Paws for thought
Hey there, Pupketeers! How's the holiday going so far? Have you made it out of bed yet?
I'm always surprised at how much young humans in Hong Kong sleep. Every time I turn around, you have your eyes closed. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a bit of a sleepmeister myself, but I wonder how good it is for young people to be in hibernation when the sun is high and the sky is blue.
So I did some research and I found out you are all busy growing tall, and you're swamped with hormones. And your sleep schedules are crazy, too. You feel like you can't sleep when your parents tell you to, so you're constantly tired. Stress doesn't help either, so if you're worrying about school or your social life, you are likely to feel more tired.
(Of course, it doesn't help if you're staying up all night at Starbucks, gulping down the lattes while texting your friends.)
But if even YOU think you're napping too much, you might want to ask your mum or dad to take you to the doctor.
The temptation to drop down for a nap is always there. It's easier to snooze on the couch than go out and organise a basketball game - that I can tell you, especially if you're a dog. No one really likes to play basketball with dogs; they say we slobber too much. Ah well ... what was I saying?
Oh yes, WAKE UP. Did you know that it is possible to become tired from too much sleeping? Well, not for dogs, of course. But humans shouldn't spend every waking moment asleep. Teens can get away with more sleep than adults because their bodies are changing and growing, and they have all that stress. But sleeping too much can also lead to you feeling blue or sad, or irritable, and you don't want that. We call this getting the hump.
Rudyard Kipling - one of my favourite writers - wrote a poem about it ...
'The Camel's hump is an ugly lump, Which well you may see at the Zoo; But uglier yet is the hump we get, From having too little to do.'
Then he goes on to tell us how to get rid of the 'cameelious hump': 'The cure for this ill is not to sit still, Or frowst with a book by the fire; But to take a large hoe and a shovel also, And dig till you gently perspire.'
And he's quite right. Having something to do chases away the blues. And I don't mean playing computer games either. It's the physical getting-up-and-doing-something that keeps us happy.
You've had a chance to chill since the end of term. Now you have to set about making these holidays the best ones ever!
