Without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year olds. ~Jo Jensen
You guys. I am the absolute WORST when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep.
I fall asleep to the TV.
I’m usually mindlessly scrolling through social media up until the minute I close my eyes.
Then the iPhone is the first thing I check in the morning.
When I finally open my eyes.
After I’ve hit the snooze button for no less than 30 minutes.
I go to bed late on weeknights.
I sleep in on weekends.
I get 5-6 hours of sleep. And I am a person who NEEDS a solid 7-8 to not feel miserable.
I don’t exercise {pause – that’s a topic for another day}.
I wake up in the morning and for a solid hour the most salient thought in my head is ‘I HATE EVERYTHING’ {not an exaggeration}.
And when I’m tired…I’m cranky and snippy and sluggish and all I can think about is getting into bed when I get home.
So I do, and then I nap for 3 hours and I’m up until 2am…starting the vicious cycle ALL OVER AGAIN.
UUUUGGGGHHH!!!
I really…REALLY…would like to not be this person.
So, SLEEP REHAB it is…
THE RULES
No scrolling after 8pm. It’s not a huge surprise that mindlessly scrolling through social media isn’t the best way to unwind, not to mention being a HUGE waste of time in general. I can’t even imagine how many nights I’ve been up an hour or two later than I needed to be because I’ve been looking at nothing in particular and refreshing feeds for no good reason! And that ‘blue light’ from the screens themselves are no good – especially when they’re held so close to your face – and for sure tricks your body into thinking that it’s daytime, therefore it produces less melatonin, and you get all revved up when you’re supposed to be settling in for the night. The general recommendation is to stop screen-looking 2-3 hours prior to bedtime, so for my bedtime goal of 10ish, cutting things off at 8 makes sense. I’m pretty sure they make apps that can filter out the blue, but – honestly – I’m RARELY doing anything productive online after this point on social media {even when I’m working late or writing posts – I’m good until about 9ish, and that’s usually ‘productive’ work, so I don’t mind being on the laptop a little later – it’s the ‘mindless scrolling’ thing that drives me crazy}, so putting the phone down is a good idea regardless. I’ve tried this before and it’s SO HARD!! We’re so much in the habit of grabbing our phones and scrolling through things every few seconds, so it will definitely be a challenge!
A quiet mind. I’m usually running around doing a bunch of random things RIGHT up until I crash into bed – when I’m often left staring at the ceiling for a while while my mind’s still in overdrive – and I dream of a life where I ‘slowly unwind’ and then snuggle into bed all peaceful-like. By cutting off the scrolling at 8, that will open up some time to do things that are actually relaxing and recharging that I can use to settle in for the night- like a shower {I usually work out in the afternoon or evening}, reading, talking to friends, notes for new posts {in a notebook}, or maybe something on Netflix that I really like {not mindless TV, though – studies show that’s not *actually* relaxing, even though we think it is}, so that by the time I’m ready to turn out the lights, I’m nice and calm and ready for some sweet dreams.
#inthetens…no excuses. I NEED SLEEP. I am the crankiest of cranky toddlers if I don’t. I get up at 6, so If I get to bed somewhere around 10 or 10:30 consistently, that’s like seven and a half to eight hours, and I DREAM of a life where I get that much rest every night!!
No SNOOZE. My record on a work day is one hour and 45 minutes…enough said. I need to set the alarm for when I actually need to wake up, and then get out of bed right away.
No crazy sleeping in on the weekends. This just screws up the entire sleep cycle – and I was up staring at the ceiling until 2am this past Sunday because I had woken up at 9 and then took a 2 hour nap.
I’m working on a big ‘reward’ {yes…like you do with a kid…but my psychologist’s heart knows this kind of thing WORKS} I’ll get myself if I do all these things consistently, so I’ll let you know what I come up with…and it’s gotta be a GOOD one for me to stop using that snooze button, let me tell you.
Is ‘get more sleep’ on your list of goals for 2018? Anyone else guilty of chronic snooze-buttoning?? Let me know! We’re in this together!