Everyone fights it at some point in their lives. Some fight it away and some fight to get enough of it, we all need it but many of us don’t get enough of it. What is it? Sleep. We are animals who are meant to sleep for greater than 30% of our day. However with our busy lifestyles and constant stimulation, sleep is often the thing that gets pushed to the side. Maybe we think we’ll have more time on the weekend, or we’ll try getting to bed earlier when “things calm down.” But the weekend comes and goes and stressors really never disappear.

As a population we all need to try harder to make the time to sleep about seven to eight hours every day (naps count). It is ingrained into our DNA to use these hours to reflect on information we have gathered throughout our busy day and process it so we can continue to make wise decision. Sleep is also the time for our bodies to recover and relax from a long day. This recovery time is really a non-negotiable; it is dictated by our circadian rhythm, an ancient internal “clock” that dictates our sleep patterns.