Are You Counting Sheep?

How important is a sleep cycle? I've been wondering the past few days because I am on vacation. Normally I don't worry about how much sleep I get because during the week I get 5.5 to 6 hours of sleep and try to make it up on the weekends but fail miserably because my eyes open at 7 - 7:30am regardless of what I try. I can't help it and it's a routine, undesirable, non-the-less a routine.

However, this week has been horrible for my sleep schedule. My first day my hubby woke me at 6am on Monday. Then I slept in till 8am on Tuesday, had a horrible waking hour on Wednesday 4:30am, and then 8am today, being Thursday. If I wake any earlier that 6 tomorrow I might lose it. You may be thinking, who cares, you're on vacation. Try living in a 4x4 and you can't go anywhere before 11am because nothing is open. Except Starbucks, but think about the amount of money it costs in the states to drink at Starbucks and then triple that. Do you see my point?

I decided to look for a bit of Internet info on how to sleep better because last night I had one of my many episodes of sleep-talking. Which means that my body is desperately begging for sleep. I have been known to impersonate Napoleon Dynamite and Jack Black in Nacho Libre. But I think this time it was related to West Wing. We've been on a kick and I think I was impersonating Sam Seaborne. He's my favorite. This was emailed to me early this morning:

Hey girl, I have a break from 9:30-11:00 so I'm coming home for breakfast! Just in case I forget, here are the things you said last night:

"Did you hit me?"
"I've got to bunker down"
"Give me back my sandwich"

Love you!
Patrick

What a guy!! Patrick thinks it's funny to write down what I say in my sleep and then read it back to me during breakfast. I think he likes my blank expression followed by my uncontrollable laughter, which is instigated by him. He keeps a notepad by his side of the bed for these occasions.

Back to the Internet. I found a website that talks about the importance of sleep and how it can affect your hormone levels, nervous system, immune system, mood, memory, and all the other factors that go into maintaining good health. This part below, I felt like I was able to say "check" to all except the second and fifth bullet, I hope :)

Other signs you may be suffering from sleep deprivation include::

• difficulty waking up in the morning
• poor performance in school, on the job, or in sports
• increased clumsiness
• difficulty making decisions
• falling asleep during work or class
• feeling especially moody or irritated

That's not the best part. At the bottom of this article, there is a link to BBC and a fun game that tests your reflexes by trying to kill sheep. I was categorized as a snail and the pop-up window told me to get another cup of coffee. You don't have to ask me twice!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep