Monthly Health Hint

Like so many writers, I have a day job to pay the bills.  I'm lucky to be a teacher so I have weekends off from that job, holidays and about two months during the summer.  Of course, I have children so those hours off are filled with cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping and doing everything to support my children in their endeavors.  So to find time to write, I have to sacrifice something.  For many years, I gave up sleep.  I learned to live on five to six hours a night, sometimes less.  It was a sacrifice, because I like sleep. I love sleeping in and my job doesn't allow it.

But if the health experts are correct, most people need a minimum of seven to eight hours of sleep per  night.  Lots of people function on less, but more and more studies show there are health issues that develop over time when sleep deprivation becomes a way of life instead of an occasional thing. The risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stress-related illnesses all rise as the hours of sleep sink.  I read a factoid recently that said snails can sleep for three years.  But we're not snails.  So my health advice for the month is get more sleep.  You can write more tomorrow.  Catch up on your blogging tomorrow.  Get more sleep and maybe you'll have more tomorrows.

So is your writing interfering with your healthy sleep habits? How many hours do you need to function?