When my cousin was at Paris Island going through Marine Boot Camp, they had a week where they were allotted very little, if any, sleep. I think the theory was that their minds needed to be trained to withstand anything. Once you know you can do it, it's not such an insurmountable task. One of the many methods of torture used in POW camps is sleep deprivation. I don't know what the actual number is, but if a person is deprived of sleep for a certain period of time, they will eventually start hallucinating. Lack of sleep can also contribute to a dramatic decline in a person's health, eventually causing them to die.
Before Bobby and I got married, one of the things that concerned me was that I am an extremely heavy sleeper and he sometimes needs something during the night. The first three months we were married, the slightest noise made me wake up. I guess my mind was on alert status. Then one morning, he kept watching me, and asked me if I remembered him waking me up during the night. I did, but turns out he had to wake me up at least three times before he had me awake enough to do anything. One of the times he woke me up, he claims I sat up in bed, smoothed the wrinkles out of his cover, patted it, asked him if he wanted anything else, then went right back to sleep. I don't remember any of it, except when I did wake up he was a little on the grouchy side, which I didn't appreciate at all.
I'm supposed to work tomorrow. That means I want to go to bed early since I have to get EVERYONE up and fed before I leave. But of course, life never ever (okay, there are the rare exceptions) goes as you plan. Aleh is sick with a high fever. I have another 20 minutes before I check him again. If this children's tylenol hasn't kicked in any, then I may be getting Bobby back up to head to the hospital. If I get 6 hours of sleep tonight, I think I'll be happy.
My motto has always been that I need to eight hours of sleep to feel good. I can function on seven, but we won't say how well I function. But I've learned over the past four years with the kids and the last nine years with Bobby that I can function if and when I have to, to points I never dreamed possible before. Yet I also realize when I go for a couple of weeks at full blast, that's normally when I wind up sick in some form or fashion. I guess if God needed a break after six days of work, who are we to think we can go without one?
Before Bobby and I got married, one of the things that concerned me was that I am an extremely heavy sleeper and he sometimes needs something during the night. The first three months we were married, the slightest noise made me wake up. I guess my mind was on alert status. Then one morning, he kept watching me, and asked me if I remembered him waking me up during the night. I did, but turns out he had to wake me up at least three times before he had me awake enough to do anything. One of the times he woke me up, he claims I sat up in bed, smoothed the wrinkles out of his cover, patted it, asked him if he wanted anything else, then went right back to sleep. I don't remember any of it, except when I did wake up he was a little on the grouchy side, which I didn't appreciate at all.
I'm supposed to work tomorrow. That means I want to go to bed early since I have to get EVERYONE up and fed before I leave. But of course, life never ever (okay, there are the rare exceptions) goes as you plan. Aleh is sick with a high fever. I have another 20 minutes before I check him again. If this children's tylenol hasn't kicked in any, then I may be getting Bobby back up to head to the hospital. If I get 6 hours of sleep tonight, I think I'll be happy.
My motto has always been that I need to eight hours of sleep to feel good. I can function on seven, but we won't say how well I function. But I've learned over the past four years with the kids and the last nine years with Bobby that I can function if and when I have to, to points I never dreamed possible before. Yet I also realize when I go for a couple of weeks at full blast, that's normally when I wind up sick in some form or fashion. I guess if God needed a break after six days of work, who are we to think we can go without one?
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