… or do you wind up counting sheep?  This weekend, we’re talking sleep, and whether you’re getting enough of this nightly  nourishment.

In his book Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at  Work, Home and School, molecular biologist John Medina writes about the connection between sleep and capacity to learn.

One the one hand, Medina referenced studies that “… showed that when sleep was restricted to six hours or less per night for just five nights, cognitive performance matched that of a person suffering from 48 hours of continual sleep deprivation.”

However, Medina also acknowledged that people are different. He noted that some people can’t manage with less than six or seven hours’ sleep, while others, known as healthy insomniacs, thrive on four or five hours a night. He cautioned that, when you don’t get whatever quota your body needs, “… bad things really do happen to your brain” . Oh, and it also takes a toll on the rest of your body – but you already know that.

Is this an issue for many people? You bet it is. According to the World Sleep Association of Sleep Medicine, sleep problems impact up to 45 percent of the world’s population.

As we turn the calendar to December (can you believe it?), peoples’ schedules tend to fill up even more than usual – which can make it even more important than usual to get a good night’s sleep. That leads to the focus of my latest Weekend Poll:

  Do you make sleep a priority… 

… or are you burning the candle at both ends?

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the poll below, and I’ll publish results next Tuesday. “Select” whichever responses apply, and remember to CLICK on the “VOTE” ICON AFTER EACH QUESTION.