Earlier this month, I was reading the latest addition to the One Year Bible Blog (if you want to read the Bible in one year, this guides you through with commentary, pictures and links to the readings). If you look about halfway down, at the end of the New Testament section, you’ll see mention of a “ministry of sleeping”, which caught my eye.
That links to Lauren Winner’s article, Sleep Therapy, which is worth a read. I think I could probably do with making time for a little more sleep. I’ve picked up the idea of “sleep debt” from various sources over the past few months, although this is the longest single passage I can remember from online, and I wonder if I’m living in the red-eye a bit myself. I certainly often find myself a bit tired, particularly early afternoon, not too long after lunch. Maybe too many of my bedtimes are stretching late for the time I try to get up in the morning and perhaps my credit is all used up?
One thing I have found that helps is to make sure I put my clothes for the next morning out before I go to bed (just like I was taught as a child and seem to have neglected most of the time since then!). Being a little more intentional about getting ready to rise the next day seems to help being a little better on catching up with sleep. I’ll have to give the theory some more testing but I’m looking for 2006 to be as packed with meaning as 2005 (2004, 2003, etc!) but a little more restful!