On the issue of sleep

Getting rest can help you succeed in life. If you get enough rest you are closer to your true self and can be on your a-game. You can see things more clearly and be more efficient than you are on less sleep. None of this is new news although many of us, myself included, make withdrawals from the sleep bank on a routine basis for one reason or another. Kids waking up in the middle of the night or waking up early being one of those reasons. Working full time and wanting a little "down time" after finishing all the chores of the day being another. Wanting some adult time with your spouse another. Making time to work out yet another. I am learning that it's not really possible to make sleep deposits, though. Sure you may get in a few extra hours here and there, but do you really "catch up on your zzzz's"? No. This is a fallacy perpetuated by 20-somethings in an effort to justify (1) sleeping in late and (2) burning the midnight oil partying. Or maybe it's just that in your 20's you are more resilient and can bounce back. Maybe in your 30's, too. But for those of you who are getting on in years - gasp - here's the truth. YOU NEED SLEEP TO FUNCTION AND BE AT YOUR BEST. You are not elastic.

I am going to try an experiment to see if I can get myself to sleep earlier each night in 15 minute increments to ultimately be in bed so that I can get up to and including 8 hours of sleep a night. Since I would also like to get up around 6:30, this means my goal is to be in bed with the lights out by 10:00, figuring that it will take me a half an hour to drift off. So tonight, I will go to bed, lights out by 10:45. When I reach my goal and have been sleeping 8 hours consistently for 2 weeks I'll report back. I encourage anyone actually reading this to try to do the same thing. Which means I'd better go NOW since I have only 9 minutes left before bedtime!