Quest for rest

This is not me.

I'm exhausted. Sound familiar? I hear it all the time. I say it all the time. And why not? 

Sunday night I was sound asleep when my girl woke up complaining of a stomach ache. We were up for two hours, before she finally settled. Monday night, I had every intention of making up for lost sleep. So I put Lucy to bed at 8:00 p.m. and then proceeded to clean out my inbox, talk on the phone, stay up too late, and toss and turn until 5:00 a.m. (at which point I fell into a deep sleep.) Tuesday I was determined to hit the hay early. I did. But at 1:00 a.m., my girl awoke, frightened by the skeleton face that kept popping into her mind. I tried to soothe her. I listened to her feelings, rubbed her head, suggested some happy images to replace the skeleton face, did a little guided meditation, spooned with her, and eventually dragged myself back into my own bed where I tossed and turned for half the night. Wednesday night. I don't even want to tell you about the Wednesday night saga. Anyway, you get the picture. 

So it seemed like divine intervention when I came across an article in the Huffington Post this week. According to the article, women are significantly more sleep deprived than men. Sleep tends to rank low on our long list of priorities which makes us more prone to illness and accidents, and difficulty with problem-solving and thinking clearly. In contrast, a good night's sleep leads to increased immune system and overall efficiency. As a result,  Arianna Huffington, (editor-in-chief for the HP) issued a sleep challenge to women. She is challenging women to get a full night's sleep for one whole month. The Huffington Post blog is posting useful tips on how to maximize sleep and providing a forum for sharing stories about our quest for rest. I'm up for it. Or rather, down. Hope you'll join me!

Sweet dreams.

Rosemary

Photo credit: Jude Rosenberg