Importance of a Good Night Sleep

Have you ever missed a good night sleep and then the next night stayed up late to watch your favorite rerun of Friends, Frasier or Scrubs...because even though you had seen it five times, you just couldn't get enough? And then the night after, you went out with friends for drinks and dinner, and it went later than you expected? Before you knew it, you were 4 or 5 nights in the hole. I find that not sleeping becomes some sort of an addictive behavior and unless you break the vicious cycle...you end up feeling like I've been these last four or so days...extremely sluggish and moody. Basically, falling quickly into a downward spiral. It is funny how, sometimes, although you might know what is best for you and might be able to give the best advice in the world, when it comes to yourself, you somehow forget it all and everything you 'should do' goes out the window. Sleep is more vital than people give it credit for and as we get older, it becomes even more important. It is harder to rebound from the late nights: you look like you've been out late for a year and you feel like you've been hit by a truck. I look back to the days I was an architecture student and I would literally, day after day, get up at 7am, go to school, teach one or two aerobics classes at night, stay up really late in design studio working on projects and then would finally go home and crash at 4am to then wake up again at 7am the next morning. This cycle would continue for 5 days out of the week straight. I don't know how I did it. Today, if I even thought of trying that shtick, I'd fall on my face. It would be virtually impossible. Well, none of this is anything new to any of you, I'm sure. However, it is worth mentioning. It is worth reminding ourselves that taking care of yourself, letting your body rest and recover, letting it regenerate is really, really important. They call it 'beauty sleep' for a reason. If you deprive yourself of the luxury of sleep, you actually deprive yourself of life. The way I feel right now, I feel as though I've missed about 3 nights of sleep, and a couple of days of living. So tonight, when my favorite reruns are on, I think I'll pass. I'll crawl into bed and sleep happily. So my friends...don't miss out on your sleep! Make sure you are getting seven to eight hours of your vital rest a night... Relevant Topics:

• The Basics of Sleep
• The Stages of Sleep
• Solid Prescription for a Good Night Sleep