Tally Your Sleep Debt!

Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.

— Thomas Dekker

There are some days that I get home from work, and I swear to myself that I’m going to take a shower and immediately go to sleep. It feels as though I have not an ounce of energy left in me from the day. Funny thing is, that, as soon as I open up the door, I walk in, and I’m greeted by happy faces, a dog whose tail is wagging so fast it looks like it will fall off and my energy just shifts. My daughters ask me about my day and I get to hear about theirs and suddenly, what seemed like such a stressful day that initially had me feeling drained, now has me feeling completely energized.

Once I’m home with all this energy, I find that there’s about 1 million things that I want to do. Unfortunately, it seems all too easy to push through the fatigue until I get a second wind even though my body seems to naturally start to send messages that it’s getting tired around 11pm.

Sleep debt is defined as the difference between the amount of sleep you should be getting each night and the amount of sleep you actually get. The problem is for so many - boy, do I mean me - that lots of things interfere with our ability to get good sleep. It might be work, children, stress, planning for projects, hobbies, excitement, simply taking on too much, etc.

Sleep deprivation over a long period of time can lead to weight gain, troubles with concentration, depression, insulin resistance, and can compromise the immune system, just to name a few things!

So, how in the world can we fix this?

• Keep electronics in a separate room.

• Stop using electronics - computer, phones, tvs for a few hours before bedtime.

• Make sure your bedroom is dark and cool enough.

• Avoid caffeine and sugar late at night.

• Do an evening yoga routine to help you unwind.

• Be mindful not to do exercise that will invigorate your system for a minimum of 3 hours before bedtime.

• Create a peaceful room and even add in peaceful scents like lavender and chamomile to help promote sleep.

Sleep is just as important and vital as food or water for our good health. It is one of the most precious of our self care tasks and the best part is that we get to be still while we take care care of it!!

Need to count some sheep? Sweet dreamzzzzz…….