Weighed Down

Have you ever noticed how being tired makes everything seem heavier, even your body, and this in spite of the fact that I'm down one pound.  I picked up my son and his wife from the airport last night at 12:30 and by the time I got to bed it was 1:30.  My husbands alarm goes off at 5:30 and so here I am sitting in my bed with my laptop at 6:27 feeling heavy from the weight of tiredness.  I realized something last night as I wasted time playing on the computer after Gord went to bed.  No point in both of us being tired.  The more tired I got, the hungier I got, then I realized something I hadn't before.  An overtired body wants fuel and food is our bodies fuel. I didn't realize the full impact of that thought last night, I was too tired.  It took my reflection time this morning to highlight the fact.  Plus I'm still tired and I'm still hungry, that always gets my attention.

Todays question:  "How often do we eat when what we need is sleep?"

For me the answer is way too often.  Funny how we have the energy to find food when we can't muster up enough to do anything else.  The busyness of our lives is a huge factor in our obsession with food.  We know we have to eat and so we make time for that, and when we are tired food keeps us going.  I have enough proof in my life of this that I could destroy any evidence brought against me.  I can tell you I have never read a diet book that tells you lack of sleep is a contributing factor to weight gain.  And I have no less than 10 books on dieting in my house right now.  Add to that my experience with Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Topps, Dr. Atkins, fasting, Sommersizing, and so many more quick fix methods I can't count or remember them all.  Not once did anyone tell me my tiredness was a factor in my overeating.  How rude.

It is remarkable to me what one can discover with prayer and thought.  I was asking God to show me what to write this morning and He did.  I need to get more rest.  I have a not enough sleep problem, not a weight problem.  Hello!  I'm smart enough to know it's not the whole answer but I wasn't smart enough to see that it was part of the answer.  I'm really so surprised I missed that for so long.  My baby sister always wanted food when she got tired.  When she was young you never heard her say she was tired, always hungry.  We knew she was tired but she denied it and insisted that food was what she needed.  My mom would tell her, you are not hungry you are tired, and she would persist, she ate and then had the energy to keep going.
Boy I'm slow to figure things out sometimes. 

I wonder how people would act if they had enough sleep.  I wonder if any of us would be fat.  When we went to Europe one of the things that impressed me the most, in the smaller cities, was how store owners shut their stores in the middle of the afternoon to go home for a sleep.  I couldn't beleive that they would just shut the doors and miss all that business.  Am I a North American or what?  The other thing I noticed was that they were not overweight, they did two things different than us.  They walked to work and they went home in the afternoon for a nap.  Let me tell you they were not slim because of what they ate, those Europeans know how to eat and they eat well.  All the foods we are told to avoid, icre cream, gelato, cheeses, french fries dipped in mayonase, breads, pastas and pastries like I have never had before.  I credited that to walking everywhere...turns out I missed a part.  Rest.

I need to remember that when I get tired I don't need food.  I need to recognize when I am tired and I need to rest.  They say that knowing what your problem is is crucial to solving it.  So I hope that this little insight helps me, and you, to recognize the difference between hunger and lack of sleep. 

I think it's ironic that we feel heavy when we are tired and then eat, that is what I call being weighed down.  I should have "laid" down.

Pardon the pun. 

Have a wonderful and blessed day.