Thats it. I'm done!

I've learnt enough. Yes, yes, yes, sleep is important! I know this! My motivation to continue with this challenge is gone. I am tired of writing about my sleep habits, and I doubt that any of my readers are actually finding this interesting. I find it boring. Almost boring enough to help me sleep at night - how ironic. And I am tired of feeling limited in terms of whether to go out or not during the week.

During the short time that I have participated in this challenge, I have learnt that sleep is important, but this isn't something that is going to easily change for me. This challenge is creating more stress for me than I need...so I'm done.

On to the next challenge!!! Stay tuned...

Boy, I like that snooze button!

When I am a slave to an alarm clock, I press the snooze button way too many times. I don't think its very healthy, but I've become quite accustomed to pressing snooze every five minutes for about an hour before I finally realize I'm uber late and drag my butt out of bed. I've tried setting my alarm for 5 minutes before I want to actually get up so that I allow myself to get an extra hour or so of sleep, and it hasn't helped. However, the first week of this challenge was started with quite a bit of sleep deprivation. I'm going to continue to set my alarm for 6:55am and attempt to get up at 7.

I also didn't really follow the rules this weekend, but that was also partly experimental. I didn't set an alarm clock, and I didn't go to bed and get up at the same time each day. I wanted to see what my body was saying and let myself wake up naturally. On Friday night I went to bed before midnight, but I read for a bit in bed, so I didn't fall asleep until about 12:30. I woke up the first time at about 8ish, but fell back asleep quite quickly. I then awoke again around 10:30 or so, and actually felt rested. My first thought was "Oh great, my body needs 10 hours of sleep. Yay, no social life for me!" I went about my day as normally as I could (its rare that I get a day off with absolutely nothing planned - I usually fill my days off with other things I need to do that I don't have time to take care of during the rest of my time). I went out with friends and didn't drink. We had an early night (for us) and I got home at about 1:30am. I wasn't sleepy at all, so I just chilled in front of the TV for a bit and finally went to bed at 2:30am and fell asleep right away. I woke up around 8:30. I tried to go back to sleep and couldn't. I stayed in bed until about 9:30, hoping that I would just fall back asleep. Nope. So what, now my body really DOES only need 6 hours of sleep? WTF? And I feel very rested!

Well at least I get to start this next week without sleep deprivation and can hopefully get a better read out of my body. My schedule has changed a bit because I've given up volleyball until after the Olympics. I tried getting out to Britannia to play, and it worked out the first week, but the second week it sold out an hour before I got there. I don't live in the neighbourhood and thought it just wasn't worth my time to make the effort only to find out it sold out. If it were downtown, and I found out it had sold out, no big deal. But the fact that I have to take transit out there just makes me not want to make the effort. So I will wait for Coal Harbour to open again in March.

Back to my Sunday NOT at work! :-D

THAT'S Why!!!!!!

Well I've figured out why I've been so tired the last couple days. No, I'm not pregnant. Just think for a minute...there ya go!

Last night was a  bit better. I had a hot bath at 10:30 and I was in bed by 11. I still stayed up and read until about 11:30, and then I tossed and turned a bit before I actually fell asleep (too much on my mind, as per usual). I was going to try and wake up to be somewhere by 7, but that didn't happen. I was awake, but I kept hitting snooze until I finally dragged my butt out of bed at 7:07. Its an improvement though.

I also had a pretty busy day at work, and hit the gym with my trainer at 6, so I feel back on track.

Just a quickie today... :-)

This isn't working...

I need to be harder on myself and actually start listening to my own rules. Last night I ended up heading to bed at 1 am, and I stayed up reading for at least half an hour. Then I woke up at about 7, tried to stay awake and ended up sleeping in until 7:45.

At the end of the day, I get home, change into my workout clothes, take care of a couple things at home, and I'm exhausted. I fall asleep on the couch for half an hour and that's it. Now I'm groggy and not in the mood to do anything. I forced myself to stay awake though so I don't have a restless sleep later.

I'm giving it a week. And even though I have to be in bed at 12:45 this week according to my rules, I'm going to bed earlier than that tonight. I'm still deprived from the weekend.

I have taken advice of my friend Darren (see comments on the post entitled "Who Needs Sleep?"). Before the New Year, I was determined to start 2010 with a clean bedroom, and that happened! I make my bed every morning, and when I get home it calls to me. Just having a tidy bedroom with a cozy bed in it is really relaxing when I do finally choose to go to bed. My bed has a nice, huge down comforter on it and a beige faux suede down throw at the foot of the bed. I have 2 pillows per side of the bed under the comforter and then 2 throw pillows and 4 stuffed animals sitting on top. Luxury!


My only struggle (and I think this may have always been a struggle for me) is that I am scared I am going to miss something after I go to sleep. I know, I'm crazy.


Sigh...

Day 1 / Night 1

Well, I didn't get up at 7. In fact, I slept in until 8, which is when I usually start work. Thankfully I have a bit of a "grace period" if you will where I work. As long as we do the amount of time, it doesn't really matter when we start. It would be one thing if I was half an hour late and left at my normal time. But if I'm half an hour late, I stay half an hour longer. Only makes sense.

Effect # 1 of this lack of sleep - rambling.

But overall the day was good. I was busy at work and got lots done! I was very very very very irritable this morning, even after my first coffee. I was still irritable at lunch! I finally relaxed when I just stopped and took a breath and just focused.

I didn't go to the gym like I was planning. I had a bit of a strange weekend, so I am going into this little experience even more sleep deprived than usual. I almost feel like I should have gone to bed about an hour ago, but as soon as I was thinking of turning in, my computer downloaded a virus. I got on the email right away and my brother helped me fix it, but I was panicking until about 20 minutes ago. Brothers who know stuff about computers ROCK!


I have about 24 minutes until I am supposed to turn in, so I will keep this one a bit short, and write more either tomorrow or in a couple days.


Happy Sleeping!! :)

Who Needs Sleep?

First off, I'd like to welcome any new readers to my blog! I've just learnt how to link blogger to facebook (thank you Darren!), so I know I will be reaching a bigger audience.

It is debated constantly, it has been written about in song and it is something that we, as a society, seem to lack - sleep. It is an apparently well known fact that an adult needs 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Right now I am lucky if I get 6 hours of sleep (and yes, even though my behaviour questions this at times, I am an adult). I can't help it though! If I try to go to bed before midnight, I toss and turn and end up with a worse sleep than if I just went to bed at 12:30 am or 1 am and fall asleep right away. When I wake up in the morning though, I just can't get myself out of bed and end up pressing the snooze button at least half a dozen times. By a domino effect, this causes me to leave my morning routine to the absolute last minute possible, causing me to rush, and then getting to work a little bit flustered (and sometimes a little bit late).

So what does this mean? Well, I gave myself a 30 day fitness challenge back in September (read all about it!!) so why not give myself a sleep challenge? That is just a further part to wellness, right?

This is what my schedule next week is currently (leaving out any last minute plans with friends of course):

Monday, January 18, 2010

• 8 am - 4:30 pm - Work
• 5 pm - 6:30 pm - Gym
• 8 pm - 10 pm - Music

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

• 8 am - 4:30 pm - Work
• 7:45 pm - 10 pm - Volleyball

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

• 7 am - 7:30 am - Appointment
  
• 8 am - 4:30 pm - Work
• 6 pm - 7 pm - Personal Training
• 9 pm - 10 pm - Music

Thursday, January 21, 2010

• 8 am - 4:30 pm - Work
• 7 pm - 10 pm - Volleyball

Friday, January 22, 2010

• 8 am - 4:30 pm - Work
• 7 pm - 9 pm - Band Practice

Saturday, January 23, 2010

• No plans! I have the weekend off (miracle of miracles!) from my weekend job

Sunday, January 24, 2010

• No plans!

On most days, I should be able to get to bed by 11 pm. If I get to bed by 11 pm and wake up at 7 am, that's 8 hours of sleep! And it is still plenty of time in the morning to get me to work on time. On paper, this looks so easy!

Will there be challenges within the challenge? Yes...

• I am a social butterfly!! And to boot, I'm a night person! I like going out with friends and staying out until 2 or 3 am. Not every night, but at least 1 or 2 nights during the week!

• I love watching the news, and feel there is a more comprehensive look at the day's events if I watch the 11 o'clock news. I'm going to miss being an informed member of society.

• If I am in bed by 11, that doesn't mean I'm going to be asleep by 11, which is what is needed for a full 8 hours of sleep. So that means I have to put myself to bed by 10:30 at least so that I can read and try and put myself into a more relaxed state so I can fall asleep by 11.

• The last challenging thing about this is a major one because its one of those things that I have never had any sort of control over - creativity. When it hits, you have to listen to it or fear losing your idea and never getting it back. When does it hit for me? In the middle of the night usually. Picking up my nylon-string guitar (so I don't disrupt my neighbours) and plucking out a haunting chord progression (think of the chord progression one might use for Canon or Everybody Hurts or something with a lot of minor chords) can relax me when I am restless, and be the key to a new song that I start. This even happened to me last week and I know the creative juices are a LOT more present these days with no more school.

Now, one can't go cold turkey when it comes to forcing oneself to sleep at a certain time, so there has to be some sort of progression I think. My above schedule is pretty much the way it is going to be for the next little while. So this is what I'm going to do, starting Monday, January 18, 2010, ending Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (30 days!!!) I am going to challenge myself to progressing from 5-6 hours of sleep per night to 7-8 hours of sleep per night. From January 18-24, 2010, based on a 1 am regular bedtime, I am going to go to bed 15 minutes earlier (12:45 am). From January 25-31, 2010, I am going to increase the time increment to 30 minutes from the previous time (12:15 am). From February 1-7, 2010, I am going to increase the time increment to 45 minutes from the previous time (11:30 pm) (yay, I'll at least get the headlines!). From February 8-16, 2010, I am going to go to bed at 10:45 pm. I am going to get up at 7 am each day, even on my days off. I think this is progressive enough.

During this 30 day challenge I am going to monitor my moods, the way I deal with stress, my overall wellness during the day and my ability to jump out of bed vs. dragging myself out of bed. What if I don't see any difference in the way I feel after the challenge? Well, then I'll do what I do now - sleep when I'm tired.

That's all for now! Happy sleeping!

PS - got any hints for sleep aids or other things I can challenge myself on? Leave a comment!!

And time just flies by!!

I apologize again for taking so long to post anything!! So what has happened since the last post? I turned 29, I finished school (not just the semester, the whole program!) and I spent a quiet Christmas with my family.

I am looking forward to this year. I've decided to try and focus on health, fitness and music for the coming 368 days (and not in that particular order). No, these aren't resolutions - I don't make resolutions. I have always felt that resolutions are just a set up for failure. I make goals. And I don't make goals just because its January 1, I make goals when I finish projects and set my eye on the next target.

That is about it for now...hopefully I will try to post a bit more in the coming days!