I am not sure what your bed time is but I am a bit of a night hawk. Unfortunately. For whatever reason the last couple months have been horrible. I find it impacts my day negatively when I stay up late. I am bad for putting the kids to sleep and then thinking "ah now I can have some me time" to clean, read, fold laundry, watch a movie, etc. I have come to the realization that yes it might be time when I am alone and can do what I please but I need to use this "me time" more wisely. When I was seriously focused on losing weight back at the start of the year I was really good about making sure I went to bed early (mainly because I was getting up every few hours to breastfeed). Well now I am usually only up once in the night to feed Jonah or help Marley go potty and what am I doing? Going to bed at 11+/- and wasting some great sleeping hours! I have struggled a bit lately with eating right and balancing my moods, etc. Yesterday when I was having an almost breakdown (sick feverish baby + tantruming toddler = losing it!) I had an "aha" moment! Yes crap will always happen, kids will be sick, things will get lost but why the heck am I almost losing it with little things? WELL IT'S BECAUSE I AM TIRED! And why am I tired? WELL IT IS BECAUSE I DON'T GO TO BED EARLY ENOUGH TO GET A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP. Even if babies wake up you still get a better sleep if you go to bed at a decent time! SO last night when the kids went down (round 8pm) I finished doing dishes and cleaning up a little then I made a conscious effort to get ready for bed. I plugged my phone in the kitchen instead of my bedroom because heaven knows I will waste time on it as I lay in bed. Left the TV off while I was cleaning up so I wouldn't get sucked into some show that didn't really matter. I left my computer off as well. I grabbed a couple of books from downstairs and a bottle of water and headed to bed at 8:45pm. I know what you are thinking~you haven't gone to bed that early since you were 12 but I am a thinker. My husband is blessed with fall into bed asleep genes and he is literally out within seconds. But me ~ I think, I worry, I review the day, I plan, I have little panics about what I think I forgot to do and on and on and on. SO my goal with laying down around 8:45pm with a book was to give my self some calm down time. Some quiet mind time. Had some water, read some book and then turned off the light. I fell asleep quickly (also helps that Dina kicked my butt at Excel!) I was up only once with Jonah around 4am then back down until 7ish! I woke up in a better mood and felt better all day. Even when Jonah had a mini meltdown. Not only did I feel better but because I was better rested I made better decisions (ie. no coffee as I didn't feel as tired). Lately I for sure have felt guilty because I have been a little more short with my kids than usual. I have felt more tired and just not as happy as I would love to feel. My hope & hypothesis is that if I force myself to go to bed early and get a good rest for the next while I will be happier, more successful with my weight loss, and an all around nicer (& patient) mama. Life will happen as it does and I expect someone will have a bad night or Jonah and Marley will tag team me and take turns minimizing my sleep but I need to make sure I am taking all the steps I can to take care of my sleep. More sleep = less stressed out over stupid things = better results at the gym and better eating habits = a happier ME!
My challenge to you (if you are like me) is keep all your electronics off and OUT OF YOUR BEDROOM for the next 3 weeks. Make a conscious effort to create a sleep friendly environment (i.e. lights dimmed, a book). From what I have read online ~ you shouldn't watch TV, play on your phone/computer for 3 hours prior to bed as it is just that stimulating (just like making sure you don't eat 3 hours prior to bed as well). Maybe it is time for you to hit up the library:) It takes a little planning and a conscious effort but I am positive this will help us in so many ways! To be continued...
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