Divided Sleep

My recent brush with hypertension is pretty much under control now.  I still get spikes but when I go to bed or get up, the numbers are in the normal zone.  On awakening the other day I managed three readings taken five minutes apart as follows:

• 114/64
• 116/67
• 115/65

Not bad for someone that a year ago was considered hypertensive.  The link above gives some background on both my diagnosis and what I have done to address the issue.

A LOT of caffeine through the day seems to have had an impact on my sleep.  I tried to get lots of sleep but dragging oneself off to bed before 2200hrs is difficult.  I only have one coffee a day now (if at all), and moderate my tea drinking (no more than four cups a day, and seldom after 1600hrs).  The big change though, has been with sleep.

I work hard at getting to bed shortly after 2100hrs to read and then meditate.  I am strongly aware of the importance of sleep for several years and divided sleep in particular.  Sleep is doctor, counsellor, psychiatrist, physiotherapist, massively anabolic, and generally restorative at every level.  I hit the gym hard three times a week and know that this must be mirrored in terms of quality and quantity of sleep.

All this stuff was thrown back in to perspective again today by the re-trending today of this story on the BBC site from 2012, The Myth of the Eight Hour Sleep.

I typically awaken at 0230hrs each morning and will be awake for 30-60 minutes, but then sleep pretty solidly until around 0600 - 0630hrs.  As a coarse indicator of sleep hygiene, I'd say that this is spot on!