Time: 10:16am
Location: Living Room Couch--where I have been for 5 days now
Weight: 152.5!!!

Well I guess there are some benefits to being sick. I haven't had much of an appetite for the past 5 days and its paid off. Considering I have been sleeping and sitting on the couch a majority of the days and nights for the past 5 days I am impressed I lost anything at all. (This of course is as measured by the Wal-Mart Special upstairs).

I think this whole vertigo thing has evolved into or from a sinus infection. I just called the MD again and she is going to call in a prescription for Zithromax. Wednesday afternoon I ended up with a massive sinus headache AFTER taking the Antivert she had prescribed on Monday. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me considering Antivert is actually a decongestant that helps open up your sinuses and ears to help reset your balance. (May have also been a side effect.) I didn't take a pill yesterday because I wanted to see how I would feel. On my way to another MD appt, I felt horrible--the entire world was spinning without me. Thus I decided then and there to actually Obey the Universe as fellow blogger Pinching Out the Pudge hysterically noted in a past post. At that point the Universe was unceremoniously telling me "Stop trying to do everything and GO TO BED!"

Which brings me to my second point today--SLEEP. I love to sleep. It is in fact one of my favorite things. I am a huge proponent of naps. The best thing in the world is to curl up under a down comforter during a lazy afternoon and get a few winks. I love the sound of the heater or the air conditioning as it switches in the middle of the afternoon (why is it that its not nearly as soothing at night?) on and lulls me to sleep. When I am sick, sleep is the one thing I can't get enough of. Recently I have been waking up around 10ish, world still spinning without me, eating, writing and going back to bed around 2. I sleep again until about 6 when I decide its time to get up or I will never sleep through the night, eat again, write some more and go back to bed at 10:30 after talking to my boyfriend who is travelling (AGAIN!). I can tell I am sick when I can sleep soundly throughout the night and still take a nap the next day. My body just craves sleep when I am sick.

I do have to admit though, at times in the past I have used sleep to avoid things. When I used to get really depressed years ago, (I have battled depression my whole life and only recently was able to get it under control through therapy--I am a big proponent of therapy and think everyone should go at least ONCE in their lives), I used to sleep for hours and hours even though my body didn't need it. It seemed to me, that it was the easiest way to deal with pain and shut the world out. I used to retreat to the bedroom to soothe myself and shut down-my theory being, the monsters couldn't get me while I was asleep. It wasn't the healthiest use of sleep but at some point it was a behavior I learned in order to cope. Truth be told, I haven't used sleep that way in years now though, thanks to some much needed support from my boyfriend and my therapist.

I was reading a post earlier from Losing Me on her blog Weight Watchers Eh? about sleep and it got me to to thinking. While I was depressed I naturally gained all this weight that I have been battling to get off. (Please note if you are a young woman suffering from depression, a study came out this week that shows a direct relation between depression and weight gain --not that we needed a study to prove that--but there it is) There have been studies showing that a loss of sleep can cause weight gain becuase it triggers a hunger response. But other studies show that increased sleep lowers your life expectancy.

Which brings up an interesting question... How much sleep is enough sleep? After doing a little digging it turns out that there is no one simple answer. The are however a few basic rules:

1. Your age determines your need for sleep. We all know that babies and toddlers
generally sleep much more than an adult does. As we get older we generally need less
sleep.

2. Your diet can wreak havoc on your sleep habits. Eating high carbohydrate (sugar),
high fat, or high caffine foods right before bed time will destroy your bodies natural
urge to sleep (hence the reason college students order pizza at 4 am!). Studies suggest
that having foods high in calcium before bed(that warm glass of milk perhaps?) help
ease the body into sleep.

3. Listen to your Body (and the Universe): If you are feeling under the weather, and feel
like you truly need the sleep, its probably best not to deprive yourself of what you
need--otherwise the universe will kick you in the kiester and force you to sleep.

Sleep is the most basic way to take care of yourself and by depriving yourself of it you are sabatoging your body and ultimately your weight loss.

Ok--thats enough sermonizing for today.