One Thing Now: Get Some Sleep

I didn’t sleep well Saturday night. My daughter boarded a 14-hour international flight, and was scheduled to reach her destination in what was, for me, the latest possible predawn hour. Like the Mom I am, I was still awake when she messaged me from her layover. I caught just a couple of hours’ exhausted sleep, waking to a message sent from her ultimate destination.

The lack of sleep was hard on my Sunday. It always is. I suffered the usual aftereffects: it was hard to concentrate, or to get anything useful done. Also, I ate way too much junk food.

Sleep matters, but it’s easily disrupted and I don’t prioritize it like I should. Many Americans don’t. It’s hard on us in a lot of ways, damaging our reaction times and memory, making us grumpy and more prone to mistakes. It increases our blood pressure and our risk of obesity (see my note above about junk food) and depression (also possibly connected to the junk food).

Sunday night, I made sure to go to bed on time, and get up on time Monday morning.

I am already having a better day.

So if you need to do one thing today to make your life better tomorrow, turn off the computer, put the phone on the charger, pull on some comfy pajamas…and get a good night’s sleep.