Succombing to Seasonal Sleep Cycles

"In Bed 2" by Toulouse-Lautrec. Image via artilim.com

I know that I've written about my love of sleep a number of times in the past (and of Ben's love of sleeping in total darkness!), and no, this hasn't changed lately or anything, but what has changed is the amount of sleep that I need these days. I find that although it's been unseasonably warm here in the DC area this fall, my body still knows that both the time and leaves (and technically, the season) have changed--and it wants me to honor that. If this past weekend is any indication, we may be getting ready to go into hibernation over here...

Friday, Saturday, and yes, even Sunday night (!) this past weekend, I got almost 9 hours of sleep. I literally went to bed around 10:30 or 11 every single night, and it was glorious. In the past, I would question this and judge myself a bit, thinking, "what's wrong with me? Am I lazy? Am I coming down with something? Why am I so tired?" But this time around, I'm accepting it as is. I honestly think that in the late fall and winter, our bodies begin to need some time to nest, to slow down, to hibernate, to store up energy for the spring and summer, and to recuperate from all of our go-go-going. But, in our culture we do exactly the opposite in the fall, we run ourselves ragged until the new year, and then jump on board for new year's resolutions and/or big changes in life, never stopping to slow down. Personally, I usually book myself up solid for a month or two surrounding the holidays, and it's only a day or two here and there that I actually get to pause and catch my breath. Um, not. healthy. So this year, although I cannot change all of the scheduling, events, holiday parties and commitments that I've already got noted in my planner, I can make a small change by honoring my body's sleep cycles. And that's just what I intend to do.

---

Dream bed! Photo via mackeymadness.blogspot.com

In order to truly stay in balance at this time of year, I think we should all pay a little more attention to our need for sleep (and self-care). When it's pitch black outside at 6pm and everything in your being tells you to go home and go to bed early instead of hitting the gym or joining friends for dinner, I say give in. Not every time you have this urge (because working out and socializing is also healthy, hehe!), but on those days when you can tell that you just need the sleep-- when you have no energy left and sleep is all that can cure it. If you need to skip your late-night email time and go to bed at 9:30 in order to wake up at 6:30 and still get 9 hours of sleep, do it. Your body will thank you. I promise :)

I have to admit up front that I'm not the best at this, and I can guarantee that I won't get 9 hours (!!) of sleep on any weeknight this week, but I will do my best to get around 8, and highly recommend getting as much sleep as possible whenever you can. If there's one thing you honor this season, I think it should be your seasonal sleep cycles. There's just nothing that rejuvenates the body like sleep.

And one more time for all my Type-A friends out there: No, it's not lazy! It's NOT! It's healthy and necessary. Sleep is your friend :)

Namaste!
Mary Catherine

---