Women’s Wednesday–“Sleep”

As I lay in bed last night tossing, turning, coughing, and struggling to breathe (thank you Mr. Sinus Infection!), I got to thinking about sleep. Oh how I desperately wanted that sleep! I almost cried because I craved sleep so much. Our bodies were designed to recoup during those precious hours of shut eye, a part of God’s design that should not be ignored.

While many boast about how they can get by with little or no sleep (and I’ll admit, I’ve been jealous of those people at times), Psalm 127:2 reminds us that it is vain to avoid sleep (for earthly pursuits, verse 1) and that sleep is actually a gift from God!

But, can we have too much sleep? Certainly!

Proverbs 20:13 “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty....”

Ouch! That one hurts. Those of you who know me, know that I do ‘love’ my 10 hours of sleep each night (yes, I do know that will change once Jenaleigh gets here!) But when love of sleep compromises our duties in life, we’ve got a major problem.

We all know the common phrase, “the early bird gets the worm”, which implies that the slothful or late-to-rise may miss out on many opportunities in life. But, did you know that not only are our opportunities to work lessened by too much sleep, but our quality of life can actually be diminished from overdoing the zzzz’s? Called “sleep inertia”, a person who sleeps too much may actually feel groggy, drowsy, and have an inability to ‘wake up’! Perhaps this is just another reason God warns us against too much sleep!

So, not too much sleep. Not too little. But balance. That’s what we should strive for in the amount of sleep we get each night.

But there are some nights that it seems like sleep just won’t happen. What can we do then? Instead of just including the ‘regular’ sleep advice we get (i.e. go to sleep at the same time each night, no TV in the bedroom, drink hot tea, do not exercise right before bed, etc.), I found some more unique tips. Perhaps one of these will work for you tonight:

- Try telling yourself a story (in your head, not out loud, of course)! Children demand their nightly story time, and surprisingly it can work for adults, too. Make up a calm story and focus on it and nothing else as your try to slumber. This will help block out the day’s cares and worries.

- Massage your feet with warm oil, right before bedtime. (I’m getting sleepy just thinking about it!)

- Make your last hour before bedtime as calm and peaceful as possible. This would be a great time to devote to God in prayer and study. (And don’t forget to pray for that good night’s sleep!)

- Keep your bed made. Did you know that getting into a snuggly bed that’s been neatly prepared can be more sleep inducing that climbing into one that has sheets thrown about?

- Work during the day! Tire yourself out and enjoy a relaxing rest afterwards. This Biblical principle is shown to us in Ecclesiastes 5:12 “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet.”

Sleep Tight,

~Martha Howell