Thursday 31 January 2013

Thankful Thursday

At 0900 the reminder on my iPhone told me it was Thankful Thursday.  Again?  I really must find a way of slowing time down.  So much to do and so little time in which to do it.  How many times have I said that?

I spent quite a lot of time today thinking about what to post because I have so much for which to be thankful.  Indeed the list is endless.

Today, however, I have decided to be thankful for sleep.  Whilst I was staying at a friend's in Tauranga over the last weekend I slept the sleep of the just or the dead or whichever saying you use.   I slept well.  I slept without nightmares.  I always have when I have stayed there.  Many I know do not sleep well in a strange bed but I think that sometimes one can have an affinity with a house and I have one with that house.

All my life I have been blessed with the ability to sleep soundly and most of my life I never needed much sleep - 5 hours was my usual.  As we get older convention has it that we need less sleep.  I sleep longer than I used to do.  I rarely go to bed before midnight but I am asleep within minutes and I often sleep for 6, and sometimes 7, unbroken hours.  I very rarely wake in the night (the occasional natural comfort break excepted and then I'm usually fast asleep within a minute of replacing my head on the pillow).   I'll skip talking about the nightmares.

So today I am thankful for the gift of sleep: long, deep, unbroken sleep.  I wish it for you too.

19 comments:

  1. I find that I too sleep longer as I get older. I'd like to hear about your nightmares some time. When younger I had 'night terrors,' but thankfully they've gone away to terrorize others. I still have vivid dreams, always in color, and mostly filled with people I've never met!

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    1. I have a problem with my nightmares Jill. I categorise them as dreams, night ponies, night mares and night stallions. Fortunately the stallions are rare these days. I can hardly ever recall my night mares when I wake although it's not as simple as that and sometimes they go on for ages even after I've woken and then gone back to sleep again.

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  2. Our bodies are so mysterious...they all react so differently to various stimuli.
    Good for you that you felt comfortable to have a good nights sleep in a strange bed. Your psyche was obviously at peace with the surroundings.
    If we sleep less as we get older, does this mean I will now be waking at 2.30am instead of 4.30am/5.00am in the near future?
    Loved your words "natural comfort break"....priceless!

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    1. Our bodies certainly are mysterious Virginia. Yes, my psyche was very much at home in the house which has a lovely aura.

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  3. I have a gift, the ability to sleep deeply and without waking. I am also never bothered by bad dreams. This is what I wish for YOU.

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    1. You sound like a person very much at home with yourself in every way Kay.

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    2. Oh and thank you for your wish.

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  4. If I had your kind of sleep I would be very thankful too!

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    1. Your answer obviously implies that you don't Red. I'm sorry to hear that.

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  5. I'm so glad I was blessed with the sleeping gene. Have been a long, sound sleeper all my life. May that never change! Hope your bad dreams stay away.

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    1. Thanks Pauline (but unfortunately Morpheus wasn't listening last night). May your sleep regime never change!

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  6. Zzzzzzz... I'm glad you slept well in Tauranga!

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  7. I envy you the ability to fall asleep quickly. I'm in a vicious circle (since over a decade) of needing more sleep than I get naturally, and needing even more (neck)rest than I need sleep. It's been worse than it is now, though. Luckily (as you know) I find dreams rather interesting... Which reminds me, just the other night I had one with credits scrolling by at the end! White text on blue, but I never got to read what they said, because I woke up! And I can't recall the content of the "film" either...

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    1. I think, Monica, it may have something to do with the fact that I go to bed so late although I know that doesn't help everyone. Pain does make the body crave more rest - a natural reaction I assume to rest the part of the body causing the pain. I know that the problem for some people is that the body may crave but the mind may not obey either out of choice or inability. As you know I can rarely recall my dreams and even when I've written them down in the night the words are simply gobbledegook in the light of day.

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  8. When I can sleep without disturbance from outside (i.e. noisy neighbours), my body is usually satisfied with 7-8 hours, and less in the lighter part of the year. I remember how my need for a lot of sleep changed notably when I first started to run and became fitter than I used to be. That was in 2009; I was 41 then and a lot fitter than when I was 10 years younger.

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    1. Are you saying, Meike, that you need less sleep now you are fitter? I'm reasonably fit for my age because I do a lot of manual things but now that I go to a trainer at the gym and have a supervised regime my body is overall fitter than it was just getting lots of walking playing croquet and gardening etc but I need more sleep. Or perhaps I just think that I need more sleep.

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    2. Yes, Graham, I do need less sleep since I am fitter. I still need maybe a bit more than the average adult; I can function on 5 hours if I don't do it too often, but I feel best when I have 7-8 hours. Before I started running, it was more around 9 hours.

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    3. That's interesting Meike. I'm sure that there must be a medical explanation. I think I must just be getting older.

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