The Elusive Sleep

There is nothing I like better than curling up with the Sunday newspapers after lunch. Online editions can never (I hope!) replace the printed word. There is a world of news and gossip and frothy information contained in every Sunday edition. Politics, fashion, domestic and foreign news, and editorials and commentaries from people who know what they are writing about and a few who don't.
I love it!

Last Sunday, I was struck by the bias towards sleep in many of the articles I read. The recently published book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is providing food for thought, it appears. My guess is that a lot of people found it in their Christmas stocking. I must confess that I didn't read all of it, I mainly concentrated on the parts relating to seniors (being a senior myself, and a bad sleeper to boot). I'm afraid that I didn't really agree with his findings that we all need more sleep than we realize. Quite frankly, I find that if I have a really bad night, I usually catch up the next. As well as that, everyone has a sleep pattern of their own. And obsessing because you didn't get what you're told is the right amount of sleep, is more likely to be detrimental to your health than anything else.  When my kids were small, I felt I never got enough sleep, later I slept less, waking up in the middle of the night. I used to get very frustrated but I don't any more. I found the best way of coping was to either relax and wait for sleep to come or if feeling restless, I made myself a hot drink and watched a bit of television until I felt tired enough to go back to bed and sleep.
I daresay that if any sleep scientists read this, they will wag their collective fingers at me, but all I can say is it works for me.

Stormy Sunday

It's a stormy Sunday morning as I write this.  I wish I had a better camera to show the white foam spilling onto the street, blown by a gale-force wind.  Here goes:

or looking out my back window, the river looks wild too.

Only when it's stormy do we realize there is not much we can do about it except sit it out.  This one is not so bad - there have been times when my street has been flooded.

Only one more week before I release my crime novel on Amazon Kindle.  I still have to do a final check on it.  But for today I am going to curl up with the Sunday newspapers, play some Simon & Garfunkel in the background and enjoy the day.
Happy Sunday everyone!