I read in this month’s Fitness magazine an article called “Love Your Morning.” It’s all about how the author learned to get up in the mornings. That article really spoke to me because I have the hardest time getting up in the mornings. I go to bed late and it usually takes me 1 hour at the least to actually fall asleep since my mind is constantly running. So I decided to give myself a bedtime. My goal of 11:30 p.m. is when I should be in bed during the week. I would like to keep that on the weekend, but things will always happen. I started this last night. I got to bed sleep about 12:15. Its tough because I grew up in the country, where there was no light shining in through my bedroom and NO NOISE except for the sound of crickets.
Here was my plan:
2 hours before bedtime, no more food or drink. Showered (if I exercise though, I will shower right after).
1/2 hour before bedtime, I shut down my computer, and focused on getting ready for bed, i.e. picked out clothes for today (which is a first, but it is nice to look great and have one less thing to worry about in the morning, the bad thing is that as soon as my head hit the pillow, I had already changed my mind clothing wise), brushed my teeth, and got my lunch ready (which depended on if I was taking it or not).
15 minutes before bedtime, I cut off the main light and the tv, leaving on the bathroom light. As soon as I fed the cat, I climbed into bed.
Though I couldn’t really tell a difference today, I know that in the long run, having this sort of cool down period every night will help. I will try to wake up at the same time every morning, regardless of if/when I work. On weekends, I plan to give myself an extra hour to sleep up, but getting up will allow me to enough Saturday morning TV again!
Okay, so breakfast! No oatmeal this morning because I have something I want to try for tomorrow’s breakfast.
I had two Food Lion Strawberry pop tarts. Horrible food, full of processed sugar, but I have some that I need to use up.
In other news, I woke up to snow (ugh). Luckily it’s not much this time and isn’t sticking to the roads!
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:32 am
I love your goal of trying to get to bed earlier. I have the same goal, and I find that it helps me to limit my TV time (that is what always gets me!!!!)
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I like to be in bed and falling asleep by 10:30. I’m so old! And I don’t mind waking up to snow if I don’t have to go anywhere or if it will melt and be sunny by the time I do have to go somewhere!
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Oh yes, I’m so bad about either keeping the tv on when I’m trying to fall asleep or just staying glued to it.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Oh gosh, my mom goes to bed at 7:30 (she also gets up at 4:30 every morning for work). I wouldn’t mind going to bed that early, but no one else seems to around me, so they always end up disturbing me!
March 4th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
I have an alarm set on my iPhone to go off at 10:00 pm every night to remind me to stop whatever I’m doing (on the internet, watching TV, working on a project) and start getting ready for bed. It helps to keep me conscious that OH MAN IT’S ALREADY 10 PM?!
March 4th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
That’s a great idea! I think that would really help my brain to focus on when it’s time to calm down.