I Love Sleep

I love to sleep and “dozing” is a hobby and a healthy one too. I can’t put in more than 6 hours sleep at night no matter how much I try, the best that can happen is that I sleep for 5 hours, stay awake for 30minutes and then 2 hours which will be punctuated by my awareness of every thing happening around me because I’m really more conscious than asleep after the first 6 hours.

Two different medical theories have come out to say that (1) an adult needs 8hours sleep at night and (2) an adult needs 6hours sleep. Considering the fact that we have only 24 hours in a day; we would be willing to let sleep have 1/3 of that time by giving it 8hours. Using 6 hours for the same purpose means giving up ¼ of your day as well. The question is; what is healthy and what is not? I believe being refreshed in the morning after a good nights rest is healthy.

But then, what is a good nights rest? Is it waking up feeling refreshed or waking up after 6 hours without interruptions in-between. I stick to a maximum of 6 hours sleep for adults by the way, anything more is simply indulgence. The purpose of sleep is to give the body rest. And the body needs to rest in order not to go into wear and tear from over working itself. The mind for instance needs to shut down from time to time to re-energize itself. It is said that most people will not even use up to 10% of their brains before they die therefore, what rest will it need (?). Anyway, while we are on the topic of sleep/rest we will not delve into matters of brain activity. The mind/brain being part of the body needs rest to reboot for regular use. The whole body needs to reboot to get rejuvenated. Just like a computer, the body can crash from a virus, become slow from overload and shutdown when malfunctioning.

Established (howbeit) without medical jargon that we all need rest – sleep which is a form of rest.

People have come up with “leisure” as a way to let-go-and-lets-rest which is applaudable but considering the different kinds of leisurely activities we have developed I’m certain it has become; let-go-and-lets-move. We now add more vigorous activities to our holidays and vacation; mountain climbing, boogie jumping, car racing, hunting, swimming, hiking . . . and computer games, puzzles. . . we always have to work our minds, aight? I’m justifiably confused at the term “leisure”. If it refers to activities that help you relax then why are we mountain climbing?! Even swimming is an activity that is recommended to work the whole body and is said to be one of the best exercises there is. So, are we saying exercise and leisure are parallel lines that eventually have a point of meet?

My plan is not to render the world in active but to save its definitions as much as a second language user can. If a doctor recommends rest he/she says things like, read a book, drink lots of water and put your feet up, some may occasionally say watch movies and laugh a-plenty. These are activities that will let your mind and body go into relaxation mode.

Kudos goes to those who already do their hobbies for a living, like; car-racing and swimming. It will always be adrenalin-pumping and totally satisfying but they occasionally take breaks to vacation and play on beaches and sip chivita or have an ice-cream or whatever your doctor prescribes; doctor here can be your mum or wife or confidant e.t.c. It is important to separate activity from rest no matter how exciting the activity is and how is helps you sleep at night. Considering some jobs (names withheld) where the requirements is to sit at a desk for 8 hours without much of mind activity and then go home; how do we explain why they still have migraines and ulcers? I believe our bodies recognize work from play.

However, we must insist that sleep is not necessarily rest, although sleep can be rest, from time to time we need to be able to put our feet up for a whole day and let our minds go blank (for those who can’t go blank I guess pleasant thoughts will suffice). A friend recently told me that he had forgotten what it means to rest although he has at least 4hours sleep at night his body is always on alert. When he wakes up in the mornings he doesn’t feel like he slept at all and once its mid-day he gets tired. I told him to see a doctor after drinking warm milk didn’t help. Someone else asked me about sleeping pills and I said a drug is a drug, and if you need it then you need a doctor or a therapist. Another suggestion was to count the boxes in the ceiling which by now every kid knows from boredom and only sends your mind into static. Dozing on the other hand is just hanging somewhere between consciousness and letting your mind go while still aware of everything happening around. (That’s my favorite of all the levels of sleep; I can be aware and inactive at the same time refusing to will my body into motion).

Whatever your preferences are, rest is important. Finding a way to let your body rejuvenate itself is an absolute necessity. So, let the things that bother take a break while you forget because, “worrying won’t change a thing” and rest means to “just chill”.

p.s
I’m not an advocator of separating spirit, soul and body to achieve stillness as I see them as relevant to the terrestrial only as one. But a soak in a warm bath with aromatic oils can do wonders for your relaxation mood to kick in; don’t forget the wine, please! Or hot beverage if you’ll rather.