Shabbos rest

“I sleep fine throughout the week, but on Shabbos my sleep schedule is so off and I can’t shake off the feeling till Tuesday.”

“I find myself up on Motzei Shabbos past 2 am and can’t fall asleep!”

“I love early winter Friday nights, but I wonder if my earlier bedtime has anything to do with me feeling off kilter for the rest of Shabbos.”

“I can’t nap to save my life during the week, but come Shabbos afternoon I am sleeping for a solid two hours. Then I’m up super late the next few nights.”

Sound familiar? Yup. When our weeks and weekends look very different, so do our sleep cycles. Those extra few hours of sleep are DELICIOUS. Just need to figure out how to get our body back in the weekday rhythm when shabbos is over. For some of us, that just means a late Motzei Shabbos, a bit of fatigue on Sunday, but none the worse for wear. For the rest of us… our sleep schedule can get really thrown off.

So. What do we do?

This takes a lot of discipline. In order to get back on track for the week, you need to really work on your weekend schedule to be as normal and on schedule as possible. If you are not tired after Shabbos, stay up a bit, but not SO late. If you normally wake up super late on Shabbos and Sundays, move it back just one hour.  If you fall asleep on the couch at 8:15 pm on Friday night, how bout play a game or visit a friend so that you can go to sleep at 9:30? (Still 2 hours earlier than the week!)

This is hard. I won’t deny it.

But I daresay you will find yourself feeling better overall with a more consistent sleep schedule at all times. And you might really enjoy the extra time over Shabbos and Motzei Shabbos to read, daven, or connect with friends and family in a way that’s harder to do during the week. 

Good luck! Reply to let me know how it goes for you and with other tips to share.

And have a wonderful weekend!

Esti