Monday, July 21, 2014

July 21st, 2014 I Clearly See A Pattern

July 21st, 2014 I Clearly See A Pattern

I overslept my alarm this morning. I literally had ten minutes to throw myself together and rush out the door. I did take a minute to cut a fresh peach, grab some Laughing Cow wedges and some rice chips to get me through until lunch. Not how I wanted to start the day. But I made the best of it.

I've noticed a pattern. Over weekends, I tend to turn my schedule upside down. This forces me to try to correct immediately. It's no surprise that I haven't slept well the past few Sunday nights into Monday morning. I've been sleeping better than I have in a very long time. Until last night. I slept horribly. Overslept, then was still tired this afternoon. I took a nap and once again, overslept. Just like last Monday, I missed my spin class at the YMCA. I clearly see the pattern.

The one thing I don't do too much of anymore is beat myself up for small hiccups along the way. Letting go of a rigid, no mistakes attitude is a good thing because I'm far from perfect. I got up this afternoon, realized I had slept too long and would once again miss the Monday spin class, and I adjusted my plan.  That's it. I simply adjusted the plan. Four things were happening this evening regardless of whether or not I made it to spin class: Workout, grocery shop, cooking dinner and writing this blog. I did all four. I win. :)

My elliptical workout is really good. I'm dripping by the end and there's no question to the effectiveness. Just like last week, I'll do my best to make it to the Tuesday and Wednesday spin classes. I did last week and I bet I do it again.

Food was good today despite the rough start.








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My Twitter page (@SeanAAnderson) is really a live-tweet feed with pictures of everything I eat daily, complete with calorie counts. I also tweet when I'm exercising (not while I'm exercising) and what I'm doing for exercise. And of course, I can't help but to occasionally exercise some humor. It's fun! I use Twitter as an accountability tool. If it also gives you some ideas too, bonus!

Thank you for reading and for your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
at

3 comments:

  1. life coach Gerri Helms, PCC, CCCJuly 22, 2014 at 9:44 AM

    hey buddy, make sure you are planning sleep into that busy schedule!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alison C.July 22, 2014 at 10:28 AM

    I'll be interested to see the comments on this post. I too, struggle with the weekends. I stay up late Friday night, then I sleep in too late and have to rush to yoga, then I need to take a nap. That keeps me up even later Saturday, and the whole cycle repeats so that Sunday night I'm not sleepy until after 11, and then I'm tired Monday morning. That starts me out on a bad foot and I'm tired all week long until the weekend cycle hits. I think I need to strive for more structure on the weekends.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 11:40 AM

    There is a whole body of research and articles on the subject of "sleep hygiene." I haven't googled it, but I bet if you did, you'd turn up some helpful tips.

    The general aspect that most sleep specialists agree on is--no surprise here--that one should keep the same sleep times for days off as for days on work, allowing only a little variation for those off days, not to exceed 1 hour either way.

    Did you know that sleep is one thing you must make up? If you need 8 hours of sleep a night to function well all day...and you only get 6 hours, you run a 2 hour deficit that your body will demand that you make up.

    As you and other commenters have noted, tho, playing catch-up via naps is disruptive to one's day, not to mention mood.

    so. Do what you know already. Set a time when you must get to sleep in order to get the amount of sleep you need before you must wake up. Naps are a poor compromise as a daily plan and indicates the need for adjustments...beyond acknowledging the need for a better plan.

    Hmmm. I didn't mean that to sound like a lecture. Your schedule is one that requires sacrifice, discipline and good planning to pull off adequate sleep well. Just like your new eating method does, I suppose. Is there a bank account for sleep hours in your future? :}

    I know what I've written because I am a notoriously undisciplined sleeper. (For instance, last night I went to sleep after 3AM and had to get up at 8AM. That worked when I was 30, not so much now at 60.)

    The slightest thing sets me off my sleep schedule--which is asleep by 11pm awake at 7am. It's been 2 weeks since I've accomplished that, but I have to say that when I do it daily, I feel sooo much better and get so much more done.

    I wish you well. It's good be able to acknowledge the need for change, and make those changes, without beating yourself up over it. I hope we both hit that sleep schedule this week. :D

    Deb

    ReplyDelete

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