I don’t know about you, but when I’m tired, everything looks off and bad and desperate. It’s the wrong time to make even the smallest decision, even where to eat. Most things are blown out of proportion and it can get really get ugly if anyone tries to talk reason to me.

Someone said to me yesterday, “You look like you could use 12 hours of sleep.” Wow! What was that supposed to mean? Did I look that bad or was she trying to encourage me to call it an early night? I’m going with the early night.

I’ve often said I could get so much more done if I didn’t have to sleep. Skimping on sleep doesn’t get more done because when I push on when I’m tired, I generally have to go back the next day and redo. Studies show adults generally need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep. It gives our bodies time to mend, repair and get ready to be awake again. Cutting back even one hour can make it hard to focus the next day.

Evidently we sleep in cycles and some sleep sounder than others. As a mom I don’t think I went into a deep sleep until all my kids were on their own. Now when the grandkids stay over, I get up in the night to check on them. Jim sleeps on. I think it’s because he knows I’m making rounds.

We all have our own distinctive sleep habits. I like the room cool and the covers over my head. I have to have a sound machine to drown out the rest of the world because I sleep so lightly. And nothing is better than sleeping in my own bed with my foot next to Jim Brawner’s.

I’m not one of those women who wakes up refreshed and lovely, ready to face the world. I generally look like I’ve wrestled an alligator and need a good hour on auto pilot to have coffee and wake up. I clench when I sleep so to save my teeth and jaw my dentist made me a bite guard. It adds to the look. The other morning I woke up with it clenched in my fist instead of my mouth. Who knows what that was about.

So, I’m going to try to get more sleep to see if the experts know what they are talking about. Having an off switch on my brain would be convenient.

“I will lie down and sleep in peace...”
Psalm 4:8