Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

Sleep is a rare commodity for most moms. Even now that my baby is sleeping through the night, I rarely get more than 6 hours of sleep a night — and that’s on a good night.

According to a BabyCenter.com Special Report, 3 out of 5 moms say sleep is the number one challenge in their family with 50 percent of parents getting less than six hours of sleep a night.

Six hours honestly sounds pretty good to me so that right there should tell me I need to make sleep more of a priority.

Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation

The trouble with that is that without adequate sleep, we’re prone to all kinds of issues that range from increased stress, weight gain, mental impairment, and even heart attack.

I strongly suspect that my very discouraging lack of weight loss since my baby was born (and let’s face it I’m talking about the FIRST one not the 5th) is due to the fact that I never get to bed before midnight. Let’s not forget the fact that I’m so sleep deprived that I sometimes forget how to spell my own name. Seriously. And once I found my car keys in the freezer.

Other symptoms of sleep deprivation include:

• Stress
• Increased chance of injury
• Obesity
• Stroke
• Weight gain
• Memory and mental impairment
• Increase risk of diabetes
• Increased appetite
• Depression
• Being really, REALLY grumpy (at least that’s what my kids tell me)

Overcoming “Sleep Debt”

Being chronically sleep deprived, which so many moms are, can even create a “sleep debt”. There is hope though. According to the Sleep Foundation, “The good news is that some research suggests that the accumulated sleep debt can be worked down or “paid off.”

I’ve had babies in my house for years and bad habits of my own that have lingered long after my babies started sleeping through the night. Here’s what always gets me though: it’s quiet in my house after my kids go to bed. And my house is so rarely quiet. I know that I don’t get anything productive done after my kids go to bed for the night (primarily because my cumulative sleep debt is so high) but I enjoy that time. With 4 while kids in the house, it’s hard to shut off the light and go to bed when I know I won’t get that alone time again during daylight hours.

Sleep debt builds up over time and it has to be fixed over time as well. Most of us don’t have time to take a nap in the middle of the day or even sleep in once a week, but you can go to bed 15 minutes earlier to start with.

Make sleep a priority. Those tasks that you want to finish up late at night — they can wait. Get up a few minutes early to finish them or do them during your lunch break or your baby’s naptime. Do you feel like you have to “relax” by watching TV (which is right at the top of the list of things you should NOT do before going to bed) late at night?

Evaluate whether that’s really reducing stress in your life. Chances are, you’ll feel more stress relieve by getting some extra sleep.

How often do you get a full 8 hours of sleep a night? Do you feel sleep deprived during the day?