Image by Shingo_No from Pixabay
Have you ever read one of those articles that reports on a study about health? Where they research the effects of something common sense and simple, like getting eight hours of sleep, and they find it really does make a huge difference in a person’s health, happiness, and performance? What do you do after seeing something like that?
It would seem folks should, like, follow that advice, right? I mean, seriously, if eight hours of sleep (or as more recent studies suggest at least “more than six”) turns ordinary humans into productive, intellectually astute, physically capable powerhouses, who wouldn’t go along with it? How about almost no one. I personally don’t know anyone who regularly gets eight hours of sleep on work nights including myself. When I go to bed early enough to sleep seven hours it’s a victory. Because even that is so much better than the five and a half to six or so hours I used to manage.
So having seen another one of these articles not too long ago and having followed links to various books, I’ve found that I really have to ask myself: why aren’t I valuing my sleep? All kinds of super achievers take their shut eye seriously. From athletes to physicists to cellists. And yes, I’m better at going to bed earlier than I used to be. But I’m still short of eight hours. And often times about fifteen to thirty minutes short of even seven. The time has come and the time is now: no more excuses. I’m making that commitment!
In order to establish new habits, I’ve learned to straighten the paths toward them. In this case, that means making it much easier to go to bed earlier so more sleep is guaranteed. Doing fewer chores in the evenings will help. Time restrictions could also work.
As a person who must work hard to be on time, I’ve learned that planning backwards helps. Meaning if I need to make an 8:30 appointment, I have to first decide when to leave. Then how much time prior to that I need for the shower, hair, makeup, and dressing. So if I’m to go to bed at a better time, I need to plan that backwards as well. Because there is really too much wasted activity in my evenings, like still doing laundry at 9 PM or waiting until 8:30 to walk the dogs. Emptying the dishwasher at 9:30. Doing stuff like that later in the evening means bedtime gets pushed back.
I’m probably not the only one who does this. Whenever I prepare to start a new habit or resume an old (healthy) one, I always think I have to “find” time to fit in a new routine. Instead I almost always discover that I have much more time than I need when I give up the irrelevant or poorly organized tasks that clutter my life.
I’ve read about managing time by simply being sure that I’m always doing something that moves me toward goals. Any goals. To sleep seven hours or more, I have to be in bed by 9:30. In order to achieve that, I need to cease and desist all activities and start preparing for sleep by 8:30. It’s really that simple. That means I can get everything done before then or work as best as I can and then simply stop at 8:30, knowing that tomorrow is another day.
Which means I have to be okay with failing to do “everything” on some (or even most) days. I want to explore what more sleep can do for me; therefore, I have to be willing to relax my to-do list. I’m anticipating that getting more sleep might improve my stamina and mental acuity to the point that ditching chores will eventually become unnecessary. A well rested me might get twice as much done in the same amount of time.
Or less.
But I’ll be a lot happier about it.