365 Challenge Day 83 – Sleep

Somewhat related to my posts and my issues regarding caffeine…

I consider myself a very healthy person, with very healthy habits.  But, there is one area in which I’m not doing very well: I’m terrible about getting enough sleep.  I avoid getting in bed, then once in bed, I avoid turning off the light.  I’m always trying to squeeze more out of my day.  I’m always trying to push the limits and see how little sleep I can get away with.

For the most part I do okay.  If I feel overtired or run down I will go to bed early (or earlier.)  But I also go through phases where I’m just consistently up late every night.  I’m in that phase right now.  For at least a week I’ve been up well past 1am every night, while still working my 9-5 job, getting up around 7.  Last night I talked to my best friend, it has been months since we’ve had a good catch-up, and we talked until around 1:30, even though we both said we were tired around 10pm!  I’m so glad we got to talk, I missed her a lot, and we had lots and lots to catch up on. BUT, now I am feeling the effects.

I can function at work on little sleep, but exercise is one of the first things to go, along with cleaning.  I wanted to go to yoga tonight, but I can’t even imagine it right now.  It’s 4pm, and I’m yawning, and can only think about going to bed!!  I can see that in order to live the QUALITY of life I want, I need to be well-rested!!

In one of my favorite books, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, author Dr. Amen lists sleep as one of the most important things we can do to maintain a healthy brain and maintain good health.  Not getting enough sleep can damage your brain much in the way doing drugs can.  YIKES.

Well…  I’m not sure yet what my solution is.  I’m not quite at the point of making a change.  Not quite ready to force myself into an early bed time.

Did I mention that after about four weeks of going off coffee that I’m fully back to drinking three cups a day?  : (