Alright. Here we are in the second week of January. Can you all do me a favor? Thankssomuch.
Right now, take a deep breath in through your nose and then blow it out through your mouth. Then do it again.
Now do a happy little dance. Chair dancing is perfectly acceptable.
WE MADE IT THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS!! Hopefully life is slowing down for the majority of you and you are able to start really focusing on yourself and your goals again.
If you are following along on the ‘Hood, you know that we are now on to Week 2 of our 52 Small Changes challenge. Week 1 was increasing your water intake and making that regular habit. You should be continuing that this week (and every week!).
Our challenge for this week is another basic one: SLEEP!
Sleep is a vital part of your everyday life. The average person should be getting between 7 and 8 hours of sleep every night. How often do you meet that goal?
It’s taken me a very long time, but I have finally gotten it through my thick skull that I cannot function properly without AT LEAST 7 hours of sleep a night. If I’m lucky enough to get more, my day is just that much better. If I happen to get to bed too late one night, then I know that it’s more healthy for me to get the 7 hours in instead of trying to get up early and then be exhausted for the rest of the day.
According to a Harvard Medical School report, here are just a few of the things that getting adequate sleep will benefit:
- Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
- Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
- Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
- Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
- Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
- Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
I know it’s a hard transition, but it’s definitely worth the effort to get that time in. Shut down your computer earlier, turn off the TV earlier, take the non-essentials off of your to-do list…whatever you have to do to get your head to hit that pillow earlier.
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