"If you hoot with the owls at night, you can not soar with the eagles in the morning" ~ Morgan Wooten
Some friends of mine, particularly Ben and Billy, Justin, and me have had a bit of a running gag about if we have been 'hooting' the night before, especially if we walk into church Sunday morning with bags under our eyes. It is some good natured ribbing, but has also led to some discussion on the importance of sleep, not being up all hours of the night, and how are attitudes and functionality are effected by how much sleep we get. I have realized more and more how important it is to get a legitimate, consistent amount of sleep every night. Of course we can get to the point where we sleep way to much and use it more as a crutch or source of comfort as opposed to a time of refreshment and refueling, but we do need to have that good 7-8 hours of sleep. Carnegie Mellon University researchers recently published a study showing the relationship between sleep and ones resistance to getting colds. The study stated that those particiapants that got less than 7 hours a sleep per night were 3 times more likely to develop a respiratory illness when they came in contact with a cold virus.
More than just having a diminshed immune system, I think it is also important that we get enough sleep so we can be a good witness for the Lord. I know when I am tired, I can become irratable, snap to judgements, and really not want to always show patience and loving kindness toward the people in my life. I think often times we feel we might be missing out on something if we choose not to do a particular activity and instead go to bed. However, I think the times are few that we truly miss out on an opportunity when we choose to get to bed. I think it is more the case that we end up missing out on opportunites to serve, to be kind, to listen to somebody, and to be diligent in our study, work, and life, because we are too tired or are just thinking to ourselves, 'I can't wait to get home to crash.'
