Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The most obvious yet ignored piece of advice you’ve ever heard

It’s taken me 32 years… night after night of my dad yelling at me during my teenage years… and groggy morning after groggy morning of my adulthood but I’ve finally got it… GO TO BED!!!
For years I’ve been lamenting about how tired I am.  Why do I feel like I need a nap almost every afternoon?  Why do I never wake up on my own?  Why do I feel so groggy 10 even 20 minutes after I’ve been awake?  How come I feel like going back to bed after getting my kids to school nearly every day?  I’ve finally figured it out.  I haven’t been getting enough sleep.  You kinda go on the standard advice:  Most adults need 6-8 hours of sleep every night.  Okay, then I should be able to go to bed at midnight and get up at 7:20am and feel rested, right?  WRONG.

The last month or so I’ve been aiming to get to bed at around 10:00pm and at the latest 11:00pm.  And guess what?  I’ve often been waking on my own around 7:00 am.  I may not get out of bed until the alarm goes off at 7:20 but I get up and I don’t feel like a walking corpse when I do.  I haven’t been going back to bed in the morning until my younger kids wake up.  I’m able to go all day and not have that 3:00pm slouch.  As a result I’ve had WAY more energy.  Now when I’m tempted to stay up watching a marathon of episodes on Netflix I think about how crappy I’ll feel in the morning and how wonderful I’ll feel if I just go to bed now.

Some of you may thinking “10:00pm??? That’s a little early.  I have so much preparation; laundry; chores in the evening.  Not to mention some much need relaxation.  I can’t get to bed until way after 11”  I understand.  As I rarely have my kids in bed earlier than 8:45 (I aim for 8:30 but it always seems to be pushing 9 before they are settled), it’s a rush on to get to bed before 10.  That means by the time I get the younger munchkins to bed, who often have incredibly long naps and may not be tired at 9, then it’s all I can do but to brush my teeth and hop in the sack myself.  It may take some sacrifice but it may mean feeling more energized in the morning to get up 20 minutes earlier to make lunches or put a load of laundry in the washer or even get to work a little early to get a head start on your work day!  I just know it’s been working for me and if you have been feeling way too old and way too zonked than maybe it’s something you should try.  If you can keep your sleep stores up on a regular basis than you can manage to slip in an occasional later night without feeling totally drained.

So consider the most obvious advice ever and try to get to a good night’s sleep!

PS If you've been waiting for another post about "Believing God".. it's coming soon.