A good post from last year -- Love and Sleep

 

Studio cherries
Acrylic on cradled birch panel
5 x 7 inches
Barbara Muir © 

Super tired tonight. Steven and I went for two very beautiful,
long walks today, and are going to settle down to watch a funny
movie, so this seems a perfect blog for this holiday weekend. 

"Funny thing about love—it works better if you get enough sleep.
Hard challenge if you’re a parent of young children, or babies who wake
up during the night, or wake up early, when you’ve gone to bed late
for work.

I am in recent years definitely a night owl. This started when I began teaching
 a once a week evening course. To stay awake I drank coffee. Yes it works,
but to shut off my excited brain is a challenge.  I notice that if my 
sweetheart and I are well rested, we have a wonderful time together.
And if not -- we don't stop loving each other -- but arguments happen
that wouldn't if we got enough sleep.

One pretty simple answer I've discovered is that drinking pure, tart,
unsweetened cherry juice before bed helps me go to sleep.  Who gave
me that recommendation? I don't know, but thank you.  And if I also
eat cherries -- fresh in season, or frozen when we can't buy them here
in Toronto -- the effect is doubled and I sleep like a baby.  

My point is that if both of us sleep well we have a great time. And
I may have known that unconsciously forever, but now I know it for
a fact. 

So my image tonight for the Month of Love is of a bowl of
cherries."

Wishing you a joyous day in the Month of Love. Sleep well.