It has taken a trendy little wearable device to point out the fact that I’m not getting nearly enough sleep. I’ve been wearing a Jawbone UP since December. It tracks the number of steps I take each day, it helps me keep a food as well as a water diary, logs my weight and keeps a note of my general mood during the day. But the handiest part is that it tracks my sleep patterns.
I’ve seen the research that says we should all be getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night so I set that as my goal. I was fine over the December holidays but since getting back to work in January, I somehow cannot get to bed early enough. My Jawbone keeps warning me that I’m only averaging 6 hours of shut eye every night, way below the average and not enough to be operating at my best during the day.
I’ve started to take notice of my energy levels at work. Lately I’m grumpy. I’m stressed. I’m snappy. Most days when I get home, I have to fight the urge to snooze on the bed than put my trainers on and head out the door to run. To make matters worse, I’m getting even less sleep on weekends because we run track on Saturday mornings and a race or club run on Sundays so we never sleep in. Not only is sleep important for my work and my health, but my running too. Everything suffers!
So I need to do something about it. I need to be more disciplined and make it a habit to get to bed early. I have to wake up by 5:30 so my only option is to get to bed by 21:30 at the latest in order to get my 8 hours in. I’m taking it quite seriously too because I know I can only go on for so long before I burn out or get sick.
It starts tonight!
Keeping up with the Walkers... 
So my question as a late reader is how is this going? I never get to bed on time and I am SO exhausted all the time. Really want a Fitbit but alas it’s too pricey right now espeically as I also need a running watch…
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It’s going so* well! I really have been disciplined and force myself to get to bed before 10. I’ve also realised that there are many earlier factors that impact the time we go to bed. This includes getting home late, which means we eat later, then clean up later and go to bed late. I am trying to do mini tasks earlier so that the evening isn’t so manic. But yeah, tough to do most days.
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You posted this at 21:39. Getting closer! 😉
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Hahaha! I know! I only realised that as i posted it! FAIL!
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Gah! I have the same problem. Since participating in the FitBit Face Off I’ve noted that I average between 5 & 6 hours of sleep a night which is not nearly enough and would explain why by Friday’s I’m EXHAUSTED and all I want to do is take naps over the weekend!
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Funny you say that. Friday night must be the earliest we go to bed! It’s as if our bodies just say, “Urgh! week over…!” (and we might be getting old LOL!)
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I would love to know how much sleep I get each night – lately I have been feeling so sluggish! Takes me forever to fall asleep and then forever to wake up in the mornings…
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Don’t you sometimes feel like a toddler? You fight sleep at night but then just wanna sleep all day!
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This is amazing – where does one get this handy little device, and what is the price?
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I got mine as a xmas gift which hubby bought at Incredible Connection. I have the bluetooth one (Jawbone UP 24) which sync’s via bluetooth so no real work on my part. It cost R1600.
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Thanks! This is properly useful!
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