October 6, 2014
A few years ago I was on a retreat in California. The retreat master was a Camoldolese monk. You may wonder why a group of Paulists would ask a monk who leads a monastic life of silence and contemplation to speak to a group who live in community and are evangelizers. But we did, and found what he had to say profound. But profound in very simple ways.
He told us about a time in which he was having difficulty praying the office of hours in the morning because he was constantly falling asleep. In between the early hours of prayer (Matins) and the time he was due for Lauds he would struggle further to stay awake – so that he could make up for the times he fell asleep. Finally, he sought an answer to his dilemma in prayer and believes that it came to him in simple words. “Go to sleep.” Since that time his prayer has improved immensely because he has taken that brief time between Matins and Lauds to sleep. That simple adjustment in his life gives him sufficient sleep. He does not fall asleep nearly as much during morning prayer as he once did.
In a recent issue, Time magazine revealed some startling statistics about sleep. For example: “40 percent of adults have nodded off unintentionally during the day in the past month and 5 percent have done so while driving.” That’s pretty scary to me. “45 percent of teen-agers don’t sleep the recommended nine hours on school nights leading 25 percent of them to report falling asleep in class at least once a week.” It’s hard to hear a teacher when you’re asleep!
It seems to me that many people today are sleep deprived. We say we’re going to get seven or eight hours a night, but when it comes to getting a paper done for a class, making sure we’re ready for a work conference in the morning, worrying about a sick relative or finding that TV is more enticing than sleep, then we often add hours to our day by depriving ourselves of sleep. The famous “all-nighter” might work on rare occasions, but when it becomes part of our daily lives, then we’re hurting ourselves. I was recently at a party on a Saturday evening. After I had left, the young people involved got wrapped up in a second party, and at 2:15 the next afternoon they admitted that it was time to call it a night. If I hadn’t been there to hear about it directly, I would have said – “Doesn’t happen.” But it did, and while an afternoon and evening of sleep following the party might have been enough to get those folks on their feet for Monday’s tasks at work, I’ll bet they still felt sleep deprived, even if they wouldn’t admit it.
God gave us wonderfully put together bodies that heal themselves when we give them enough sleep and keep them in reasonable condition. As Christians we are required to take good care of God’s gifts to us, and one way we can do that is to be sure that each day we get those healing, helpful and necessary seven or eight hours of sleep.