You need to get more sleep. I’m sure it’s a statement that you agree with. You too have read various reports in the media quoting research. You are aware of the consequences.
Maybe you have a genuine reason for not sleeping enough. You have a small child or a medical condition. But for most of us it’s just because we’re too distracted by other things. You might even be reading this in bed. Or on the sofa having just declared that you’re tired.
I haven’t gone back and checked but I’m pretty sure sleep shows up regularly as a topic on this site. Yet ‘sleep’ is unlikely to be turning up on any job list. At best it might appear as tracker in a bullet journal.
Creative napping
I still haven’t cracked the sleep thing. I tried logging my sleep hours in order to reach a suitable average each week. This involved lots of creative napping (what a great phrase). 20 minutes on the bus, 10 minutes in the park. All in an effort to hack/cheat/achieve my target. I struggled to get about 7 and half hours with this method.
Then there was the time Carla and I tried to be sleep buddies. This involved us being accountability partners and checking that preparation for sleep was happening at a decent time. Clearly, it wasn’t successful at building a habit.
I’ve tried not napping during the day. Theoretically this should make me want to go so sleep as soon as I get into bed. In reality it means I dose off in a chair after a couple of days and wake 4 hours later in a panic.
The early night hack
Recently I had 2 days of working at events and was so tired. I came home on the second day and decided at about 7.30 pm that I would nap for an hour. I didn’t have anything planned for the next day so I figured that I could sleep for a bit then get up and have a late dinner. Instead, I woke up at about 10 am the next day. Ooops! Not hugely practical but it did remind me of a sleep hack I used years ago. And it’s one that feels like a self-care treat.
On a Sunday night (or any school night that suits you) go to bed really early. Like 6 pm early. Ideally, decide this in advance so you don’t get up at midday. It’ll feel weird but hopefully in a self-indulgent kind of way. You’ll wake up the next morning feeling better. I also find that it stops me from having that thing where you can’t sleep on a Sunday night. I used to find that after a few weeks of this I felt caught up and not like I might doze off at my desk.
So add ‘super early night’ to your job list.
Happy sleeps
P.S. If you want a cute pad or notebook for job lists pop over to our online shop.
Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash