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5 tips, 5 tricks, 5 hours of sleep. Yup, that about sums up my nightly routines as of lately.
Stay up until about 1am writing my posts. Go to bed. Get up at 6am to head to the gym before work. Drink 5 cups of coffee.
Ok, so maybe not that last part.
But I think we all know how this routine goes and sadly more of us are guilty of it than not. It seems like there’s never enough hours in the day to get everything you wanted done and then get to bed still at a decent time.
In reality while that may be partially true that we don’t have time to work a full day, run a marathon of errands/things around the house, be able to put dinner on the table, take time to relax and get a phone call in catching up with a friend, we do have enough time to clock enough ZZzzs that we’re not dosing off on the train ride to work.
Because honestly, it wasn’t until that moment that I realized I needed a wake up call and not just one to wake me up so I didn’t miss my stop, one to get me to bed at a decent hour so I can function well the next day and take care of my body by not over doing myself on a few hours of sleep.
So here are my top tips for making sleep a priority and clocking enough ZZzzs to get you through the day.
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Set an alarm. Not an alarm that will wake you up in the morning, an alarm that will tell you when to go to bed at night. I recently started setting an alarm for 30 minutes before I want to get in bed. So if I know I need to get in bed by 10:30pm to get 7 full hours of sleep I’ll set an alarm for 10:00pm. This alarm tells me to stop what I’m doing and start getting ready for bed; brush teeth, wash face, change into pjs, etc. This way I know I’ll be in bed on time.
Make your bed. Seems like a silly one right? But if your bed is always undone, you’ll most likely find yourself answering e-mails from it, watching tv in it, etc and when it comes time to sleep you’re less likely to want to get back in bed that you’ve been in all day.
Turn the TV off (or on a timer). I admit, I’m totally guilty of turning the TV on when I go to bed. After living in a studio (aka big open dark room) for two years, I got hooked on having a little background noise to make the room feel less empty when going to bed. As much as this habit seemed normal at the time, I found that it actually would keep me from getting sleep. Many of times I would be awaken by a loud commercial or a bright flash of light. If the TV goes off when you shut your eyes you’re much more likely to get your full sleep without any interruptions.
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Unwind. There’s nothing harder than going to bed when wide awake and wired. During your 30 minutes after your alarm goes off, take a few minutes to unwind. Whether that’s a quick facial mask, a few minutes of stretching or a lather of lotion preferably lavender as it relaxes you.
Don’t snooze. Cut the word snooze out of your vocabulary now. I mean it, right now. There is no more snoozing of the alarm before going to bed or the one from when you wake up. Those few extra minutes are empty minutes anyways, instead stick to your guns and use those alarms as guidelines of getting a good nights sleep and being refreshed for the next day.