Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

Some years ago, I was looking for ways to reclaim some control over my life, which seemed to be ruled by my eternal to-do list. I decided to try one new thing at a time and the first experiment was this:

For one month, make everything in my life secondary to getting a full night's sleep

You may jump right to "...but what about x, y, or z???"  That was my challenge too. I don't have children but I've got plenty of other responsibilities. That's why I approached this as an experiment.

It was challenging. I had a well-developed habit of skimping on sleep so I could take care of one (two, three, four....) more things. In my mind's eye, I saw myself as lazy, selfish, unprofessional, immature, and a host of other unattractive adjectives for putting something as childish as "sleep" at the top of my self-care list.

And weren't all the really interesting, accomplished, important people in the world getting by on limited sleep (or so their complaint/bragging seemed to suggest)? I reminded myself it was an experiment and struggled on.

It turned out to be a smart thing to do. I learned a few important things:

• Virtually everything in my life runs better when I've gotten a good night's sleep. Including all those to-do's and obligations I'd been tending to at the expense of my own sleep.
• A good night's sleep helped keep nascent illnesses at bay. Not all of them but it was delightfully surprising what physical maladies I could avoid (or at least reduce) by stopping when I realized they were coming on and getting some sleep.
• My world did not end, my practice did not tank, and my marriage did not fail. Turned out a lot of those Critically Important to-do's and obligations either weren't actually Critically Important or could survive being put on hold while I caught some critical zzzz's.
• My to-do list lost weight over night. What looked huge and implacable at 11 pm often looked smaller and softer (or even irrelevant) at 11 am after a good night's sleep.
• God bless a good nap. While most writers advise limiting naps to 30 minutes or less so you don't mess up your nighttime sleep, I'm one of those fortunate few who can nap for 1, 2, or even 3 hours as needed and still sleep well at night (I know, try not to hate me for this).

While researchers are still pondering exactly why we need sleep, they all agree it's absolutely critical to our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Many of us struggle with insomnia from time to time; for some it's an enduring problem. You've probably seen plenty of lists of ways to improve your sleep. And here's another one!

10 Tips To Get Better Sleep Tonight

I'm sharing it because it said a few things I haven't read before and it said them clearly and convincingly. Like most "top 10" lists, it's a quick read. So take a moment or two and see if it offers you any new, interesting, or useful insights (but, please, not in bed when you really ought to be getting some shuteye).