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Sleep and weight loss

I'm someone who loves my sleep. I mean, I love sleep like a fat kid loves chocolate cake. Like the quote from Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: "She used to say she could taste sleep and that it was as delicious as a BLT on fresh French bread." Even in elementary school, I had a late bedtime (compared to so many other kids) but my mother must have found it pure hell to try to drag me out of bed in the mornings. She asked, cajoled, threatened, demanded, and basically did whatever it took ...... my sleep needs simply didn't coincide with the demands of real life.

Here I am 30+ years later, and nothing's changed. I cannot fall asleep before 11:00 but in order to accomplish everything I have to, I have to be up at 5:30 on a normal morning, 5:00 if I have to be at work at 8:00. No, I'm not kidding. Why 2 hours to get ready? You eat breakfast, unravel the leg bandages, roll them back up, hit the shower, dry off, put back on a pair of support hose, fix lunch (and maybe dinner for the road too - my Tuesdays for the next 3 months), take a few moments to check your home e-mail, and hit the road so that you can maybe avoid the bad traffic......

I wouldn't say I'm sleep deprived, but it is days like today where I find myself sleeping to make up the difference. I woke at 7:00 this morning. That's the first time I've slept past 6:30 in I-couldn't-tell-you-when. I dozed a little this morning between 9:30 and 10:00. I fell asleep again this afternoon for what was supposed to be 20 minutes and ended up being 45.

And guess what? Studies are starting to show a link between lack of sleep and weight gain. The Weight Watchers' Science Center has a great article about Sleep & Its Role In Weight Loss -- please check it out!

It might behoove me ... much as I hate the idea ... to revamp my schedule. To somehow make my body go against my own natural instincts and go to bed earlier. Like I have enough time in the day anyway to do everything I need.... :(

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