"Early to bed, early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy, and wise.
" - Benjamin Franklin

A Sleep Problem Early sleep is critically important for kids.
If you mess with their schedules by having supper late or getting home late, their whole time clock seems to get thrown off.
They seem to get a second wind that keeps them awake until way too late.
Then, of course, they can't get up the next morning.
They are tired and irritable the whole next day.
A Liver Problem There are some ancient cultures and forms of medicine that blame the liver for what is happening here.
Apparently a good night's sleep depends on the function of the liver.
What is known is that it regulates energy levels for the next day.
It does this by stopping its daily activity around six in the evening and beginning to store up sugar for the next day although this time can vary some according to the seasonal and regional cycle of the sun.
When the Psalmist said that it is useless to sit up late, he may not have been thinking about the liver's metabolism but it is none-the-less affected.
Staying up late causes the liver to produce sugar now instead of being able to store it for the next day.
Energy for the next day is used to give a burst of nocturnal energy.
The Efficiency of Robbing Peter to Pay Paul The next day, instead of having a reservoir of sugar to produce energy, the body has to look elsewhere to make up for what the liver cannot supply.
So the body looks to the adrenal glands for help.
They pump out hormones to provide more sugar in the blood but this comes at a cost: an accelerated heart rate, higher blood pressure, cold hands and feet, and lower immunity.
All of this causes a chain reaction:

1. Because of the body's sugar deficit, it crave sugar.
   
2. Craving sugar causes consumption of more sugary things.
   
3. This stimulates the pancreas to produce too much insulin.
   
4. Too much insulin makes the cells absorb too much sugar from the blood.
   
5. This causes low blood sugar.
   
6. Hypoglycemic causes sugar craving.
   
7. So the cycle goes throughout the day.
   

This produces fatigue, touchiness, and faintness.
It also makes a person impetuous and less focused.
This is especially true with children.
If You Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Yours If you don't abuse your liver, it will take care of you.
The way to nip all this in the bud is to go to bed early.
This allows the liver to do its job and the body to function in the most efficient way.
Perhaps the old adage that one hour before midnight counts for two after is truer than we think.
It seems that it can renew your liver and so renew your life.
Perhaps grandma really did know best.