10/365 - Sleep

I am SO tired. Maybe with the freezing temperatures lately, my body is trying to hibernate after all the holiday busyness? Yesterday after church I was freezing so I curled up with a blanket and just after I reached a nice level of toastiness, I conked out for about 30 minutes.

If you know me, I don't take naps. I just don't. First, I have four children and the opportunity rarely presents itself. Second, I don't feel good after taking them and third, I have a hard time getting to sleep at night if I do.  Naps aren't appealing to me, I would rather read.

So last night, it was really weird for me to be exhausted at 9pm.  I could have crashed the moment my head hit the pillow but I had things I wanted to do before retiring for the night.  I ended up falling asleep at 11, which is still "early" for me. You can imagine my surprise when 9am rolls around this morning and I am still exhausted.  I had to pry myself out of bed I was so tired. Tired after 10 hours of sleep?!?!?

All this sleepiness got me thinking.  It's been MONTHS since I've had a regular sleep pattern.  For the last six months I've been busy writing and editing and revising and revising all while taking the crash course approach in learning about the craft.  Very rarely do I get to bed when I should--actually, it's never--and every morning at least one child wakes me up at 7 by bouncing on me or some part of my bed.  I think I am feeling a bit of the repercussions of not keeping a regular sleep schedule.

Sleep. It's just as important as food and water to our bodies and yet it's the one thing we most tend to neglect.  We live in busy times and it's easy to put off that hour of sleep so we can get more done in a day. It's okay to do once in a while when there is a deadline or something important.  But to do it on a constant basis is just abusing your body and since our body is a living organism, it will fight back.

When trying to get healthy, sleep has to be as important as exercise and eating the right foods.  Of course, if our bodies aren't getting the right nutrients, it's not going to function properly.  It also won't work right if it's lacking sleep.  A body that gets everything it needs, will work the way it was intended to.  Having a body that is working against your efforts is futile and pointless.  Take care of the body and it will take care of you.

I've learned that if I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, my Circadian Rhythm will work with me.  I'll get the sleep I need and I will wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.  The challenge is to do it, to get into a routine. I'm going to try to work on being regular over the next few weeks. Waking up to a day that's kicking my bum has to end. It never feels good to wake up tired. Never.

Sleep

I have been trying to live on 6 hours of sleep so I have the time needed to do everything I need to do in a day.  It's not working. I find myself incredibly tired around 3pm and there isn't anything I can do about it but wait for the kids to be asleep.

Another thing I notice is that being tired makes it hard to make a good choice.  I find myself not really caring about what I want to eat. It's almost like I resort to a primal instinct. I'm hungry, so I eat. Doesn't matter what it is, or what it will do to me as long as I get full.  If it's there, I'll just grab it, because I'm tired and don't want to think.  Luckily, this week of trying to live on less sleep, the cupboards are a bit bare of snacks, so it's easy to not...snack.  If there were some goodies in here, I can guarantee that they'd be eaten.

Right now I feel as though I am rambling, not making sense.  I probably am, because I'm tired.  This tired-all-day feeling isn't really worth the amount of work I get done by staying up.  I am going to try to convert to early bird-ism next week, and fight my natural night owl. (Late at night, I can often be found doing what this man is doing in the picture)

Photo Credit 

Day 20/365 Sleep is important too!

Today I had to get up early for a photo shoot in preparations for a big event next Saturday, May 8th.  My family and I are participating in a statewide park beautifying event representing "Mormon Helping Hands."

Since I didn't get to bed early enough last night, I felt tired ALL day.  When I feel tired I find myself not caring about things as much as I should.  I have a harder time keeping my resolve when it comes to making good choices about food.  I also don't feel like working out and have to literally drag myself to the elliptical.

Sleep is just as important as food choices and exercise when it comes to your weight loss journey.  Without enough sleep, your body can't do what it needs to do (repair, restructure, heal, etc.) and then you aren't able to do what you need to do.

Don't forget to get your sleep!

This is what I did today:

Elliptical: 15 min @ level 15