I have been doing some evaluating of my own life due to some circumstances with unexplained fatigue and lack of sleep...and I want to share them with you. I even hope to get some ideas and feedback...
When we are born, our mothers work very hard to get us on a schedule of sleeping and eating. Really, a pretty strict schedule. You know like eating every 2hours, sleeping at a set time in the morning and afternoon for a nap and then down for the night at a certain time, etc. The schedule changes as we grow, but we are kept on some sort of routine as school children and told "you can't stay up late, you have to be ready for school" or "you can't eat that now, it isn't snack time or meal time yet" or "you don't need any extra food, you have had plenty". We know that eating and sleeping are one of the two key elements into the development and health of a child.
So why does this concept change when we become adults? Why do we change are eating and sleeping patterns when we become adults? Why do we think we have suddenly matured beyond the need for regularly scheduled nourishment with food with set meal times and set portions? Why do we think we have matured beyond the need for regularly scheduled set times for sleep and length of sleep? Or why do we think we are more mature if we can skip a meal or go without sleep? Why are we told that this is good when we have built a foundation for years saying it isn't? Just because we are not "growing" in height or weight (for our good - not because we are eating too much), does that mean we still don't need this routine? Don't get me wrong, I do think we need to grow up from a child's mentality and realize that if you are not fed on the dot at 6pm for dinner that you will survive and will not die nor pass out and that tears for not being fed right this minute is not necessary; however, I do feel that we swallow concepts that are not right as adults in these areas. What do I mean?
We don't have time for breakfast. We rush out the door because of some very important meeting or appointment we have to make and tell ourselves it is okay...we will eat lunch later. Or we shrug it off and say breakfast is not that important, yet we were told all our growing up years that breakfast boosts your metabolism and helps you have brain power to study. We stay up late do accomplish all these tasks that never seem to get done. We tell ourselves sleep is not that important, we have a deadline, we are big now and don't require this or that much sleep. Yet we were told all our growing up years that sleep is necessary to be recharged, to have energy, to replenish our resources, to remain healthy. So why do we do this? Is it because society places a higher regard to these tasks? Or because we believe that we are adults and can be a superwoman/superman and none of these laws of life and health apply to us anymore? The more I have thought about this correlation between children and adults, the more I think we have some flawed concepts.
Why do we change our concepts as adults?
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