Sleep

I have been thinking about my sleep habits recently. I tend to be a night owl and not a big fan of early mornings. I usually go to bed between midnight and 1AM. Last year I was going to bed around 11 or 11:30PM and getting up earlier so I could work out, but that faded as I began running again. I don't particularly like to run in the morning, so the need for being up earlier disappeared.

Then I began to look into some statistics. Check them out.

Sleep statistics.
* In a survey conducted in 2002, it was estimated that approximately ¾ of all Americans do not get adequate sleep.
* Approximately 500,000 automobile accidents are thought to be attributable to sleep apnea.
* One in every ten men suffers from sleep apnea; a condition in which an individual actually stops breathing while sleeping.
* Parents who have small children sleep on average one hour less per night than those with no children.
* Sleep deprivation is the cause of numerous health problems, including heart disease, depression, suppressed immune systems, obesity, fatigue, diabetes and high blood pressure.
* Losing four hours of sleep in one night is comparable to having a blood alcohol level of 0.1% in response times.
* Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

  I have a great sleep app I will have to blog about some time.

As I read some of these things it makes me worry a little. I know that some people can function on less sleep just fine and I feel like that is me. The problem is that I don't want to take chances. I also want to be healthy and not cut my life short because I don't sleep well. I also know that when our babies come home from Ethiopia my normal sleep habits will have a new normal that will be totally out of whack.


So...what to do? Do I renew my commitment to an earlier bed time? I don't know. I know that I could use some quiet time in the mornings alone with God tat comes uninterrupted. Hmmmm...


How much sleep do you get?
What time do you usually go to bed/get up?