I’m an early riser.  A very early riser.  People often ask how I do it.  I go to bed early.  It’s not like it’s a secret.  If you work an overnight gig you sleep during the day.  If your job starts at noon you can stay in bed until 10 o’clock in the morning.  I often get as much as 8 and a half to 9 hours of sleep every night.

I do have a sleep disorder.  It’s called apnea.

Sure, I can’t close down the bars (and haven’t done so in 30 years no matter what my schedule was).  I can’t stay up late and watch the Vikings and Packers on Monday Night Football.  I didn’t see the Nationals clinch the World Series (I watched the game in replay four times afterward).  Mostly, though, you just simply shift meal times and in the era of on demand television I can pretty much see all my favorite shows.

I do have a sleep disorder.  It’s called apnea.  It requires I wear something when sleeping that resembles a snorkel.  It appears to do the trick, although.  I’ve got a cat who sometimes likes to play with the hose.  When I’m using it.

New research on sleeping warns most of us aren’t getting nearly enough and there are all sorts of consequences for your health.  Twenty years ago I worked for a TV company and all my regional managers wore their lack of sleep like a badge of honor.  They thought everyone working for them should do the same.  Your health wasn’t their concern when it came to their career advancement.

A boss I had ten years ago had personally known President Lyndon Johnson.  He would tell me Johnson had trained himself to take a 20 minute nap every day at the same time.  It allowed him to work 16 hour presidential days.  Johnson also had heart trouble and it killed him a few years after retirement.

New research tells us just cutting a little off a good night’s sleep can be dangerous.  You can click here for more details.

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