The last article I wrote was to address some questions of how I go about doing what I do during the day. I do not work all day because I know that my body needs rest but while I am on my feet I try to keep going and get all I can done that needs to be done.
Do we have our priorities in order?
People are very busy these days and there are a lot of things that are causing stress so what I am going to post about is a first priority.
If we set our day with the first priority being that all the family members get adequate rest then our day could start off much better.
There is always something to do and if we have the rest we need then our body would be stronger to do the things that need to be done.
Babies need the most sleep. They need somewhere around 14 to 17 hours of sleep per day. We actually have guidelines for sleep and should consider their advice.
There are charts that you can read but I am going to give a simple run down.
Children need 10 to 13 hours of sleep per day, toddlers need more.
Teens 13 to 18 need 8 to 10 hours per day.
Adults need 7 to 9 hours per day.
I have seen people laugh or roll their eyes when doctors talk about getting enough sleep.
My husband and I do get our sleep because we make it a priority. We do not get into the television trap, we know we must go to bed very early because we have to get up very early. We try to be in bed by 8:00. We put our dogs to bed around 7:15. They know when it is bedtime and they let us know when it is time to go to bed and are ready to get in their kennels.
We choose our bedtime by what time we need to get up the next morning but this does not vary too much because we do better with a routine.
Our two birds, a lovebird and a cockatiel will start fussing and chirping at us when it is their bedtime. We cover their cages and tell them night night.
When we all get good sleep routines then there is not so much fussing about going to bed. For a child going to bed can be a warm fuzzy kind of time if they know that everyone is going to bed.
People have so much stimulation today that it takes a while to settle down. We need to think about what we do and when we eat it considering when we are going to bed. We don't want it too close to bedtime or too far away or we will feel hungry. So we have to work out that balance.
I feel that today so many people just live in a rush with hardly any planning. Often people just say yes to everything and are completely strung out.
Many times we watch the nature in our yard and the one thing certain is late in the day we see the birds and squirrels, chipmunks and other creatures getting ready to go to bed.
My husband and I know that if we are getting up at 4:00 AM that we need to go to bed at 8:00 and that is how it is. My husband works hard as many people do and if he sat up and watched television late into the night then gets up early and goes to work it would not be safe for him or fair to his employer. But people do this all the time and then drag through the day.
People often comment that my husband is a cheerful person and he is and possibility the fact that he is responsible enough to get proper rest could be a good part of his being cheerful.
I know there are many activities today for children that go into the evening and on school nights and that is when each person has to assess their own family's needs.
There are many things we don't know and what lack of sleep does to our bodies. We do know that Sleep plays an important roll in our health and we need to be as healthy as possible to be strong enough to battle many diseases of today.
Food planning is an important priority too and if we are not doing these two things then possibly it is time to get a different perspective on our priorities.
Having a simple home, an uncluttered life, healthy food and good sleep routines can be more than just a dream because this is something we can control and do something about.
Grandma Donna
