McMinnville Seventh-day Adventist Church

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R is for Rest

You have all heard the saying: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise.” The age of this proverb clearly demonstrates that we are not the first era to have a late-night problem.

One of my favorite authors on health once said that sleep before midnight has about twice the benefit of sleep after midnight, i.e. one hour of sleep before is as efficient for the body as two hours after midnight. Well, science has discovered circadian rhythms that support both of these vintage claims. The body performs certain activities and releases certain hormones, including cancer prevention chemicals, at certain times in your sleep cycle. Our health improves when we cooperate with these natural cycles.

Rest once lost is irretrievable. Most people need at least seven or eight hours of sleep a night. Since everyone is different, you might wonder how to determine just how much sleep you need for optimum health. Following is a practical formula to determine your sleep needs, but bear in mind that exercise, good eating habits, and temperance decrease sleep requirements, so review and implement my previous health advice on those topics for a more efficient sleep trial.

To determine your own sleep needs, go to bed at 9:00 PM and sleep until you wake up. Do this for at least seven nights in a row. If you don’t wake up on your own before your alarm, you will need to go to bed earlier and earlier until you do wake up on your own. Average the hours of sleep for the five nights of this trial. As long as you are asleep by 9:00 and you wake up before your alarm, this should be an accurate estimate of your sleep need. It might require some serious temperance to adjust your sleep habits towards your optimal sleep pattern, to get to bed at a decent time each night, but I guarantee that the increased quality of awake time will be well worth the effort. You will be happier, healthier, better able to cope with life, and more receptive to the needs of yourself and those around you if you are well rested.

If you find yourself having difficulty falling asleep, News & Notes from the McMinnville Seventh-day Adventist Church exercise at least twenty minutes every morning, avoid overeating or eating past 6:00 PM, drink adequate water, and decrease your brain stimulation from 7 PM until bedtime (hint: no television), and you will sleep much better.

Sleep, alone, is not the only ideal for rest. True rest is an all-together different matter. “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31, NIV). Does that sound like your life - so busy that, at times, you can’t even find time to eat? It sure sounds like mine!

When God created us, He set aside one day each week for us to be re-created in physically, mentally, and spiritually – a day to meet with Him, to rest in Him. God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it (made it holy). Why? The Bible answers, “Because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created” (Genesis 2:3). Even God rested though He cannot tire.

Our Creator, the One who wrote the owners manual on the human race, wants us to come apart from the cares of this world and just spend time with Him in mental, emotional, and spiritual rest. We, as Adventists, have a particular challenge when it comes to Sabbath. We work ourselves to the bone during the week, stopping only when so exhausted we can’t go on. Then we “work” at church responsibilities or “play” so hard on Sabbath (since we work hard every other day of the week) that we wonder why so many are in ill health or in need of psychological medications. God knew how insanely busy our lives would be and in that busy-ness, how families and lives would be destroyed. Adventists are not exempt! In spite of our church duties, our daily chores and events, which are all good, we need to budget our time for true rest in Him, both daily and weekly. If you find difficulty in budgeting time, pick up the book Boundaries. It saved my life a few years ago! In this cosmic conflict, budgeting time for Jesus will not automatically happen. It has to be planned and made to happen – daily.

For me, I can’t help but accept His invitation to receive of His true rest every seventh day and also to develop my sleep habits in such a way that my Sabbath rest is even more blessed.

Next month: “T” is for Trust. What role does trust play in health? Maybe I should ask what role does trust play in stress? Based on all the physical maladies caused by stress, trust has a way bigger impact than you or I can imagine.

Until next month, eat, sleep, and be merry . . . in the healthiest ways.

- Cindy Buell