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Hi, Everyone, This month we are talking about sleep.   What is sleep? That sounds like a simple question, but sleep is really a complicated issue. A dictionary definition of sleep says this:  Sleep is a condition of body and mind that typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended.   Recently our eight year old granddaughter told me that sleeping was boring.  Being eight, she wasn’t buying any of the reasons I told her about why sleep was so important.   So why is sleep so important? Contrary to our quiet physical state, the brain is very active during sleep, carrying out many important functions.  Sleep is very essential to every process in the body, affecting our physical and mental functioning the next day, our ability to fight disease and develop immunity, and our metabolism and chronic disease risk (Jansen, 2020).   We are going to learn so much more about how the brain functions during sleep, sleep disorders, what happens if you don’t get sufficient sleep, and finally there is a 7 day sleep plan to help you get the sleep you need.   Whether or not you are one of the people who have no trouble sleeping at night, I’m sure you will learn something about sleep that you didn’t know before.