Warning: some dear readers who drive only automatic transmission cars might struggle with the analogy in this post. But you’ll get the point!
image credit: asplosh
So you’re driving happily along a two-lane country road when you come up behind another car that’s going much more slowly than you are. You’re travelling at the right speed to overtake smoothly but as you prepare to do so, a stream of traffic coming towards you appears as if by magic. You’re forced to slow down and stay behind the car in front for a little while. Then the oncoming traffic clears and you’re free to overtake.
But by this point you’ve lost too much engine speed. You have to shift to a lower gear in order to regain the momentum needed to accelerate fast and safely. Once you have, then you can overtake.
Life’s like that. If we spend all our time going fast, we’ll crash.
We need to slow down sometimes, regain our momentum. It makes for a smoother journey along the road.
For example, I’ve been experimenting the last few months with how much sleep I need. I found that if I have anything less than seven hours – eight is better – I’m in danger of burn-out. I wonder if this might be something to do with getting older; for years I had the stamina to manage on five or six hours and caffeine, but that doesn’t work for me any more. At first I felt a little ashamed of this need for sleep. It felt self-indulgent and weak. But then I started thinking that this shift to a lower gear gave me the momentum to live my waking hours with better grace and energy.
(A word here of intense sympathy for those of you who have trouble sleeping. It must be absolute hell. I’m so grateful this isn’t something I’ve ever suffered from.)
So when do you find it helpful to shift down into a slower gear, and why?
I am a serial insomniac. Have been forever. When I was younger I could survive on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I worked nights for most of my nursing career, and could pull off 3 days without sleep. Now, I need at least 8 hours of sleep. Often more.
Sleep is vitally important. More so than society realizes.
roxanne recently posted..Just Wondering
Totally agree about the importance of sleep. Research done into the effects of people, such as you, who do shift-work, shows it can be really harmful. Even if you get the same amount of sleep, staying awake during the night can lead to all kinds of digestive disorders and other problems.
I think it is fantastic that you could function on four and five hours. It has always been my dream. But I have always needed eight hours.
Last night, I was awake for an hour, an hour and a half. It means that today my brain and energy are at half-mast. Or to use your analogy, I will be going through this day in second gear. …
C’est la vie
Mind you, whatever I will be able to achieve, will be quite a success. I am off to paint!
claire recently posted..Out Of Love
Enjoy your painting! House or portrait?
House
claire recently posted..His Witnesses
Aging I have become a heliotrope, the type of plant that bends with the sun, getting to bed early, usually between 9 and 10 pm, and rising with sun.
Yes, this is the sort of pattern I’m trying to take up. Didn’t know a heliotrope did that.
at this stage in my life I need 9-10hrs sleep a night. being so anaemic means i constantly feel like i could fall asleep anytime. but i have noticed getting that much sleep also seems to help keep germs at bay a bit more too – a good thing.
as we zoom into the silly season, which i dread at the best of times, allowing myself some space or low-gear days between ‘parties’ or xmas social gatherings, will be vital
Kel recently posted..defining your style
Yes, the repair functions of the body need sleep so desperately. Glad you’re “allowing” yourself this.
Surprise, surprise — I’m a night owl. Working nights, which I did for years, just seems right to me. However with aging parents (89 and 87), I’ve shifted to days to be available to them (and it’s an uphill struggle!). Having had to sleep during the day, I have a cache of tricks that folks who have difficulty sleeping might be able to use — I use a fan to generate white noise. (You can buy clocks that have a nature sound option and a choice of sounds — brook, surf, bird sounds, rain, etc. or untune a radio from the station to get nothing but static.) This masks the traffic noise, barking dogs, and all those other annoying little sounds. Secondly, I have a clock with a CD player that has a sleep timer on it, and a CD (“Nada Himalaya” by Deuter) that stays there all the time. I’ve been listening to it when I go to sleep since it came out in 1998, and I’ve conditioned my mind that when I’m lying in bed, hearing this music means it’s time to settle down and go to sleep — even my cats respond to it. They come into the bedroom, hop up on the bed and curl up.
I can stay up for 24-36 hours, but I try to keep to my sleep schedule because it’s so easy for me to fall back into my night-owl groove. (That’s another trick for those who have difficulty sleeping. Keep a strict schedule as much as possible.) However, I chafe under the tyranny of the alarm clock. I’ve got to have at least one day out of the week when I can sleep until I’m done sleeping and wake up naturally. There are times when I can sleep 10-15 hours at a stretch, but usually 8-9 hours is enough. Speaking of which, it’s past time for me to hit the hay. . .
WOL recently posted..Where Does The Time Go?
There are some great tips here WOL, thank you. Such an interesting perspective for a (former) day-time sleeper to share tips on how to get to sleep when everyone else is awake.