I am pretty good at maintaining my health when it comes to diet and environmental chemical exposures, but when it comes to sleep, I get a “U”. Just like the “U” I got in my 8th grade sewing class that kept me off the distinguished honor roll. Unsatisfactory.
I tell other people to be getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night, yet I’m barely banking 6 a night. With two kids, medical school (almost done!), a blog, and a super high maintenance diet, there’s not much time left in the day. Oh, and we just bought a house. My life circumstances demand a lot of me, and unfortunately, I also demand a lot of myself.
I can’t make a resolution to sleep 8-9 hours a night. It’s just not realistic for my life right now, even though I dream of a life where I can sleep that much. I have two kids that wake up in the night at different times. This blog, it keeps the fire in me going, even though I’m often working on posts late at night because it’s the only time I’ve got. Medical school will be done in June, but then I take my licensing exams in August.
What is realistic is the nitty gritty of my resolution: lights out by 11pm. I usually aim to get in bed “by 11”, but what that looks like is stopping all my work (or online junking), by 11, then starting my bed time routine. You can’t get in bed at 11, when you stop working at 11, and then you have to mix your calcium magnesium supplement and drink it with a straw out of a tea cup, mix your marshmallow root powder with your probiotics in a little water to drink it out of the same tea cup, swallow some glutamine and quercetin pills, floss really well, brush your teeth softly and not rushed, wash your face, and then get your night guard in place. This evening routine probably takes 15 minutes.
Lights out at 11pm means that I should start my bed time routine at 10:30 pm. This will give me enough time to do my bed time routine, prep for the next day, and still have enough time to turn out the light by 11pm.
What’s your number one New Year’s health resolution and how are you going to do it?
