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The weekend is here! So it’s time to catch up on some zzzs.

You might not realize it, but getting enough sleep can impact many areas in your life, from how you make every day decisions to your financial stability. If you are too tired to do even the tasks on a daily basis, or more high-level ones like completing a project, you are probably too tired to make wise decisions physically, mentally and financially. Ultimately, your sleep habits and practices could end up making you sluggish, burnt out… or even poor. Don’t believe it? Click through.

Making time at the start of another work day can sometimes be problematic. In between actually getting the motivation to get out of bed, taking care of things (and people) around the house and preparing for the daily demands at work (and just trying to get there on time), the morning can be a constant reminder that there are simply not enough hours in the day.

Starting your day off right not only means you will be more inclined to focus on the tasks at-hand, but you will be able to enjoy the day instead of just getting “through” it. Hopefully, these important morning tasks help you fully take control of your day.

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Get Enough Sleep

A good and productive day starts with getting enough hours of sleep the night before. Although everyone has their own length of time they need, studies have proven that at least six to eight hours of sleep will help fuel the average adult. Being restless could be the beginning of a very long day, so try getting these much-needed hours instead of staying up and watching re-runs you’ve already seen is key. They may be tempting, and that last scoop of ice cream at midnight sounds like heaven, but fueling your body with sleep is the most effective way to enjoy your night and be fully prepared for what comes the next day. Your body will thank you for it in the morning.

Falling asleep right after sex is usually a sign that you just had a great session that literally put you to bed, but researchers say this tendency also increases your partner’s need for post-coital cuddling and conversation.

“The more one’s partner was likely to fall asleep after sex, the stronger the desire for bonding,” says Daniel Kruger, a research fellow at the University of Michigan and lead author of the study published in the Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology.

In an anonymous online study, researchers questioned 456 participants about their sex-sleep lives, asking them who falls asleep after sex and who falls asleep first when going to bed not after sex? Participants whose partners nodded off immediately after sex were typically left wanting more.

“Falling asleep before one’s partner may be a non-conscious way to foreclose on any commitment conversation after sex,” says co-author Susan Hughes, associate professor of psychology at Albright College in Reading, PA.

That statement may make you think men are more likely to catch some Zs right after sex but there was actually no difference between men and women’s behavior. But, women were more likely to fall asleep first when they didn’t have sex. Dr. Hughes says this could be an “artifact of mate guarding — making sure the woman doesn’t leave them for another partner,” or men may just stay up longer trying to convince the women to have sex. I’m betting on number two.

Fighting off the urge to go to sleep after sex is no easy task, although most people enjoy a little post-sex cuddling. I say you should take immediate post-sex sleep as a sign of satisfaction. The partners who are staying up wondering why their partner fell asleep probably have other concerns about the relationship that they need to address, and they’re taking their partner’s sleep as a sign of something being wrong and a lack of affection.

Do you prefer to cuddle after sex or are you usually the first to be knocked out? Do you take it personal if your partner falls asleep right away?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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This picture is to show how dramatic I can be in the morning...lol

It’s morning. And no, don’t starting singing “As We Lay.”

If you’re like me in the mornings, you’re not in very much of a mood to sing. Hell, you barely want to roll out of bed. But sometimes a good shower and a quick snack can get a slow starting day off on the right foot. But other days, you wake up late, you hit your knee on the corner of your bed and jump around in pain, and something tells you, this day is about to be WACK! Being the moody person I am, when I have good mornings, I want the world to know, and when I have bad mornings…that’s the norm. Here’s a few things that I think you’ll agree can have your day starting all wrong.

While your man is drooling on the pillow next to you, you’re up stressing. Wondering, how your bills are going to get paid next month. If you’ve ever found yourself in a similar situation, you’re not the only one. A study found that women are more likely to lose sleep over bills than men are.

Get the full details of the study and the societal shift it represents over at Your Tango.com.

Not too long ago, we did a post on ways that women could deal with unexpected visits from their period. The responses we obtained through the site, our Facebook and Twitter pages showed that visits from Aunt Flo are even bigger burdens for women than we thought. Some folks who commented said cramps get so bad that they have to take the day off of work, and others spoke on horrific leaks in public on public transportation and more. But not only is it a big issue for many women of what to do about their period when they’re out hitting the streets, but it also can affect the possibility of getting a good night’s rest. And it’s not that you CAN’T fall asleep, but how do you fall asleep without feeling like you’re wearing a pair of Depends, going through labor and without making a mess on yourself? Before you have a “Code Red” in your bed, here are a few tips that might help:

Are black women getting enough sleep at night? Adult sleep needs can range from 7 to a whopping 9 hours at night according to the National Sleep Foundation. In the NSF’s 2010 Sleep In America poll African-Americans reported needing 7 hours and 5 minutes of sleep each night to perform, however Blacks polled got the least amount of sleep — 6 hours and 14 minutes — on weekdays.

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