It turns out that those extra few minutes of sleep are ruining your rest. The more you snooze, the more energy you lose.

Find a reason to wake up!

Psalms 59:16 (NLT) But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

You are messing with your brain.

Your body starts moving toward awake as much as two hours before you wake up. When your alarm rudely interrupts your blissful dreams, you smack it and try to go back to sleep. Now your brain, which has been gradually and gently waking you is now carrying you back to la-la land. Only, 9 minutes later, you gut-punch your brain awake!  Then you likely do it again.

Studies show that this practice is actually sapping our energy. It’s also confusing our body’s sleep rhythms.

You are likely not getting enough sleep.

I read a few weeks ago that the average American in the early 1900s slept 10 hours a day.  That’s an average. Wouldn’t you like to be the one driving that average up?

Would you care to guess how many hours of sleep we average? 

6 HOURS! 

What!? You have got to be kidding me. I’ve been ROBBED!

Okay, calmer now.

You just need more sleep. You wouldn’t be so cranky if you were getting more sleep. If you were getting enough sleep you would likely not even need an alarm clock.

I bet you read that and felt powerless. My guess is that you don’t think you have very much control over your sleep and wake times.

I hear you. BUT… You need more sleep.

Seriously. You aren’t sleeping enough. So what can you do?

Start going to bed earlier.

Listen… I don’t need your attitude on this. You clearly need a nap. After your nap, we’ll talk about this like adults. 

Well, we’ll try.

Okay, how much FaceTwitSnapGram do you need. It’s always on. 

When I was a kid, you could only watch TV until the national anthem began. That would terrify you. But you knew it was time to go to bed.

With all the 24-hour-a-day options available to us, no wonder we can’t sleep. So here are a few suggestions.

Turn off the screens and dim the lights.

When you dim the lights you are telling your body that it is getting nearer to bedtime. It’s like the salad before the steak. Salad tells your stomach something good is coming. (Cause it sure isn’t a salad) And, dim lighting tells your brain that the sandman draweth nigh.

Switch to a book, conversation, prayer, or just quiet.

Stop laughing. I can tell that you did not take a nap. Jesus took naps. Be like Jesus. 

Mark 4:38 (NLT) Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

Of course, your kids will likely be like the disciples. Enough about that.

Change your nightly routine to wind down. Manage your schedule to taper off closer to a decent hour.  

It may sound impossible. It may be a moving target. But, it’s worth it. A good day often follows a good night of rest.

And now, the finale!

When you wake up.  Get up!

Whew! It’s so simple. 

Just bounce out of the bed. 

Shock yourself. Get up and run to the bathroom before the old sleepy head in you knows what’s happening.

You’ll have a lot more energy that you didn’t waste beating up your alarm clock.

THEN WHAT…

We’ll talk about that in our next installment.

I hope you are able to find your way out of the bathroom until then.

God is GREAT in You!

Micheal