Sleep. That’s today’s topic because I just learned some new info that might benefit you, in case you’re like me.
For years now, maybe even decades I have worried because I do not sleep throughout the night. Blame it on another warm body no longer next to me in bed, menopause, blame it on stress, blame it on the upstairs neighbors clacking of heels on wooden floors, or kids screaming at 6am, light coming through the shade, leaving a tv on…. I mean there are all kinds of reasons I can give as to why I sleep 2 hours, wake for 3 and then sleep for 4 more…. And in the past? Wake every two hours because I needed a bathroom break from sleep? But at least in those days, I would go right back to sleep.
It’s stressful, because first: I think it’s not healthy when you don’t get the ‘proper’ amount of sleep, and second: it makes me feel out of control – like my body just does what it wants.
Ever feel that way?
Perhaps that is how it supposed to be. I was reading an article by Karen Emslie who lives in Spain (so this isn’t an American talking and I can see it as a worldwide concept) and here’s what she says:
“The Nobel Prize-winning novelist Knut Hamsun would often wake after sleeping for a couple of hours. So he kept a pencil and paper by his bed, and would, he said: ‘start writing immediately in the dark if I feel something is streaming through me.’ The psychologist B F Skinner kept a clipboard, paper and pencil by his bed to work during periods of night wakefulness, and the author Marilynne Robinson regularly woke to read or write during what she called her ‘benevolent insomnia’.”
Aaah. So it’s not just me.
Better yet? They go on to claim the up time in the middle of the night can be your most creative time (where I was always taught that if you get busy and engage your brain, it will keep you up longer, so you shouldn’t do that)!
“Night also triggers hormonal changes in our brains that suit creativity. Wehr has noted that, during night-waking, the pituitary gland excretes high levels of prolactin. This is the hormone associated with sensations of peace and with the dreamlike hallucinations we sometimes experience as we fall asleep, or upon waking….It alters our state of mind”.
I think the biggest part of waking, is waking and saying ‘ahhh… shoot’ as we get a glimpse of a clock. By altering how we think of waking, we can welcome our ‘up’ time, and understand its’ value. And like many people I know, you can actually schedule a ‘power nap’ of 20 minutes, at your desk or in bed if you’re lucky enough to work from home, that might really make it ok, if lack of sleep means tired.
One other suggestion: There are foods that fuel energy.
Are you interested in reading more?
Then good, because that’s tomorrow’s blog.
Happy Eating,
Chef Marian