SLEEP IS VERY important to the body. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Even animals require different amounts of sleep. A giraffe sleeps an average of 1.9 hours a day, but a brown bat spends 19.9 hours a day asleep. Can you imagine spending 83 percent of your time asleep? We do spend up to one-third of our lives asleep, however; yet few of us spend all of our sleep time doing it well. Sixty million Americans suffer from insomnia, yet the FDA recommends using sleeping pills for only two weeks or less. What is the answer? Here are a few suggestions:
- Keep the stomach empty four hours before going to bed. When you eat, the stomach is not resting. Acid is being formed to digest food, and sometimes this acid reflexes back into the esophagus and causes problems
- Avoid stimulants. This may include caffeine, which can last up to 20 hours in the body. Also, Television can keep the mind revved up. Try to keep the mind relaxed. Read the Bible and pray before sleeping.
- Get more exercise. This will make you more tired.
- Keep the room dark. Darkness stimulates the production of melatonin from the pineal gland. This is the substance God made which helps us sleep naturally
- Laugh. This promotes endorphins, which counteract stress hormones and relax our muscles.
- Avoid anger. Ephesians 4:26 advises us, ''Do not let the sun go down on your wrath'' (NKJV).
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