Before getting to today's topic, bedtime, let me just say this about the first episode of Downton Abbey:
Matthew better figure out a way to use his inheritance from Lavinia's father to save the Crawley family estate or Lady Mary will never let him forget it.
When she is living in a puny 10-or-15,000-square-foot manor with only a couple of servants and having to do things like put her own clothes on, Lady Mary is not going to be a happy high born.
I'm thinking Matthew has a lot better chance of living with his conscience if he takes the dough, than living with Lady Mary if he doesn't.
That said, my bigger problem with Downton is that Season 3 opened up with a two-hour installment that began late Sunday night — 9 p.m.
I don't know exactly what the audience demographic is for Downton Abbey, but I'm willing to bet it is mainly comprised of people who have to take major naps in order to remain conscious in front of the flat screen until 11 p.m.
Just why is it that baby boomers now head to bed at about the same time their kids are on the way out for the evening?
Studies indicate the major reason many of us haven't seen a Leno monologue or the second half of a Monday Night Football game in years has to do with hormones circulating in our blood.
Apparently we have these things called "circadian genes," which influence sleeping and waking, peak differently as we get older, and prompt us to be ready for beddy bye earlier.
OK, so I guess the good news here is that the reason boomers are ready to hit the hay at the break of dusk can be attributed to physiology as opposed to fuddy duddiness.
Now, you would think that people who went to bed early would be smarter as a group than those who stayed up late. You know, the early to bed, early to rise, healthy wealthy and wise thing.
Well, as it turns out another study I came across suggests that people with higher IQs are more apt to be night owls. This finding is particularly unsettling if you have adult children living with you.
Anyway, totally unrelated, but did you know that cows sleep with their eyes open. I once had a girlfriend who did that. Our relationship had trust issues.
