Are you getting enough sleep?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably have been through a least a short period of time when it seems almost impossible to fit sleep into your schedule; this may even be the norm for you. You have to work all day but you don’t want to miss out on the fun parts of life, yet you also need to fit in some exercise to compensate for sitting at your desk all day and suddenly, 24 hours in a day just isn’t enough!

I’ll give you an idea of the sort of thing I’m talking about… a few months ago I decided I wasn’t doing enough with my life, that I could work more to earn more, socialise more and get more involved with my hobbies, especially am dram. Suddenly I found myself with weekdays looking like this:

6.45am Wake up

7.30am Work

9.00am Finish that job and travel to the next

9.45am Start second job

6.15pm Finish work, travel into town for…

7.00pm Business meeting (3rd job – also had to grab some food here instead of dinner)

9.00pm Leave business meeting and head to audition

9.15pm Amdram audition

10.30pm Head home

11.00pm Go to bed – cannot sleep as mind is buzzing, end up with about 5 hours’ sleep

Since when is that a great way to live!?! Not only that but I also started packing out my weekends too and now often find that I can’t sleep at night because I’ve been so busy right up until bed time that I simply can’t switch off which reduces the sleep time even further.

What I should have been doing!

So what did I do? I ate more, mainly sugary, wheaty, naughty foods which made me more tired. I stressed more which made me more tired and I ignored it all, pretending I could do everything I wanted. What did that do? I’ve gained weight, gained wrinkles and frequently have a mouth full of painful ulcers. Hmm…not quite what I was hoping for! Don’t get me wrong, I have achieved a lot too and I’m happy that I have done so but it’s really time to re-evaluate. How can I manage my time better?

Now, I am in the process of making small changes: budgeting better so I can drop the additional job; blogging in a lunch break so I don’t need to do that in the evening; picking up my reading hobby so that I can relax with a book before bed instead of Tweeting whilst watching TV and online shopping all at once. You see, there is a fine balance between doing enough and doing too much, you need to work out what is right for you and what gives you that sense of accomplishment whilst also making sure you don’t age prematurely and stick with it! For extra motivation, remember that people with crazy sleep schedules are meant to be 3 times more likely to be overweight…

I’ll let you know how I’m feeling in a month, see if I’ve shifted my social jet-lag and I’d love to hear how the rest of you juggle these crazy lives we lead! x