One of the things I’ve been struggling with for the past four months is getting enough sleep. For a variety of reasons, most of them my own fault, I’ve been getting 5 to 6 hours per sleep a night, and that’s just not enough. I’ve noticed a number of effects from this:
- Tiredness during the day (duh!) leading to nodding off in meetings and social events.
- Poor focus at work
- Occasional irritability
- Poor decision making at times
- Greater tendency for binge eating
- Greater need for artificial stimulants like caffeine and chocolate
Needless to say, this has made my goals a lot harder to accomplish. So I’m taking a few steps to remedy the situation.
Step 1 – Bed by 10!
I wake up every day at 6:30am. So if I want to get a good 8 hours of sleep, I need to be in bed by 10pm at the latest. Sure, some days I won’t be able to do that, but I want those days to be the exception where I’m doing something fun and important and not the rule, where I stay up late surfing the internet.
Step 2 – New Bed
So long old mattress. Hello new bed! My current sleeping arrangement is very poorly setup. It’s too soft in some areas, the pillow setup is bad and the whole mattress is damaged thanks to the lovely Daisy, also known as super puppy! Time to get something new and this time do a bit more research on it.
Step 3 – No Eating Late
This is an obvious one but I’ve been a bit lax with it lately. No more really late dinners.
Step 4 – No Drinking Late
I’m cutting out the caffeine anyway, but I’m also going to try to cut down on the water consumption after 8 or 9pm. This is to avoid the inevitable trip to the bathroom at about 4am.
Step 5 – Bedroom Rearrangement
My bedroom is both my place of sleep and my place of work. I think this is a bad idea. It should be one and not the other. I’m going to rearrange a few things, get rid of my desk and turn the bedroom into a place of relaxation, not stress.
Step 6 – A Sound Experiment
I’m going to experiment with white noise makers as well as music. I want to see if either one will make a difference in my sleep patterns.
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I’m hoping that all of these things added together will make for a much better night’s sleep.
My mom had a saying about this. “Nobody ever died from a lack of sleep” she would say.
I was always quick to respond, “True mom, but people have killed because of it time and time again.” She never laughed — not sure she ever got my point.
Sleep has been my nemesis my entire adult life. I saw a sleep specialist in La Jolla a few years back and his thesis was simple; that if you are a bad sleeper for more than a few years, you probably always will be. I get about 5 per night, and have just accepted it is my destiny. I hope that’s not the case with you Gal, and your changes contribute to better rest. I wish you all the best with it.
One thing I did learn from my sleep specialist that I had never considered, is that waves of electrical radiation running through the house “may” be a contributory factor, and their effects don’t just stop at restless sleep. I had a gauzer come evaluate my house after he said that, and I learned that I live in a can of leaking, bad energy. Since I had the leaks fixed, my sleep has not changed, but perhaps my cancer risk is down….?
L’chiam
Gal,
I wrote an article for a client about the connections between sleep deprivation and a range of illnesses over the weekend. With every new study it seems the links between not enough sleep and metabolism, blood sugar, high blood pressure and overall immune system function are much stronger than anyone ever thought.
I hope that your list of changes works for you because sleep is right up there with good nutrition and exercise when it comes to healthy living. One thing I learned in writing the article that might be useful for you is that you should be sure to work out either in the morning or early afternoon–a minimum of 3 hours before going to bed.
Best of luck!
Great list!! My husband and I try to be in bed by 10pm. That way we watch a bit of TV and then nod off by 1030. Its easier to wake up at 630am when you are asleep by 1030. By the way having to wake up at 4am for the bathroom really sucks because then you cant fall back asleep.
I do have a similar problem, this obviously like you was my fault. I tend to bring back work home and this does have an effect in my sleeping pattern.
If I can get an early night, then That would be the beginning of an effective next day. I’ve also noticed a delayed reaction as well,when driving too.