Anyone who has traveled has experienced jet lag--that groggy realization that while your day is beginning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the night you just left in Eugene, Oregon is hardly over. Jet lag is an inconvenient reminder that the body is set to a 24-hour clock, known by scientists as circadian rhythms, from the Latin, "about one day."

An internal biological clock is fundamental to all living organisms, influencing hormones that play a role in sleep and wakefulness, metabolic rate, and body temperature.

Disruption of circadian rhythms not only affects sleep patterns but also has been found to precipitate mania in people with bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness).

Although biological clocks have been the focus of intensive research over the past four decades, only recently have the tools needed to examine the molecular basis of circadian rhythms become available.

Researchers have found that imposing too early school start times on children requires unrealistic bedtimes to allow adequate time for sleeping.

Completing our understanding of biological clockworks will lead to better treatments for diseases affected by circadian rhythm, as well as to methods of coping with disrupted sleep patterns.

I have been doing this for the past three years plus.

1) Commit to taking care of yourself, getting everyone in your household to respect the fact that you must sleep.

3) People find that if they don't sleep right away, a kind of mania sets in. A sort of phenomenon occurs where memory fades and where you laid your keys may never resurface in your mind--again!!

5)Sleep aids may not be helpful, as they tend to create a "hangover" effect. I've tried several, but have found that my energy is not in synche afterwards.

7)Think of your bed as a sacred space, where day dreaming can eventually result in changing the world!!

9) Think of sleep as a joyful discipline, and engage in it, knowing that your body, mind and spirit thanks you!!I must emphasize here that I have chosen to work night shift.

1) The people I work with on this shift are all in the same sort of painful place as I am--in that we all struggle with sleep, or the lack thereof--and we have compassion for one another.

3) We openly love one another.

5) We make each other laugh!!

7) We're tough!!

9) And no one messes with us!!!

I may not sleep as much as I used to, but in the process old ruts are gone, my perspective is altered, and an expectant attitude has replaced all preconceived notions that disruptions in my sleep pattern is a negative "problem".

Afterall, it's all in how you look at it--not in what science, your mother or even what your doctor tells you!!So I've chosen to seek counsel from within, and Feel Good, no matter what the circadian rhythm specialists say!