Your Healthiest Year Ever, Day 4: Get More Sleep!

Hey guys! Can you believe that we’re already into Day 4 of 2012?

Yesterday I challenged you to 30 min of exercise. Were you able to find time to fit it in? I gotta say I had some difficulty with that challenge for 2 reasons:
1) It was RIDICULOUSLY cold here:

2) My hubby sent me a text message 15 minutes before my lunch inviting me to join him and my daughters at the mall next door to my work for a lunch date (I usually run outside during my lunch break):

You’ll be happy to know that once I got home from work I did a Nike Training Club iPhone App workout to make up for my missed run:

(I would have gone to the gym to run on the dreadmill but I was a community panelist at the Mom it Forward #gno #TogetherCounts Twitter party last night).

I’m sure you’ll like today’s challenge much better:

Day 4 – it’s time to get more quality sleep.

I know what you’re thinking – FINALLY a reason to sleep in

It’s not so much a reason to sleep in however, but a reason to go to bed earlier! Ahh, there’s the catch. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge for you to just to lie in bed longer in the morning, now would it?

You can get more quality sleep by going to bed earlier than your normal time and ensuring that you are getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night. That’s today’s real challenge.

Feeling sluggish lately? Getting enough sleep will help you concentrate on your tasks more.
How stressed are you? One of the best ways to reduce your stress is to get enough quality sleep each night. It gives your body a chance to recuperate from the stressful “fight or flight” reactions when you are stressed out.

Are you happy with your energy level? You need to get enough sleep each night so that you have the energy necessary to perform your everyday tasks. We can’t have you falling asleep at the wheel or the computer, now can we? I don’t need to tell you how dangerous a lack of sleep can be. Your sleep deficit can grow over time as you try to fit more and more into your day, thus sacrificing your precious sleep. Thinking that you will make up the sleep deficit on the weekends won’t work either. Your body will make it known that you need sleep, one way or another.
Are you wanting to lose some weight? Surprisingly, getting enough sleep can help you there, too. Recent news articles have shown that getting enough sleep at night can help you shed some pounds. You don’t eat while you’re sleeping, plus you are giving your body a break from food so that it can digest what’s already there.

Now that we know how important getting enough sleep is, how can we get more sleep? For those of us who don’t have any medical reasons for insomnia, there are some things that you can do to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep:

• Go to bed earlier than your normal time.
• Ensure that you have a regular “sleep time” ritual that you follow each night, allowing your body and mind to recognize that it’s time for bed.
• Don’t eat a heavy meal or drink any alcohol right before you go to bed.
• Having any caffeine a few hours before bed time will mean can affect you so much that you won’t be able to sleep.
• Make sure that your bedroom is full of distractions, has low light and is warm enough or cool enough for you to sleep in.
• Stop worrying. Worry does nothing to help your situation. Most of what you worry about will won’t come true anyways. Have faith.
• Get enough exercise so that you are physically tired.
• Turn off the TV or devices and sleep. Don’t lie in bed watching TV or have it running in the background while you are trying to sleep.

Are you with me? Tonight we’re going to go to bed earlier so that we can get more sleep.
Let me know how you feel tomorrow about getting more sleep by leaving a comment. I’m certainly looking forward to completing this Challenge tonight

For a list of all of the Challenges, see the 31 Days to a Healthier You page.

PS – you can join the 31 Days to a Healthier You challenge anytime by leaving a comment below indicating your interest & ticking the “Notify me of new posts by email” box so that you’ll be emailed the daily challenge.