I have found in my own journey that the first thing I must do in order to take care of myself and lose weight is to….drum roll, please…
Sleep!!
Yep, sleep. Now you may think that sleep is something that sloths and lazy people relish. And you’re right. I know this. I also slept a lot when I dealt with depression. So it seems contradictory that in order to lose weight I must sleep.
But what I’m talking about is getting enough sleep, not too much. That amount is different for every person. And I’ve found it can change over the years, too. When I was in high school, I needed lots of sleep. When I went to college and as a young woman I only needed 4 -5 hours a night. During pregnancy, I slept often. This is important because after Noah was born I didn’t sleep for three months. :0)
But now, I need about 7 hours. If I don’t get it, two things happen.
1)I don’t want to exercise and
2)I want to eat more.
Studies have shown that folks eat more when they are tired. I’ve often equated getting more energy with getting a lot of food. (Not true by the way – good energy comes by way of the right kinds of foods, not a bunch of anything.)
Are you like me and enjoy late nights by yourself? I love the quiet of night when John and Noah are asleep. But this is detrimental to my ultimate goal – to take care of me. So instead of staying up until midnight or later, I have a goal of going to bed between ten and eleven. I get up between 6 and 6:30 each day, so this is perfect for me.
How do you handle getting enough rest? Does sleep affect your eating habits?
5 comments:
Thanks for the reminder Robbie.... I am a night person and love the quiet time at the end of the day (or should I say into the wee hours of the morning). I work full time and seriously, have to make myself go to bed at least by 1:00 to be able to function. Over the weekends I sometimes get my days and nights turned around, and definitely have a problem snacking when I get tired. The problem is that my creative time is at night.
After reading your blog, I am going to make it my goal to turn in early on weeknights and let my weekends come what may. If I get more sleep and eat right during the week, maybe I will build up an incentive to be good on the weekends.... will let you know how it works!
I do eat more when I'm tired. It's not always something I can fix easily, though. Sometimes it's insomnia. Sometimes it's just tired.
But I never really thought about it until you mentioned it.
I'll have to be more careful on days I'm tired. Like today. (too late)
Donna, I think it's great that you want to set a goal and try something new. If it doesn't work, don't do it anymore. :0) In my life, the pattern of stay up late and eat more the next day is very consistent. I look forward to hearing how it goes.
Kay, it would be interesting to see how insomnia is related to overeating, if there is a connection. I usually just stay up to watch stupid TV and snack. :0)
I have to sleep about 10 hours a night until I recover. I keep thinking this is a waste of about 2 hours, but I know I need it. Speaking of which, time for me to head off to bed. I got caught up in reading blogs. :)
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