I Need To Sleep!

One of my Spark Teams does weekly non-scale challenges, which is nice. They give me a sense of accomplishment even when the scale and I aren't getting along, as well as keep me focused in my journey to better health.

This week's challenge, in addition to other things like huddling and supporting teammates, is to get 7 hours of sleep per night. This one will be rough for me. I sleep like a baby...a newborn baby...2-4 hours at a time! I'm on another team that did Bingo; the SLEEP square was the only one I missed! Yeah, I should probably get that checked out if it persists.

I've never been a morning person--I am a night owl. I'm trying to change that because I waste so much of my daylight hours lounging and feeling tired, then I get nothing done, and I need to exercise late, which keeps me up; a vicious cycle. My team's leader posted two articles on sleep. Very eye-opening! I knew lack of sleep was likely affecting my weight because I lacked energy and felt hungry, but it affects so much more! Here are links to the articles; I recommend reading them.

www.sparkpeople.com/reso
urce/wellness_articles.asp
?id=129
www.sparkpeople.com/reso
urce/wellness_articles.asp
?id=420

I need to get my sleep patterns regulated! I'm going to try melatonin first to help me drift off more easily, and will add antihistamine sleep aids if needed at first. I'm going to force myself to eat breakfast (I'm really bad about that), either with the kids or just after they leave if we're running late. I'm going to make myself get to the gym before 11 so that I have time to exercise, shower, and eat lunch (another thing I slack on) before getting the kids. Hopefully this will help me regulate my sleep patterns. If not, after a month, if I cant sleep through the night without sleep aids (except melatonin--I mean the antihistamine--it doesn't give me restful sleep), I'll have to see a doctor.

I'm also thinking about getting a daily planner, like the one I used when I worked in the grown-up world! Lol! Seriously, maybe if I physically scheduled times for waking, meals, exercise, specific chores, free time, and, of course BEDTIME, I'd be better able to actually use my waking hours fully, cut my stress, get organized, and sleep well. I'll have to work up to that...baby steps!

I've taken my melatonin, and am off to beddie-bye! Here's hoping!! Sweet dreams, fellow Spark Friends!