Tuesday, August 13, 2013

15 Minute Challenge - More Than Beauty Sleep

It rained again this morning.  If the temps weren't so high during the day, you might think it was April rather than August here in Oklahoma.  And to be honest our highs in the upper 80's to low 90's aren't really high for the time of year either, our average temp the first few weeks of August is usually over 100 F.  So it's been cooler than normal by quite a bit.  It's really been a weird August here in Oklahoma.  

Drama Teen goes back to school today.  It's been hard to wrap my head around the fact that she's a freshman in high school now.  I'm looking forward to the more stable schedule we tend to have when she's in school.  This last week of getting her to volleyball practice has played havoc with my work schedule, which means it's also messing with my sewing time.  Though I didn't have a bad week by any means.  



Not a lot of machine sewing going on except for last night.   I did get 3 quilts labeled over the last week and they were gifted yesterday to 3 very deserving teachers.  It was a good week, 6 days of sewing and three quilts were moved out of the fabric closet.  

In addition to finding time to stitch this year, I wanted to do more to foster my creativity.  This month that effort focuses on "get a good night's sleep".  Being tired is probably the number one reason I don't get more stitching time in.  As I noted last week, most of us don't get the 7 to 9 hours of recommended shut eye each night.  Besides not wanting to get a needle through your finger, there are some other good reasons to get the recommended hours of sleep. Here's a few.

1.  Avoids brain blight.  Habitually sleeping 7 hours or more has been linked to decreased dementia risk.
2.   Sleep decreases your sensitivity to pain.  
3.  You'll eat less.  Being short on sleep increases the hormone ghrelin which stimulates your appetite.  
4.  Being short on sleep can make it hard for your body to clear excess glucose from the blood stream.  
5. Sleeping less than 7 hours a night has been linked to a 62% increase in breast cancer risk.

I wonder now if can sleep your way to a skinnier you?  Points 3 and 4 would suggest that. 

That's it for this week.  How are you doing on finding time to stitch? 



1. Pat
2. Julie in GA
3. Kate @katiemaequilts
4. Thea

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7 comments:

Pat said...

I don't know about that eating less or losing weight. Even though I get plenty of sleep, I still struggle with my weight. I do find keeping my hands busy helps some.

Shay said...

You had a good week Kate given you were also doing all the final prep for school start.

I got 9 hours sleep last night - I think thats some kind of record for me !

seabreezequilts said...

Work continues to be a pain in the rear and we are down to finals for tennis and possibly football but there is an end in sight and we may get our weekends back for a few weeks. Hardly any sewing this week, have been working extra and it really saps the energy just want to go to bed and veg this week. At least you still managed plenty of sewing. Its raining here too, we had the wettest July for 20 years and August looks like it is going to be wet too listening to the rain as I type ready for school drop off :(

Julie in GA said...

It has been extremely wet here in Georgia this year too.
Good posts about sleep--I know I certainly need more of it!

Marti said...

You had a good week. I haven't done much so probably won't make a 15 Minute Challenge blog post. I'm sitting here yawning right now and need to save the few brain cells I have left so think I'll take your advice and go catch a few z's.

thea said...

I think if I took a nap instead of eating junk food, I would probably lose weight .. nice week.

Lynne said...

Interesting facts. Thanks for sharing. It's ten minutes past WM's bed time and I read those points about over- stimulated appetites and glucose break down to him! He has gained a lot of weight in the past couple of years which concerns him and our doctor! He's leaving for bed right now!