Thursday, August 27, 2009

Youth Vs. Age

I've been busy here for the past week now, working on my newest embroidery project. This one is a tablecloth with the dimensions 52x70 inches and it is a design that is for the Christmas season. It has a garland type design in the center that has a cardinal perched amongst holly leaves and berries. with some pine cones in two of the center garland corners plus it has more leaves, berries and pine cones down the sides with a chickadee there. Very pretty -well, I think so anyway -but also lots and lots of work.

Now, you know too that I do frequently tend to keep really late hours too and for the past week, that has definitely been the case as I want to get this project done as quickly as possible. Christmas may be four months away but in terms of time to finish projects -such as this one -it may as well be next week. Gonna be a rush for sure.

But last night, I was up till the wee hours of the morning -not falling asleep until about 5:30 a.m. and then, I had to be up early too this morning to get ready to go to my monthly luncheon meeting with some high school friends. So I ended up getting about 3.5 hours of sleep.

The 17-year-old here on the other hand, went to bed probably around 1 a.m. and when I left the house at 11:45, she was still sound asleep. When I got back home a little after 2 p.m., she had just gotten up oh, maybe a half-hour earlier. She must have a cradlesoft mattress on that bed to be able to sleep that soundly and for so long! I really do envy anyone who can lay abed for longer than a 5 hour time span and get up then without being all stiff and sore from being in that position for so long.

In truth though, when I was her age I was able to sleep for long -way long -periods of time but I can't do that any more.

However, when I said something to her about how long she had been in bed, she was seemed to think that being in bed for roughly 12 hours was no big deal and that she really needed her rest.

That is until I reminded her that I had been up and out of the house, off to my little luncheon on a mere 3.5 hours of sleep.

Considering my age versus hers -I'd say age trumps youth then any day in the ability to get up and get moving on a whole lot less sleep, wouldn't you?

9 comments:

Sandee said...

I agree we can operate with less sleep. I still average 7-8 hours per night. There are some times that hubby and I can do 10 hours of sleep. Love that.

I remember being young and working hard all week and come home on Friday night, go to bed early and awake the next day and think you just took a nap.

Have a terrific day. :)

Maggie May said...

It is a well known fact that teenagers need vast amounts of sleep.
I think you are rather unique because I couldn't cope on 3 hours sleep.
I does seem as we get older though we need less & sleep for shorter lengths of time in one go, often nodding off for a nap at some later time in the day.
I often wake after four or five hours but I don't feel as good as when I've had six or seven!
Thought provoking though!

terri said...

Agreed! I can't sleep long anymore either. Even when I go to bed really late, my body wakes up at the crack of dawn most of the time. My teenagers, on the other hand, are capable of sleeping for great lengths of time. I wouldn't want to do that anymore. When I sleep too long, I feel like I've wasted the day away.

CiCi said...

Some people find a reserve of strength when they need it, especially if they are truly interested in the activity like with you meeting your friends. I doubt you and I could keep that up for very long but life is grand when we have something of major interest to do. The Christmas table cloth sounds great. I know you will post a photo when you get it finished.

... Paige said...

Beloved and I go to be about 9pm; Baby girl hits the hay about 7:30 - 8 and would sleep for 14 hours or longer if she could, but she can't on accounta we make her get up and at 'em.

fermicat said...

No contest! Age trumps youth in any contest other than beauty. Once you grow up, you just do whatever is necessary, no matter what it does to your sleep schedule.

Jocelyn said...

I'm someone whose body still will grab 12 hours...not that there's the opportunity...but I did years of 3 hours and now am happy with anything in between. Having kids is a sleep soberer!

Berni said...

Don't think I got any extra sleep as a teenager, wouldn't have been allowed anyway. Both hubby and I can not remember having long periods in bed as teens. We would have been dubbed as lazy, mind you bed for me would have been around 10 and I would be up by 5. He partied all night and then went to work. Maybe our generation had more energy that this one. I know that my uncles and aunts in their day could outstrip me now so maybe we are deteriorating with each generation.

Travis Cody said...

My back aches for 3 days if I stay in bed longer than 6 hours or so. I catch naps on the sofa when I need to get a bit more sleep.