Sleep
by Motte Brown on 06/17/2009 at 9:36 AM
Having trouble sleeping? Then read yesterday's Boundless article A Third of our Lives from Jenny Schroedel. She not only instructs how to get a good night's sleep, she explains why it's good for the soul.
Sleep is also a reminder of our mortality. The threshold of sleep is the very edge of life. "Sleep is a gift of death," Rossi said. "In sleep we have no more money, memory or consciousness. Each night, we experience a small death as a prelude to our ultimate death, and each morning we experience a small resurrection." George MacDonald echoed his sentiments, saying that in sleep our bodies are "sown in weakness, but raised in power."
John Piper has "a brief theology of sleep" along these lines that's quite humbling as well.
Sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). But Israel will. For we are not God. Once a day God sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think we are in control and that our work is indispensable. To cure us of this disease God turns us into helpless sacks of sand once a day. How humiliating to the self-made corporate executive that he has to give up all control and become as limp as a suckling infant every day.
"[H]elpless sacks of sand" and "suckling infant[s]." Awesome.
1. Chris said the following at 9:42 AM on Jun 17:
In sleep we have no more money, memory or consciousness.
Technically not true (e.g., dreams).
2. Brian Ramsey said the following at 10:38 AM on Jun 17:
The other night, my fiance and I wanted to find something to read from Charles Spurgeon. I ran into this fascinating article from him:
http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/0244.htm
I've only read the first few paragraphs so far, but the thoughts are intriguing.
Sleep is more profound and deep in significance than I'd once thought!
3. obewan said the following at 11:03 AM on Jun 17:
I was once hospitalized for a sleep disorder where I went 21 days straight on 1-2 hours of sleep a night. I did get better, but after that it has been an intermittent problem.
I took the natural hormone melatonin to help for about 8 years, but quit when I heard that taking the artificial dose might end the ability to the body to produce natural melatonin.
Now, I do sleep, but not through the whole night. I wake up 2 or 3 times a night during and after lucid dreams. Maybe I don't need as much sleep now that I am older. Many older people say this is a common problem. I suppose a "bad" night is 6 hours of sleep, so it is not going to kill me, but if I pray until I fall back asleep the sleep is usually better and I can then get about 7 hours.
4. Tyler said the following at 11:40 AM on Jun 17:
I wonder if the book Jenny Quoted has any advice for parents of newborns. Our one-month-old daughter keeps us up at all hours. My wife tries to sleep when the baby sleeps during the day, but that's only so helpful, and often she's so busy she can't afford to loose that time to naps. It doesn't help that we're in the middle of moving to a new house on top of things... By the time I get home from work, I'm often ready for bed. Any suggestions on warding off weariness?
5. Mishy from SouthBayAreaCali said the following at 11:59 AM on Jun 17:
So I really like the article Third of our Lives, it was really helpful to me. Work sometimes takes away from my time of rest though, especially getting a good amount of sleep. I've worked retail for almost 6 years, and I've found it to be enjoyable most of the time for me. Just one thing, sometimes they're scheduling is terrible. Sometimes I would have to be at work by 7a and then work the next day at 3p. Then work closing from like 3p to like 9:30p and then have to be up early and be at work by 7a. Your body needs time to wind down and that sometimes takes close to an hour in half or almost two hours. It gets to me after a while and I don't enjoy not getting enough sleep. I enjoy sleeping in but then realize there is always things to do, and its a never ending circle. Companies are more into making their money then their employees health. I work for Target and they are a good company but I've noticed they can really care less about you and more about the money they're making. Its something I've known and seen for years working retail. It might be time to get our of retail and find something else though. I just realize that no matter where you work or who you work for, ultimately its all about their money. I won't become a manager because I see what is required from them. They tend to give up their Sunday's which is really hard for me because I enjoy having Sunday's going to church and just resting. Already my schedule is enough and I don't think being a manager and making a bit better money is worth not having sleep. Money is not everything, and I trust God to provide for me. There are many people that can handle the schedule of being a manager but I'm not one of them. Target especially, at least mine they always schedule people to close and then open. How do they expect us to get any sleep. Its like some of these people, eat, breath and sleep Target. I'm not like that. Its just a job, and its not my life. So I guess what I want to ask is how you do you find a good amount of sleep with a crazy schedule of retail? Sleeping in is challenging because you have other things needing to get done before going to work. Its a tough road and I for one enjoy my sleep. I have to take melatonin because my body just doesn't want to shut down and rest. I'm a really hard worker and my brain just does a thousand miles a minute. Plus, I don't live in the same town as my work so even if I get out at 9:30p I'm not home till close to ten and then if I have to be up early, the earliest I can go to bed is 11p because if I go to bed any later I don't want to wake up at like 5:20a in the morning for early shifts. I take showers in the morning, it gets me going and wakes me up. Anyway, just some of my thoughts, hope others kinda deal with the same things as I do. Thanks boundless you guys are awesome. Keep it up!
6. Megan said the following at 12:03 PM on Jun 17:
Isn't somewhat disturbing how frustrated we get when we can't sleep? God-willingly, I've never suffered from a sleep disorder. Although, when I was younger, I used to worry myself that I wouldn't be able to sleep ... so then I wouldn't be able to sleep.
It's amazing how everything in our lives is to the glory of God, and even the act of going to sleep shows His greatness.
Amazing!
7. Darren said the following at 2:21 PM on Jun 17:
As a college student, I would sleep in until the late morning. My Christian housemates thought I was a little lazy and that I liked to sleep too much. I should have just told them, "Let me sleep, I'm trying to be spiritual!"
Now, our "suckling infant" tends to wake up at 3 am and 5 am these days. She's also at the stage where she likes to stay up and play. Our four year old on the other hand likes to jump in our bed at odd-hours of the night.
This is the cycle of life. Once I slept probably way too much. Now, sleep deprivation is par for the course. Oh for the days, when I could come back from class and take a nap.
Sorry, Tyler, there is no solution for this dilemma. I think we all should appreciate those parents who have more than 4-5 kids and probably never sleep (not to mention appreciating our own parents a little more). If you're a parent, lack of sleep is one of those things like messy diapers, the occasional tantrum, and Dora the Explorer that you just have to accept. Then when your kids are older and they let you sleep, you can be all the more thankful that you survived. Then and only then, you can pull out this article and reflect on the contemplative and spiritual benefits of sleep.
8. DannieA said the following at 2:42 PM on Jun 17:
ummmm I don't care if sleep can be profound or spiritual...
I just like to sleep. I can sleep 10-12 hours straight if able to, and I can take 2 hour naps easily.
I love sleep
9. Kim said the following at 3:17 PM on Jun 17:
Psalm 127:2
It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.
As a med student, I don't sleep much. Most of this lack of sleep is necessary, but I do have to check my motivations for staying up late to get things learned:
a) is it out of a willingness to serve God, doing well at what He has called me to, or
b) is it my anxiety to prove that I'm worthy of the honor; because nothing I can do will make me deserving of becoming a doctor.
10. Paul Clutterbuck said the following at 4:23 PM on Jun 17:
I've been affected by sleep disorders all my life. When I was very small I couldn't sleep at night. At 17 I had my first kidney transplant, and the prednisone gave me CFS on and off for 16 years. I was lucky to come off prednisone more than two years ago (praise the Lord for regenerating my adrenals from nothing!), but since then my brain has got hyperactive again.
In October 2007, after a broken engagement, I went a full 16 days and nights without sleeping, and was asking my cellgroup for prayer about it until I finally got a few nights' rest. Since starting at university last year, I've sometimes gone 48 hours without sleep while working on assignments - which is OK so long as you don't have to go out for a day or two afterwards!
For me the real killer of sleep is using the Internet into the late hours. Because I have a wide range of interests (I am involved in a very interdisciplinary field of study), the Internet seems like an inexhaustible treasure trove of knowledge, and I easily get addicted to it. The Lord convicted me a few weeks ago that what I was addicted to was the knowledge of good and evil, and that I was playing God by trying to know everything there is to know (which of course is impossible anyway). John Piper's insights would be very much in line with this.
11. Belle said the following at 4:36 PM on Jun 17:
For the past six years I had some of the worst sleeping patterns. Then when I learned I had depression and started taking an anti-depression medication I couldn't wait to go to bed. Now that school is out I can sleep up to 18 hours a night. I love it.
But the thought that sleep means more than we think has always been at the back of my mind. THanks for the article. It'll keep me thinking!
12. Heidi said the following at 11:05 PM on Jun 17:
I haven't read all the articles linked here in the post and comments, but one verse pertaining to sleep that I've often pondered for many years is Psalm 3:5 "I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." That is to say, the Lord is the one who keeps me alive while I sleep.
13. Iris said the following at 1:36 AM on Jun 18:
Haven't read the article, but interstingly enough there was an article on Slate.com yesterday talking about the best places in the world to sleep. In it it mentions that western nations have the most sleep problems, which may be due to the "discomforts" of luxary. Maybe worth checking out:
http://www.slate.com/id/2220293/
14. Sarah P. said the following at 8:21 AM on Jun 18:
Another great verse, which I encountered in college when anxiety was greatly disrupting my sleep:
"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety" (Ps. 4:8).
After the Fall, God limited us with the curse of death in order to keep us aware of our weakness and need. As Schroedel and Piper say, sleep is our daily acknowledgment of our limitations.
I like the way King David put it: "My reins also instruct me in the night seasons" (Ps. 16:7).
Nothing like a little insomnia to reduce us to an agonizing helplessness. :)
15. O from Canada said the following at 5:56 PM on Jun 18:
I have this conflict with my mother who definitely does not get enough sleep and tries to argue with me that 6 hours of sleep is sufficient to go through the day. Yet she is always tired and naps every day and feels weak and tired, but 6 hours is "sufficient".
I struggle falling asleep, so some of this advice will help me. I also have had a problem of trying to get too much information and it has just been recently that I have really prayed about it and God has helped me let that go.
#9 Kim - What year are you in as a med student? My friend in third year said he never thought he could wake up at 4:00 am every night but had to for his month of OBGYN rotations and surprised himself. This is a little side tracked, but what specialty are you hoping to get in to? I am personally kinda running away from medicine because I don't feel I will have enough family time in the profession.