Back a few years ago, Arianna Huffington made this big push for sleep. I’m not sure why people thought they should listen to her when doctors have been saying sleep is important for years. Now I’ve found yet another reason to make sure you are getting your sleep.

The Sleep Revolution

While Arianna Huffington is a famed business woman for her founding of The Huffington Post, it is amazing how her prowess transfers to other topics. Back two years, she published The Sleep Revolution. Prior to all this, she did a TED talk about sleep.

More Reasons for Sleep

I’m currently taking a class at a local United Methodist Church. We are using a book called The Wesley Challenge: 21 Days to a More Authentic Faith by Chris Folmsbee. In Chapter 10 – or on day 10, the question is “Do I go to bed on time and get up on time?” Folmsbee contends that sleep is not only critical to our physical health and well being but also to our spiritual health. When Wesley first posed this question of his “Holy Club,” it was in a time with no television, no radio, no electricity. There was little but reading by candlelight and social life to keep you up at night. An agrarian society required that you be well rested to take on the physical parts of working the land each day.

Wesley felt, at least as I read it, that, as Christians, we need to be well rested to do the work of God in the world. He also felt that this takes discipline which all good Christians need. If you are not well rested or in a fog, you may miss the opportunities being put in front of you to work God’s mission. If we look at The Bible, we are sure to find passages that tell of Jesus taking time away from his public ministry, away from his disciples to be renewed to pick up His Father’s mission again.

Sleep, Personally

I always thought I was fairly disciplined in my sleep habits. I am generally in bed between 9 and 10 pm and up between 5 and 6 am. Then, I started waiting to get up until 6:30. Then, I added a few puppies to my life. Now my sleep habits are not as disciplined. I try to go to bed at 9 pm. I’m usually in bed by 9:30 at the latest. The getting solid sleep is not happening but I do not feel in a fog. I just feel like I am constantly forgetting something. Hopefully, this feeling will dissipate as the puppies get older and sleep through the night.