jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

March 12 - 18 is "Sleep Awareness Week." Interesting that it occurs when we lose an hour's sleep because of DST.

"Dear Optum Patient,

Getting a good night's sleep is important to your overall physical and mental health. A lack of sleep has been linked to chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, cancer and high blood pressure. In addition, fatigue from a lack of sleep can affect your alertness, reaction and concentration, leading to serious injury or even death.

At the start of daylight savings time, the National Sleep Foundation created Sleep Awareness Week to remind us about the importance of sleep.
To help you get your sleep on track, read our recent blog post "Activities to Help Improve Sleep."

-From my medical conglomerate

Tips for getting a better night's sleep -

https://east.optum.com/services/sleep-medicine/daytime-activities-to-help-you-sleep-better-at-night/?utm_source=patient-notification-sleep-awareness&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blog-sleep-awareness-month

Jbravi

Interesting!

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

I read something about going to sleep recently and by jove, it really works. Usually going to sleep is almost automatic requiring almost no time at all, however, once in a while it does require some additional effort. The article I read recommended slowly taking in a deep breath, holding it for two counts (1-1000, 2-1000) and slowly letting the air out. Most likely you not make six cycles of this before you are asleep. It works, for me at least.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It's funny, but I read a similar article. Breath in for a slow count of five, hold it for the same count, and then exhale for the count. Do that several times.

I remember this poem from when I was a kid. Well, I remember the last line of each stanza.

No Boy Knows
There are many things that boys may know--
Why this and that are thus and so,--
Who made the world in the dark and lit
The great sun up to lighten it:
Boys know new things every day--
When they study, or when they play,--
When they idle, or sow and reap--
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

Boys who listen--or should, at least,--
May know that the round old earth rolls East;--
And know that the ice and the snow and the rain--
Ever repeating their parts again--
Are all just water the sunbeams first
Sip from the earth in their endless thirst,
And pour again till the low streams leap.--
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

A boy may know what a long glad while
It has been to him since the dawn's first smile,
When forth he fared in the realm divine
Of brook-laced woodland and spun-sunshine;--
He may know each call of his truant mates,
And the paths they went,--and the pasture-gates
Of the 'cross-lots home through the dusk so deep.--
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

O I have followed me, o'er and o'er,
From the flagrant drowse on the parlor-floor,
To the pleading voice of the mother when
I even doubted I heard it then--
To the sense of a kiss, and a moonlit room,
And dewy odors of locust-bloom--
A sweet white cot--and a cricket's cheep.--
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

James Whitcomb Riley

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

I have no problem going to sleep - it’s the waking up that’s the problem.

Stan

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Thanks! I like that poem a lot.

Pepsiman Loc: New York City

Take a sleeping pill.

Stephan G

PSA: James Whichcomb Riley IS NOT the last line of the poem! It is the author who put together the poem above his name!

Back to the regular showing of Paw Patrol.

RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC

A trick I've not needed for many years is to clench your muscles (in pairs so your body does not move) for a count of 10, then release them and let them stay flaccid. Feet to torso, fingers to shoulders. Finally, neck and head. At this point you should be a lump on the mattress, and zzzz...

--Rich
And just after I've done my shoulders, my nose gets I-T-C-H-Y! 😡