The Biggest Way An Extra Hour Of Sleep Will Benefit You

If you're not up all night wired on Halloween candy, the time change and the extra hour of sleep will be a great thing this weekend, and you'll feel like a million bucks Monday.  Here's why.

Since the weather has turned cooler, I find myself daydreaming about my gel memory foam mattress, memory foam pillow, and thick fleece Ugg blanket at two o' clock in the afternoon, thinking about how delicious it's going to feel when I crawl back into it that night.  I'm obsessed!  It's so cozy.  It spoons me like a husband would, if I had one of those.  In fact, this may be even better, I can't be sure. I don't stay in bed long -- maybe six hours a night -- but it's so cozy when I'm there I want to stay there forever. 

Sleep has so many benefits, and yet it's the first thing we sacrifice when we get busy or stay out late.  It helps us feel good, energetic, and productive, and now they've proven that sleep increases something else exponentially, and that's mindfulness.  So what is that?

Mindfulness is "being aware and paying attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without forming an opinion."

Interesting.  We have opinions on everything and we think it's good to vent, but it turns out, not having an opinion helps lower stress.  The experts say that can help stave off diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers.  Mindfulness must be the ultimate release, not needing control of a situation, and still being aware and intentional about what we do next.  According to Sleep Health, adding just 29 minutes of sleep per night can improve mindfulness the next day and life becomes a lot more manageable.

With the end of Daylight Saving Time this weekend, we'll fall back one hour and bank an extra hour of sleep Saturday night (if we're not on a Halloween night sugar high), so Sunday we should feel more mindful than usual.  The jury is still out on Monday and Tuesday, but we do know it will be dark at 5 PM and the stars might line up in our favor for more shut-eye, and therefore, more mindfulness.

With a gravity blanket, extra sleep, and a pile of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, this could be a pretty great weekend.