It always amazes me that we take sleep so much for granted. Sleep, the most glorious of times when our body digests, rejuvinates, repairs, organises, backs up and prepares for the day ahead.
When we say we don't sleep well, it's not the action of sleeping that is the problem
it's that our bodies are not functioning at their optimum, not firing on all cylinders.
For Mums of young babies and children, sleep seems like a promised activity that never really arrives, for the overtired it is an oasis in a desert, for the stressed most desired but unobtainable and for the ill, welcome relief from pain.
I have had long periods of insomnia and I can tell you they aren't pleasant. I also have times when in my cycle of bi-polar I am manic and my body tells me I don't need to sleep (but it lies). Depression can also bring on insomnia as well as wanting to sleep all the time.
I have always tried not to stress about sleep as it only makes it worse.
As a young mother a good friend told me "instead of worrying about the lack of sleep you do get, enjoy every moment you can rest and add that to your sleep time". It's amazing that if we just chill out while doing something that requires us to be still (breastfeeding etc) that you can rest and that is really what sleep is all about. Take every chance to take a nap even if its for 10 minutes as a rejuvenating nap can be as beneficial as a long one according to sleep specialists.
Going to bed too early can be just as much a problem as going too late, unless you are feeling tired don't go to bed. A regular time to go to bed is good but don't go if you're jumping around the room. A routine of a hot shower or a series of tasks helps your body get the signal its bed time.
Now when I can't sleep I go through a routine:
1. I don't lie in bed for more than 20 minutes
2. I get up and have a hot drink and some carbohydrate (if you're not on a diet) a digestive biscuit is a good choice
3. I try to do an activity that I know will make me sleepy, then as soon as I feel the urge to shut my eyes go straight to bed
4. If that doesn't work I find a brief hot shower helps enormously
5. I avoid sleeping tablets if possible as they don't actually allow you to get proper REM sleep which is vital to feel really rested. After all the point is to be rested not to be zonked out.
Good luck to anyone who is finding sleep difficult, remember the more you worry about it the worse it will get, so don't stress about not sleeping as then you won't sleep.
So Good Night, Sleep Tight and dont let the Bed Bugs Bite!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Do we know what our kids will turn out like?
I recently found my son Jethro's grade 4 report card. It was an interesting read. In some ways it was no surprise but in others it brought back memories that I had long forgotten. Which got me thinking, can we predict the future in regards to our children? Do the characteristics, idiosyncricies and prevications give us a hint as to what our grown up children will be doing?
Well my answer is yes and no.
My daughter Michelle who was never much for anything to do with home making, the countryside or animals, cooking or organisation for that matter (When her room got so untidy she couldn't even get into bed because it was under so much mess, she used to move into her brother's room and mess that up so much that he then went and cleaned her room up so she would move back...) has just bought her first house with her husband in the country which has enough room for an organic vegetable garden and chickens (she raises them now) and a goat as she wants to make goats milk products. She is also an excellent cook and a manager of an organics store, which she does so well they have doubled their profits three years running. When she was a child I never would have guessed!
My first boy Benjamin on the other hand was born a scientist. He would alphabetise everything, was more organised with paper work than I was, kept his room fanatically clean analysed everything including politics from a young age and asked for a copy of 'Greys Anatomy' for his tenth birthday. No surprises there when he had a PhD at 22 in you guessed it Scientific Research.
Now Jethro on the other hand was predictable in some ways but not in others. For a boy who would not read a book until in grade 9 when he started with Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' it came as a bit of a surprise when he wanted to do drama and loved Shakespeare. Not one to necessarily like hard work, his one year stint lugging bananas on a banana farm was remarkable until you take into account he was courting Anna (his wife) at the time and she also worked there. However his easy going character, love of people and caring nature means that it is not surprising he is working as a Youth Worker with troubled teenagers.
So a mixed bag really.
I think you get glimpses of what they may become, God's influence in their lives makes way for character alterations and other influences may move them in a certain direction but they are not set in stone. Your influence as a parent has a huge impact even if you don't realise it at the time. Things they complained about as a child become their habits as adults. Often they take something you may have dabbled in and make it their own.
I don't believe children are blank canvases nor are they born with set futures but are a mixture of both. God creates individual people who have the potential to go in a variety of ways whether we see them or not.
Well my answer is yes and no.
My daughter Michelle who was never much for anything to do with home making, the countryside or animals, cooking or organisation for that matter (When her room got so untidy she couldn't even get into bed because it was under so much mess, she used to move into her brother's room and mess that up so much that he then went and cleaned her room up so she would move back...) has just bought her first house with her husband in the country which has enough room for an organic vegetable garden and chickens (she raises them now) and a goat as she wants to make goats milk products. She is also an excellent cook and a manager of an organics store, which she does so well they have doubled their profits three years running. When she was a child I never would have guessed!
My first boy Benjamin on the other hand was born a scientist. He would alphabetise everything, was more organised with paper work than I was, kept his room fanatically clean analysed everything including politics from a young age and asked for a copy of 'Greys Anatomy' for his tenth birthday. No surprises there when he had a PhD at 22 in you guessed it Scientific Research.
Now Jethro on the other hand was predictable in some ways but not in others. For a boy who would not read a book until in grade 9 when he started with Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' it came as a bit of a surprise when he wanted to do drama and loved Shakespeare. Not one to necessarily like hard work, his one year stint lugging bananas on a banana farm was remarkable until you take into account he was courting Anna (his wife) at the time and she also worked there. However his easy going character, love of people and caring nature means that it is not surprising he is working as a Youth Worker with troubled teenagers.
So a mixed bag really.
I think you get glimpses of what they may become, God's influence in their lives makes way for character alterations and other influences may move them in a certain direction but they are not set in stone. Your influence as a parent has a huge impact even if you don't realise it at the time. Things they complained about as a child become their habits as adults. Often they take something you may have dabbled in and make it their own.
I don't believe children are blank canvases nor are they born with set futures but are a mixture of both. God creates individual people who have the potential to go in a variety of ways whether we see them or not.
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