Recently I went to the doctor because of terrible pains in my back, chest and neck, pains which I have no excuse for having because I'm only 23 years old. I just could not figure out why my body felt so bad all of the time, like a cement block was being tossed against my chest over and over each night as I slept. Ok, that may be a little extreme but the point in there, it hurt.
It was my first visit to a doctor since moving to Northern Michigan in January and it wasn't something I was really looking forward to. See, to me the doctor's office is a place that I would prefer not to spend a lot of time in. Usually, I wait until the last minute possible to go to the doctor. But last Thursday the time had come and I had to bite the bullet and lay down on one of those giant sheets of doctor's office paper, the ones that keep the last guys disease off of you.
It came down to the nitty gritty and the diagnoses came out as expected, I wasn't getting enough sleep...and the treatment, more sleep. Many people my age go on thinking that they can survive on little or no sleep, and the truth is, you can. It's what you are sacrificing that matters, and that sacrifice is quality of life. But if you have to go to bed at 4 p.m you don't get to hang out with all of your friends and family and you miss out on all of the fun things that go on at night, right? It's that reasoning that led me to more than a month of restless nights and too many cups of coffee.
I've come to a conclusion based on my multiple weeks of personal sleep research and my outlook on life is changing. There is plenty of time left for me, god willing, and I would rather spend it feeling healthy than constantly indulging in the prime time social arena.
If you are not feeling well I say to you, GET SOME SLEEP it will do you wonders, plus my doctor said not enough sleep is the number one reason for muscle aches and pains.
