Soon – within a week – we’ll be re-claiming morning light, and paying for it with evening light. We all appreciate the extra hour of sleep this little trick with our time-pieces brings us. We look forward to “Fall back” as much as we dread “Spring ahead.” This post is just a reminder that sleep pressure (the pressure that builds when we’ve been awake for some time) generally – eventually! — leads to a good night, as surely as sunrise follows sunset. Trying to keep your bedtime and wake time firm – regardless of how well or poorly you’ve slept – is one of the most important rules established for those with insomnia.
So if you’ve been suffering from insomnia, go ahead and take that extra hour if it naturally fills in with sleep. But then be aware of the usual pendulum like nature of sleep. Sleep will, like the seasons, like the moon, like the tide, both wax and wane. Yielding is the sweet spot: take the extra sleep if it comes, and if not, use the extra time awake to live your life. Like a traffic-round-a-bout, you may need to speed up or to slow down, depending on the other cars in the road… life is about being flexible enough and present enough to respond, in the moment, with what is needed (speed or deliberation).